Met Gala 2024: what guests will wear

The annual Met Gala, organized by the Costume Institute of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, will take place on Monday, May 6th. This year's event is designed to support the museum's new exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. Among the co-hosts of the evening you can see Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth, along with regular Anna Wintour. The guest list is, as always, extensive. All of them will have to dress in accordance with the stated theme of the exhibition, which can be translated as “Sleeping Beauties: The Revival of Fashion.” Both the exhibition and the ball are inspired by J. G. Ballard's fantasy story The Garden of Time (1962).

Exhibition “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”

According to Metropolitan, visitors will be able to see 250 rare artifacts. Mainly archival garments of historical value. The curators were inspired to organize the exhibition by a recent discussion about the manipulation of fragile garments when they are reused. Suffice it to recall the famous Marilyn Monroe dress, which Kim Kardashian wore to the Met Gala 2022 and, according to rumors, was slightly damaged.

In order not to expose the exhibits to undue risk, it was decided to exhibit some of them “digitally” - using sensory stimulation technology, animation, light projections, artificial intelligence and computer graphics.

What is “Garden of Time” about?

Ballard's short story "The Garden of Time" explores the concept of preserving flowers as a symbol of beauty, youth and innocence. In the story, a married couple wants to stop an angry mob trying to plunder their abandoned estate. To keep the villagers at bay, the husband turns to his magical garden and feverishly plucks one flower after another, each time turning back time by an hour. But soon all the plants will be uprooted, and the mob can't wait to take over the property.

What will be the dress code for the upcoming evening?

In keeping with Ballard's philosophical view of the world around him, guests of the evening should be expected to wear outfits inspired by the beauty of nature or the history of fashion. Those who focus on the “garden” part of the story are likely to delight viewers with garments with large floral prints, silhouettes reminiscent of plants, or floral decorations. Those who choose the “temporary” part will decorate their appearance with historically significant outfits, emphasizing the stated theme.

What was the theme for the 2023 Met Gala?

Guests at the 2023 Met Gala were required to dress in keeping with the theme "Karl Lagerfeld: The Line of Beauty." The evening was dedicated to the famous couturier, who passed away in 2019 and received the nickname “Iron Karl”, thanks to his many years of work in such fashion houses as Chanel, Fendi and Chloe, as well as his inexhaustible creative imagination. Many celebrities showed variations of the black and white designs created by Lagerfeld; others “mentioned” the designer’s favorite cat, Choupette, in their costumes, as, for example, Jared Leto did.

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What and who we will ultimately see at the New York Metropolitan will be known only on May 6th. In any case, the evening will be remembered for a long time. After all, it perfectly corresponds to the saying: “Our whole life is a game” or, applicable to this case, “carnival”.