The Met Gala was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The event had originally been scheduled for May 4, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art postponed it as the pandemic disrupted public gatherings and museum operations.
The 2020 Costume Institute exhibition, “About Time: Fashion and Duration,” was eventually opened in a limited context, but there was no conventional gala that year. The cancellation made 2020 the first major interruption to the event’s modern annual schedule.
The gala returned on September 13, 2021, with “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” That delayed date is why the 2021 event was not held on its usual early-May evening.