Today’s the day! The first Monday in May has arrived, and we have everything you need to know about fashion’s biggest night—including the Met Gala 2024 theme, explained in layman’s terms. This year’s Costume Institute exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the Met Gala, will be “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” Keep in mind, the dress code is “The Garden of Time.” So yes, florals…for spring.
The core exhibition will span 400 years of history, from a 17th-century English Elizabethan-era bodice to 21st-century acquisitions by designers including Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney, and Connor Ives. Andrew Bolton, who is the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, explained that the exhibition will be structured around approximately 50 historically significant and aesthetically beautiful pieces that are far too fragile to ever be worn again.
The exhibition always opens with the Met Gala, which takes place every year on the first Monday in May at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 Met Gala—fashion’s biggest night out.
When is the Met Gala 2024?
The 2024 Met Gala will take place on Monday, May 6, in New York. The event has taken place on the first Monday in May every year since 2005, apart from in 2020, when the Met Gala was canceled, and in 2021, when it was held in September, as a result of the pandemic.
What is the Met Gala 2024 theme, explained?
The spring 2024 exhibit is entitled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” The exhibition will be structured around approximately 50 historically significant and aesthetically beautiful pieces from the collection that are far too fragile ever to be worn again. “These are the ‘Sleeping Beauties’ of the title,” Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, explained. Cutting-edge curation and technology will give a deeper understanding of these fragile pieces—an illusion technique known as Pepper’s ghost will be used to revive some looks, while video animation, light projection, soundscaping, AI, CGI, and other forms of sensory stimulation will provide a deeper context to each piece, according to Vogue’s Luke Leitch.
“Fashion is one of the most emotional artistic forms because of its connection to the body,” Bolton continued. “It is imbued with memory and emotions, and we relate to it very much via our senses. One thing I hope this show will activate is that sensorial appreciation of fashion.” The exhibition will be open to the public the day after the Met Gala and will run until September 2, 2024.
What is the Met Gala’s dress code?
“The Garden of Time,” as announced in February.
Who are the 2024 Met Gala cochairs?
In addition to Anna Wintour, this year’s celebrity cochairs are Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya, Bad Bunny, and Chris Hemsworth.
What is the Met Gala?
Organized and presided over by Anna Wintour since 1995, the Met Gala has become a much-loved annual celebration of fashion. A fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, it has traditionally been timed to mark the opening of its annual fashion exhibition. Year after year, the event raises eight-figure sums.
What was the theme of the Met Gala 2023?
The Met Gala 2023 theme was “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” in tribute to the legendary designer who died in 2019. As in previous years, Bolton was in charge of the exhibition—which he said was not a “traditional retrospective”—while Amanda Harlech, who worked closely with Lagerfeld, served as the show’s creative consultant. Fittingly, the Met Gala dress code was “In Honor of Karl”—with many guests drawing inspiration from the creative director’s tenures at Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, Patou, and his own eponymous brand.
