2024 Met Gala Gets a New Theme
In an exciting revelation, the theme for the highly anticipated 2024 Met Gala has been announced as “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” Following the spectacular Karl Lagerfeld tribute theme of the previous year, the annual fundraising gala is set to captivate attendees on Monday, May 6, 2024, as it returns with a fresh and enchanting concept.
The upcoming exhibit will showcase and draw inspiration from 250 items in the Costume Institute’s permanent collection. Among these are designs by iconic figures such as Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, and Givenchy, spanning an impressive 400 years of fashion history.
Max Hollein, the Met’s Marina Kellen French director and CEO, expressed the innovative nature of the show, stating, “This innovative show will push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience many facets of a work, to learn more about its history, and, ultimately, to gain a deeper appreciation of its beauty.”
According to Vogue, 50 of the featured items are so delicate that they cannot be worn again, including an Elizabethan bodice and a silk satin ball gown by Charles Frederick Worth from 1877. The Met is incorporating high-tech elements, utilizing a glass illusion technique to project ghostly figures onstage. Artificial intelligence, animation, and CGI will combine to “weave a contextual fabric of understanding around each piece.”
Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, emphasized the emotional and sensory connection to fashion, stating, “Fashion is one of the most emotional artistic forms because of its connection to the body. 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.”
Attendees at the gala will be taken on a journey through three symbolic areas: land, sea, and sky. Sustainability and environmental consciousness will be at the forefront of the exhibit, with the zones symbolizing the natural materials used in creating garments.
Bolton added, “It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion,” promising a gala that not only celebrates fashion’s rich history but also highlights its connection to the environment and our collective memory.
