Monday, hundreds of celebs, designers, moguls and media titans descended upon the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for the 69th Annual Met Gala –but only because Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour gave her OK.

Since Wintour took over in 1995, it has become an ever increasing spectacle and star-studded parade of attention seeking celebs. The co-chairs this year are Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams. As one of the biggest fundraisers in NYC, it raised $13.5 million for the Met’s Anna Wintour Costume Center last year.

But just because you have the money, honey, doesn’t mean you get to go –even if you’re on the committee that helps raise funds for the center, the Friends of the Costume Institute. Tickets start at $30,000 per person go up to $50,000. A NY socialite, who has attended the event for years says,

“Anna is extremely restrictive on who can buy a ticket. Many people I know who are Friends, [and] who have the money to pay, have been turned down. Anna decides they can’t go. Period.“

(A rep for Vogue told the post they do NOT comment on the guest list.)

And if you cross Anna, kiss that invitation Buh-Bye. Project Runway star Tim Gunn said Fashion Police that his invitation was rescinded when he told The Post (10 years ago!) about watching Wintour being carried down five flights of stairs at a fashion show by two bodyguards. Vogue flacks asked him to make a retraction. He refused. Now he’s officially persona non grata.

“We’ve had an open war ever since.”

But if you are lucky enough to win Wintour’s stamp of approval, make sure you don’t miss a bash — EVER. The unnamed socialite told The Post,

“I know people who decided not to go one year because they weren’t around or didn’t like the theme. Once you do that, you’re not invited back unless you’re triple A-list.”

Remember back in 2013 when Gwyeneth Paltrow said the party was,

“…so un-fun. It was boiling. It was too crowded. I did not enjoy it at all. It sucked… you get there and it’s so hot and it’s so crowded and everyone’s pushing you.”

Well, did you see her BACK on the steps of The Met on Monday? Yep. That’s Triple. A. List. The socialite goes on to say,

“Even if you go every year, running the gauntlet up the museum’s steep red-carpeted stairs in front of baying paparazzi can be an exercise in humiliation for some guests.

Everyone walks the red carpet, but less well-known guests hear crickets because no one is paying attention. It is one of the most demeaning things to walk those stairs as a non-celebrity. I’ve seen so many people run up those stairs and they look amazing, but they’re not recognizable [enough for the paparazzi to care]. It’s very bruising on the ego.

It’s the Oscars of New York. When you turn around and you see Kanye at one side and Taylor Swift and every celebrity you’ve ever heard of every time you turn your head, it’s hard to be disappointed.

You can talk to anyone. Everyone is very friendly there because the crowd is so selective.

When the ticket is $50,000 and you received Anna’s stamp of approval, it’s a foregone conclusion that you’re worth being there.“

And why ARE they there? Presumably, to see the clothes of the MASTER, Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. Known for her avant-garde designs and the ability to challenge conventional notions of beauty, good taste, and what fashion even is, this exhibit features 140 examples of Kawakubo’s genius for Comme des Garçons from the early 80s to now.

It is all organized into 9 categories:

• Absence/Presence
• Design/Not Design
• Fashion/Anti-Fashion
• Model/Multiple
• Then/Now
• High/Low
• Self/Other
• Object/Subject
• Clothes/Not Clothes.

Take a look below and marvel. And if you have eyes, you’ll realize how ultimately BORING and conventional the celebrities (stylist’s) choices were, compared to the clothes on display inside.

Rei Kawakubo: The Art of the In Between opens today and runs through September 4, 2017 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. For more info go here.

(via The Post)