The question of whether fashion is art has long been topic of conversation for fashion insiders, and this first Monday in May the dress code is leaving nothing up for debate.
The dress code for the starry fundraising event calls for guests to "express their relationship to fashion as an embodied art form".
Fashion has long drawn inspiration from works of art, leaving guests with no shortage of artistic references to show off.
But will guests pull from the fashion archives on Monday or wear custom artistic creations from fashion houses?
Archival fashion looks have become a red carpet phenomenon with fashion savvy stars wanting to get their hands on some of the rarer pieces of fashion history.
Designer Elsa Schiaparelli famously collaborated in 1937 with Spanish artist Salvador Dali to design a white silk dress with a lobster printed on the front.
Years later, Yves Saint Laurent would design shift dresses filled with Piet Mondrian's blocks of colour in 1965, and more recently, Marc Jacobs collaborated with artist Takashi Murakami in 2002 to add his designs to Louis Vuitton.
Monday's carpet is also chance for celebrities to deliver their own performance art.
The late designer Alexander McQueen was heavily regarded by fashion insiders as an artist.
He closed his Spring 1999 show with a piece of performance art when machines sprayed Shalom Harlow's white dress with black and yellow spray paint as she posed on a rotating turntable.
Past Gala dress codes have honoured designers and pulled from literature.
Last year, the art of tailoring was centre stage with the dress code "Tailored for you."
The high-profile event raises money for the museum's Costume Institute, and each year the dress code for the gala takes cues from the Costume Institute's spring exhibition.
On display this Spring, the Costume Art exhibit will "examine the centrality of the dressed body".
