Monday is for The MET

What to expect from the Met Gala 2024? The first Monday in May marks the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a style spectacle on the MET’s iconic steps, all part of the fantasy. And for 2024, florals (and fauna) for spring are set to be truly ground-breaking.

Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion

According to The Metropolitan Museum, the exhibit is set to showcase approximately 250 rare items, with many too fragile to be worn again. It was inspired by recent conversations in fashion around the manipulation of archival clothing.

With the aid of sensory stimulation technology including video animation, light projection, AI and CGI, many of the garments will be displayed digitally to preserve their integrity. The exhibition will also feature computer-generated imagery, X-rays, video animation, light projection and soundscapes.

Behind MET Gala 2024’s “The Garden of Time” Theme

This year’s theme, “The Garden of Time,” was inspired by the 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard, which explores the concept of preservation using flowers as a symbol of beauty, youth and innocence.

In this prose piece, a couple is challenged with the task of halting an angry mob as they try and ransack their boarded estate. To keep the angry villagers at bay, the husband resorts to his magical garden and frantically plucks one flower after another, turning back the same hour of time until all the plants have been ripped from the ground and the mob breaks through.

What to Expect from the Red-Carpet?

Using Ballard’s poignant writing and the expertly curated exhibit as guidance, viewers can expect to see celebrities arrive at this year’s gala in looks that reflect either the beauty of the natural world or the history of design.

Those who choose to focus on the “garden” half of “The Garden of Time” might use floral prints, motifs and colorways to explore the theme, with three-dimensional designs that play with the garment’s structure and silhouette through flower-shaped designs and large flower-adornments. Those who choose to highlight the “time” portion might use archival fashions to convey the theme. Whatever the guests do choose, we know we can’t wait to see the looks this coming Monday.