Just last week, Vogue made several big announcements around the 2026 Met Gala, the new Costume Institute exhibit and a new wing of the institute. While Anna Wintour is no longer technically the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, she still broadly oversees Vogue and all Conde Nast publications, plus she’s still in charge of everything around the Met Gala and Costume Institute. One of the big announcements last week was something we had been expecting for months: Lauren and Jeff Bezos signed on to sponsor the 2026 Met Gala and the Costume Institute’s new exhibition. We knew that was the quid pro quo for giving Lauren a (digital) Vogue cover for her wedding. Here’s your cover, now give us millions for the gala. The decision to bring in the Botox twins as sponsors has been criticized across the board. But Anna isn’t interested in hearing any of it. She was asked about the backlash in Qatar a few days ago, and here’s what she said:

Anna Wintour described the American philanthropist and former journalist Lauren Sánchez Bezos as a “great lover of costume and obviously of fashion” when asked about criticism surrounding the Bezos’s role as sponsors of the 2026 Met Gala.

Speaking to CNN in Doha, Qatar, at the inaugural Franca Fund gala dedicated to the late Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani, Wintour said: “I think Lauren is going to be a wonderful asset to the museum and to the event… [I’m] very grateful for her incredible generosity, and she’s a great lover of costume and obviously of fashion, so we’re thrilled she’s part of the night.”

Jeff Bezos and Sánchez Bezos’ were unveiled as lead sponsors of the event last week, along with secondary sponsors French luxury brand Saint Laurent and Vogue publisher Condé Nast.

The announcement of Bezos’s sponsorship drew immediate backlash on social media, with critics arguing that their involvement highlights a shift towards billionaire control of cultural institutions. Others have argued that the money could be better spent on other causes.

“Great theme,” wrote one user under a video on The Metropolitan museum’s official Instagram announcing that next year’s would be “Costume Art,” before adding: “However, stop platforming Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez with art and fashion, two places that these two awful, unfettered capitalists will never belong in, no matter how much money they want to throw around to buy culture they have never cultivated and will never inhabit.”

[From CNN]

As I said last week, Lauren and Jeff Bezos are using their money to purchase cultural currency, to buy their way into the cool kids’ gala. But… I’d rather see Jeff and Lauren do it this way, working within the system, as opposed to buying the system wholesale, you know? Jeff could have bought Vogue for Lauren, but he didn’t. They’re doing everything the old-fashioned way, the Gilded Age way. Now we need someone to convince the Bezoses that all of the coolest people fund libraries, scientific research and medical breakthroughs. You know what else is funny? Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott has won hearts and minds by giving away huge chunks of her fortune to smaller colleges and HBCUs. She doesn’t need to buy her way into cultural relevancy – she moves with grace and class, and she’s done more to change people’s lives for the better than her ex ever has.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.