Anna Wintour plans Met Gala-like event for London’s art scene

It’s Anna Wintour’s world and we’re all just living in it.

The second annual Vogue World is hopping the pond to Great Britain and is slated to launch London fashion week this fall.

Wintour, Vogue’s editor-in-chief and Conde Nast’s chief content officer, is hoping the show will take over “in the way the Met Gala did.”

Fresh on the heels of fashion’s biggest night, Wintour is gearing up for a UK iteration.

After last year’s show went “brilliantly well,” the fashion powerhouse said she’s bringing Vogue World’s theatrics to London “to show our support for the arts.”

“The arts are under threat in the UK and Vogue World will be a timely reminder of how important they are, how vital a part of our lives, and how much they need our support,” she stated in a press release.

The philanthropic event, featuring rapper Stormzy and actress Michaela Coel, will be ticketed to raise money for the city’s performing arts institutions, such as the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet.

“I read with dismay about the amount of cuts that were happening around the performing arts,” the British editor told the Guardian. “The creative talent in London is unparalleled, so anything we can do to support all those creatively brilliant people, we’ll do.”

Acknowledging the brutal hit London’s fashion scene took during the pandemic in 2020, Wintour said the Vogue team “wanted to put a spotlight on fashion shows.”

“We made the decision that as we were emerging from COVID that we wanted to do something that was not only supporting the fashion industry, but also the restaurant industry, the arts — life in general,” Wintour continued, noting that both style and theater are at the heart of the city’s tourism.

“Fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Mark Guiducci, US Vogue’s creative editorial director, added. “It needs a cultural context, and that’s what Vogue does.”

Rufus Norris, the director of the National Theatre, praised Vogue’s efforts as the London arts scene continues “to recover from the pandemic.” While pointing to the sector’s vibrancy, Norris added that “it is touching to have such support from the fashion world,” according to a press release.

But this catwalk is a stark contrast from Wintour’s trademark Met Gala, where tickets reportedly cost upward of tens of thousands of dollars.

In an attempt to “make it as welcoming as we can,” tickets for London’s Vogue World will start at just over $180, with some select students granted access free of charge.

“I think, post-COVID, everyone just loves a live event,” stated Wintour.

Vogue World, which took over a cobblestone street in the Meatpacking District last year, will take place on Sept. 14 at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, with tickets on sale Friday.

British Vogue’s editor-in-chief and event co-host Edward Enninful has predicted the event will be “a night to remember.”

The show will also be livestreamed, perhaps in an effort to gain global attention.

“It is important to us to be seen as global,” Wintour told the Guardian, which reported the organization plans to expand Vogue World to major European cities before heading to Asia.

On Instagram, Vogue has been promoting the runway show with imagery of supermodel Naomi Campbell; actor Sir Ian McKellen; London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan; and fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham.

“Our editors have spent so much time at fashion shows over the years, around the world, that we thought, ‘Why not put together one of our own — one that tells a story about the cultural moment we’re in, but through the lens of fashion?’” Wintour said in a press release.