Eleanor Lambert founded the Met Gala in 1948 as a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.
Lambert was an influential American fashion publicist who helped establish the Council of Fashion Designers of America and promoted American designers internationally. The first gala was a midnight supper held away from the museum, rather than the highly photographed red-carpet event familiar today.
The fundraiser supported the Costume Institute, which had joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1946. Over subsequent decades, the event became more closely associated with museum exhibitions and fashion journalism.
A common mix-up is crediting Diana Vreeland or Anna Wintour with founding the gala. Vreeland transformed the institute's exhibitions after joining in 1973, while Wintour became chair of the gala in the 1990s. Neither founded it.