Recently, I was idly reading some breathless coverage of the 2026 Met Gala, the annual fashion extravaganza hosted by Anna Wintour, the former editor-in-chief of American Vogue.

It occurs to me as I write these words that I know far too much about the 2026 Met Gala, far more than any self respecting 76 year old Canadian man should, at least. That said, I’ll have to deal with that sudden awareness later, for right now it is simply taking me off topic.

Who got me ‘on topic’ was P. G. Wodehouse, an English writer in the 20th century, regarded by many as one of the finest obsevational humourists of his time. I was amusing myself in the quiet early hours of a Saturday morning, reading a collection of Wodehouse sayings. I stumbled upon this, and it was the spark that led me to consider the 2026 Met Gala.

“She looked as if she had been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say “when”. ”

Indeed many women at the Met Gala, resplendent in their couture gowns looked as though they had forgotten to say “when”. I had recently seen a picture of Sydney Sweeney, a young actress who has in recent years burst upon the scene. She is beautiful and most decidedly voluptuous. She had been to four previous Met Gala’s. Now let me pause here for a moment because I am writing this in 2026, a time in our social history which requires me to be mindful of body shaming and other judgmental, or triggering comments. Add to that my age and embedded generational mysogyny, and I am hooped before I begin. Never mind the unstated assumption that it is unbecoming for a man of my advanced years to spend this much time admiring images of beautiful young women.

“To be human is to admire beauty in its infinite presentation. To embrace no such admiration, is to be dead.”

Said, no one in particular. I’m just seeking a way out of a tight spot.

I’ve found that sometimes a way out of a tight spot with a reader, is to create what looks for all the world like the thoughtful ruminations of a clever mind, italicize it and bookend it with quotation marks. There’s no need to ascribe it to anyone famous, that would be a falsehood. No, the reader will do that for me and I can embed my justification, and move on. Such is what you have just experienced.

So where was I. Ah yes, Sydney Sweeney. Look I mean no offence, she is as I have already said, a beautiful woman. In her world, glamour is her currency. Others have come before her and others will follow. The list is already gloriously well endowed: Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobridgida, Marilyn Monroe to name just three iconic movie stars all of whom, at their generation’s equivalent of the 2026 Met Gala,, ‘looked as if she has been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say “when”.

But Good Lord, I am so off topic. Well, who can blame me, it was fun to talk about. Except yes, my children will chastise me; no doubt giving me a thorough telling off and trying to persuade me that I am not in synch with modern thinking on this topic. Well, of course I’m not. How can I possibly be!

That said, my thinking about the 2026 Met Gala is decidedly modern and has been ‘modern’ throughout history. It is an extraordinary vulgar and tasteless display of wealth, the kind of wealth that is beyond imagination. I don’t begrudge wealthy people being wealthy, but I despise these mindless self pleasuring public displays, spitting in the faces of millions of ordinary people who scrap each day just to put food on their plates, tone deaf to the screamingly obvious need for help.

The 2026 Met Gala was sponsored by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, apparently paying $10M dollars for the ‘honour’. This is the same Jeff Bezos who in the lead up to the Gala, publicly bemoaned that he had decided to sell his boat, explaining that it was too big. That would be his $500M dollar boat, fresh off a year of cruising the pair around the world. Oh, how sad they must be. How disappointed. There is of course a silver lining in this sad tale of self imposed divestment. Bezos will no doubt use the money realized from the sale to do some good works, providing food for the poor, or housing, or even funding a program to dig water wells in Africa.

No, you’re right. Not gonna happen. Not a chance! They are part of a generation of wealth that has become a reflection of a failing American Empire; they are the 1% of Americans who control most of the nation’s wealth. No doubt events like the 2026 Met Gala and the display of excessive consumption, add to the illusion of importance. They provide the wealthy people, a passing momentary satisfaction, on an endless loop of hedonic pleasure. They seek neither purpose nor happiness, they seek notoriety and our admiration. Add in good PR and poof, a false narrative, what we do is important and we are living with purpose. What a con! A chimera. And we see through it. I can only assume that they have not read about the French Revolution, yes, that one, the one in which a populist uprising overthrew France’s 1% in 1789. Of course, they’re probably right. That could never happen in America.

And Trump could never get elected.

And the US national debt could never reach $40T dollars.

Never.

You know I woke up this morning, in good humour. I had a cup of coffee, thrilled to the sun rise greeting another day, reflected on my bounty and then laughed out loud at the writings of my good friend PG Wodehouse. Now look at me, all fired up and angry and judgy. I need something to settle me down.

Did you see the pictures of Sydney Sweeney at the Met Gala?