New York Fashion Week is over, but even as the models and runways head to Europe for the next few weeks, there’s more fashion happening behind the scenes. The Met has officially announced the theme for The Met Gala 2024. Online fashionistas are already trying to predict who will be invited, but what will they wear?
The Theme
Fashion’s biggest night of the year sounds like a dreamy affair with the theme Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. As always, The Met Gala theme is an introduction to the Costume Institutes spring exhibition. The Met said in a press release that Sleeping Beauties will feature “approximately 250 objects spanning four centuries.” All of the objects on view will feature designs that have nature themes, “a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion.”
While the museum is typically a touch-free zone, Sleeping Beauties aims to “reactivate the sensory capacities of masterworks.” No visitors will be wearing these precious styles, but the Met did share that “The exhibition will breathe new life into these storied objects through creative and immersive activations designed to convey the smells, sounds, textures, and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body.”
Fashion Leaders
Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, the start will take the red carpet up the Met steps in fashion’s finest (or worst, depending on online opinion). Vogue announced that Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya, and Anna Wintour will co-chair The Met Gala 2024 while TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, and Loewe’s Creative Director, Jonathan Anderson, will serve as honorary chairs. The event is made possible with support from TikTok, Loewe, and Condé Nast.
Anna Wintour is, of course, keeping the guest list for The Met Gala secret, so outside of the event’s co-chairs, there’s no guarantee which celebs will be showing up. Met Gala icons of recent years include Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, and Emma Chamberlin, but some old faves like Zendaya are returning, so maybe we’ll some other returns to the carpet?
The Dress Code
How does one dress for Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion? The dress code for The Met Gala 2024 is “The Garden of Time.” In the announcement video shared by Vogue on Instagram, the co-chairs talk about the event in an iMessage group chat. While Bad Bunny’s inspo is not Anna Wintour’s dream, J-Lo shares a picture of “The Old Gateway” by Thomas Edwin Mostyn. The painting features a romantic garden view. A woman in a blue gown is surrounded by florals looking into a dark forest beyond the garden gate.
With this inspiration, we can assume that The Met Gala 2024 will feature a variety of floral designs and tap into natural colors reminiscent of British gardens. Various takes on the “Sleeping Beauty” story from its darker 14th century origins to today’s brighter tellings may also make their way down the red carpet. We’re also predicting designs taking on the limited life of fashion from destroyed or decayed garments to styles that represent life, growth, and even death.
The Met Gala 2024 will be hosted on its traditional first Monday in May. This year, The Met Gala falls on May 6.
