The Met Gala is a prestigious fashion event and fundraiser held annually at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each year there is a new theme announced and the guests attending are meant to match the dress code of the event. The gala has been hosted since 1943, but it was not until 1973 that Diana Vreeland joined the committee proposing the idea of themes. The 2024 Met Gala that is scheduled on May 6th is highly anticipated and has been gaining traction since the announcement of its theme in November of 2023. The newest announcement of this year’s co-chairs has built even more publicity and hype for the fast-approaching date.
This year’s theme is titled “The Garden of Time” and is centered around the exhibit “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” It is expected to feature 250 items from the museum’s permanent collection and is celebrating Elizabethan-era fashion that has become too delicate to wear in the present time. This likely entails more whimsical, feminine, or fairytale looks as guests will take inspiration from the theme. Floral patterns or other natural elements could be found to match the garden portion of the theme. With the concept of time, guests may lean toward the Elizabethan aspect and the fashion of the 16th century. Despite the exhibition called “Sleeping Beauties” there is no correlation to princesses such as Disney’s famous Aurora. The goal of this theme is to represent the fragile side of fashion.
Another component of the Met Gala is the co-chairs who work alongside Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988. Co-chairs assist in the promotion and with the overall publicity of the event. These A-list celebrities are chosen to be the faces of the gala and build excitement leading up to the day it’s held. The 2024 co-chairs were announced to be Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and Chris Hemsworth. This will be Hemsworth’s first-ever Met Gala, Lopez’s thirteenth, Bad Bunny’s third, and Zendaya’s fifth. Despite it being Zendaya’s fifth gala, it will be her first time attending since 2019 which has left fans eager to know what her outfit will be this year. The theme of the 2019 Met was “Camp: Notes on Fashion” which curated a lot of great looks, including Zendaya’s memorable Cinderella gown. The gown was custom by Tommy Hilfiger and was one of the most popular looks of the night. The show-stopping moment was when her dress lit up on the red carpet after her stylist, Law Roach, dressed as a fairy godmother waved a wand. The theatrics of this was perfectly on theme with the 2019 Met Gala, and the publicity this event had then is once again gaining traction for this year’s upcoming gala. As of now more than $223.5 million has been raised which surpasses 2023’s fundraising of $22 million by a long shot. Based strictly on numbers alone, it is easy to recognize the commotion surrounding this year’s event, and the suspense viewers have as they wait for their favorite celebrities to walk the red carpet.Â
The Met Gala is a star-studded event that is held annually. It raises millions of dollars for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. On the first Monday of each May, viewers tune in to see the intricate and unique outfits made by the top designers. The co-chairs having large fan bases only adds to the engagement of the gala and helps bring in even more publicity and we’ll just have to wait and see whether it lives up to our expectations.