All the celebrities who sneakily took photos at Met Gala despite no phone rule

At the 2024 Met Gala, many celebrities broke one of the biggest rules of the fashion extravaganza: no phones allowed.

On 6 May, Hollywood’s favourite faces made their way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in honour of the annual fundraiser for the museum’s Costume Institute. After walking the red carpet in their best looks – some of which coincided with the event’s “The Garden of Time” dress code – stars went on to enter the gala, where they didn’t hesitate to snap a few pictures, breaking the no social media protocol.

For example, Ayo Edebiri took to her Instagram Stories to share a selfie from inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the gala. In the snap, she posed alongside musician Troye Sivan and three of her co-stars from her hit movie, Bottoms, Nicholas Galitzine, Kaia Gerber, and Rachel Sennot.

In the caption of the selfie, which also showed the stage inside the museum, Edebiri quipped: “Bottoms 2 ft @troyesivan?”

Singer Cardi B also took to her Instagram Stories Monday night to share videos of herself at her table in the museum, as she smiled and waved at her camera. In another video, Cardi B went on to film basketball star Angel Reese as they were sitting next to each other.

“Say happy birthday to my one and only,” the singer wrote in the caption, as the Met Gala fell on Reese’s 22nd birthday.

The slew of social media posts from the gala didn’t stop there, as Lizzo took to TikTok to share a video from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s bathroom during the Met Gala. As she filmed herself dancing in the restroom, she was also joined by Uma Thurman and Stella McCartney.

In the caption, she simply wrote: “Met bathroom.”

One of the main rules of the Met Gala over the years is that no phones are allowed. In 2015, it was first reported that use of social media had been banned from the event, to clamp down on celebrities spending the majority of the evening on their phones. The phone ban at the Met Gala has been flouted by numerous guests in the past, with beauty mogul and reality TV star Kylie Jenner taking a bathroom selfie with numerous other attendees at the event in 2017.

In an article about this year’s Met Gala published by Vogue earlier this month, the publication doubled down on the no-phone and no social media use policy, noting that what happens inside the fashion event is a “secret”.

During an interview with Jenna Bush Hager, shared hours before this year’s Met Gala, the event’s organiser Anna Wintour didn’t hesitate to discuss the cellphone ban and why she believes it’s beneficial.

“It’s often wonderful to hear after dinner, people say: ‘We had the most wonderful conversations.’ So that’s the idea, that life can exist without a picture on your cell phone,” Wintour said.

As set by Wintour, this year’s dress code was “The Garden of Time.” Inspired by the 1962 JG Ballard short story, guests are expected to illustrate fleeting beauty like Count Axel’s dwindling garden. The Elizabethan era is likely to be tapped, mimicking the concept of preservation, as well as organic elements, like floral embellishments.

The annual fashion event also coincided with the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute exhibit, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”. Inside the exhibit, 250 pieces from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection were showcased, some dating back to the Elizabethan period.