You’ll have to wait longer than a fortnight for Taylor Swift’s Met Gala return.
The “Cruel Summer” singer skipped this year’s event in New York City to prepare for the European leg of her sold-out Eras Tour, E! News confirms.
The fundraiser—which is themed around the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibit, with an official “Garden of Time” dress code—took place on May 6, just three days before Taylor is scheduled to hit the stage at the Paris La Défense Arena in France.
As for her boyfriend Travis Kelce? He appeared to sit it out as well, with TMZ reporting last week that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end has RSVP’d “no” on his invitation to the 2024 bash, co-chaired by Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Chris Hemsworth. See all the stars who did step out on the red carpet here—including Swift’s pals Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne, Ed Sheeran and Nicki Minaj.
Still, Swift is very familiar with the Met Gala. After all, she’s attended six previous iterations of fashion’s biggest night, even co-chairing the 2016 version celebrating the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” exhibition.
As the Swiftie folklore goes, that was the star-studded gathering where the Grammy winner first saw sparks fly with Joe Alwyn, who she went on to date for six years before their 2023 breakup.
On her Reputation track “Dress,” Swift appeared to touch on their red carpet looks at the lavish affair, singing, “Flashback when you met me / Your buzzcut and my hair bleached.”
And on her Midnights song “Mastermind,” she seemingly alluded to having a hand in orchestrating their meeting. “What if I told you none of it was accidental / And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me?” she sang. “I laid the groundwork and then, just like clockwork / The dominoes cascaded in a line.”
Since then, Swift has not stepped back onto fashion’s holy ground. Last year, she also missed out on the Met Gala in order to focus on her Eras Tour in Nashville.
