We are preparing for an overdose of glamour.
It will take a while, but in May next year we can once again enjoy an overdose of fashion inspiration during the fashion event of the year: the Met Gala. Once again, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is introducing a theme on which the celebs can really indulge.
Met Gala 2024
Every year, Hollywood’s brightest stars and the crème de la crème of the fashion world appear at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (popularly known as The Met) for a grand gala showcasing the most lavish outfits and custom designer pieces. The dress code? It depends on the exhibition that the museum is presenting that year.
Over the years we have seen quite a few beautiful exhibitions – including last year’s ode to Karl Lagerfeld, or think of the Heavenly Bodies theme from 2018.
What can we expect from the Met Gala in 2024? Brace yourself: the upcoming exhibition has the fairytale name Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.
Appearances are deceiving
Now we say ‘fairytale’, but that is not what this exhibition is about. By ‘sleeping beauties’ the museum is not referring to glamorous Disney scenes, but to ultra-fragile dresses that are well preserved in the archives and therefore almost never get the chance to shine for the general public. The core of the exhibition consists of 50 iconic items, which are simply too fragile to ever be worn again.
This specific theme is seen by several fashion experts as a subtle sneer at Kim Kardashian, who of course showed up in 2022 wearing (and possibly causing irreparable damage to) a dress belonging to the late Marilyn Monroe.
Designer pieces
The Met itself writes about the exhibition: “Approximately 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be on display, visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and transience of fashion and as a means to to explore the cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal.” Quite a mouthful, but okay – the message is clear: fashion and transience go hand in hand.
The exhibition will include pieces from designers such as Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney, Connor Ives, Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior.
Now it remains to be hoped that the guests present at the Met Gala also understand what lies behind the special title, before we accidentally get an endless series of Cinderellas. Because let’s be honest: it’s not very on theme, and Zendaya has already pulled off this trick. In short: who knows what we will see at the gala next year. We are impatiently counting down until May…
Source: Elegance, The Met, Vogue, E! Online | Image: NL Image
