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The fashion gods of New York City are preparing for the most discussed event of the year, the Met Gala, scheduled to take over Fifth Avenue very soon.
Here’s what to know about this year’s Met Gala.
RECOMMENDED: The Met Gala theme has been announced for 2024
When is this year’s Met Gala?
Monday, May 6.
What’s the 2024 Met Gala theme?
“The Garden of Time.”
Back in November, the Metropolitan Museum of Art revealed that the spring exhibit that always inspires the gala was going to be "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” On at The Met from May 10 to September 2, 2024, it will showcase 250 garments and accessories from four centuries that will be surrounded by natural iconography through the use of cutting-edge tools, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and computer-generated imagery to traditional formats of x-rays, video animation, light projection, and soundscapes.
The Met says it will “serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion and a vehicle to examine the cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal.”
We’ve spent months considering how the show’s title would translate into statement-making fashion choices that are dissected for months on end.
Alas, we live in Anna Wintour’s city (and world, to be honest), so whatever she decides the theme should be, there it is. Besides: celebrities tend to wear just about anything they want on that much-anticipated first Monday of May, when the gala traditionally takes place, no matter the proposed scope. Interpretation, it seems, varies widely.
Who are the Met’s co-hosts?
In addition to the dress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art just revealed the event's co-hosts as well—which, we'll be honest, are a bit more exciting than the fashion-related updates we got.
Interestingly enough, the chosen stars, which promote the event and help with fundraising efforts, run the gamut in terms of celebrity type: pop icon Jennifer Lopez was tapped alongside actor Chris Hemsworth, the mononymous Zendaya and the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, arguably one of the most recognized characters in his musical genre at the moment.
What is the Met Gala?
While musing on all that the Met Gala stands for and our affinity for the event despite its curious themes, it occurred to us that not many are aware of what the Costume Institute Benefit, the fundraiser's formal name, is actually all about.
Established 1948 by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, the event functioned as a fundraiser for the then-new Costume Institute, a way to mark the opening of the cultural space's annual exhibit. Back then, folks could actually purchase tickets for the event, a straight-up dinner party, for $50 (!). Funnily enough, given the importance of the venue where the night takes place now, the Gala used to be held across different city venues, from the Rainbow Row to the Waldorf Astoria.
Things changed in 1972, when the legendary Diana Vreeland was hired as a consultant and decided to revamp the event and focus more on celebrity attendees. That's when themes were officially introduced.
Fast-forward decades and the ball is still one of the most important events of the social season, taking place every year except 2000, when a Chanel exhibit was canceled in 2002, following 9/11, and 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few months away from this year's iteration of the spectacle, we can't wait to see what weird, amusing and downright beautiful outfits attendees will choose to dazzle us in come May.