Monday May 4, 2015— The Gala for The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is, by many accounts the most elegant and prestigious fundraising event of the year. In 2006, Cathy Horyn of the New York Times wrote that it was, “a frenzied red-carpet romp that now surpasses, at least in frocks, the Oscars,” effectively pitting Anna Wintour against Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair and organizer of the Vanity Fair Oscars Party. Whether or not Ms. Horyn is correct, the frocks, and the legions of glitterati who don them each spring are of the utmost caliber, reflecting, perhaps the high-water mark set by the annual exhibitions, including last years’ Sinocentric show China: Through The Looking Glass.

Now the subject of upcoming documentary The First Monday in May, the exhibition and gala are shown in detail by filmmaker Andrew Rossi. Given unprecedented access to the creative process of Met curator Andrew Bolton, First Monday is ultimately a loving portrait from inside the general’s tent.

We sat down with Rossi, who commented on some of his favorite scenes from the documentary. First-Monday-Still-4

“Andrew Bolton advocates for fashion to be treated as an art form, worthy of study and inclusion in the museum like any other painting or sculpture. Anna Wintour notes, ‘when you see how it touches people, what more could you ask of art?’”

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“Mannequins display garments for the show designed by Alexander McQueen, Rodarte, Karl Lagerfeld, and several others inside the Met’s costume institute installation studio.”

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“Andrew Bolton entering the climate-controlled archives of Yves Saint Laurent, a vault of some three thousand pieces of haute couture that are described as a ‘Fort Knox of fashion.’”

Stills from The First Monday in May. Courtesy Magnolia Pictures.