The theme of the upcoming Met Gala has already been announced: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. This was announced by the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York this Wednesday, November 8, announcing the theme of its Spring 2024 exhibition, which, like every year, will open with this big party that brings together all kinds of celebrities. Of course, it is not yet known who will be the famous hosts of the event, which is traditionally celebrated on the first Monday in May (i.e. May 6, 2024). Last year, actresses Michaela Coel and Penélope Cruz, tennis legend Roger Federer and singer Dua Lipa hosted the evening dedicated to Karl Lagerfeld.
The sleeping beauties referred to in the exhibition’s title are actually valuable pieces from the museum’s collection, so fragile that they must be housed in special “glass coffins,” the curators said. They have also announced that the garments will be displayed in a series of galleries organized by themes related to nature. “Using the natural world as a unifying visual metaphor for the transience of fashion, the show will explore cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal, breathing new life into these historic objects through creative and immersive activations designed to convey the scents, sounds, textures and movements. “of garments that can no longer interact directly with the body,” the museum explained in a statement.
More information
Curator Andrew Bolton, who oversees all Met Gala exhibitions, noted that the upcoming exhibition includes both curious historical garments and contemporary clothing. “When a garment enters our collection, its status changes irrevocably,” Bolton warned in the statement: “What was once an essential part of a person’s lived experience is now an immovable work of art that no longer exists. It cannot be used or heard, touched or smelled. “The aim of the exhibition is to revive these works of art by awakening their sensory abilities.”
A total of around 250 items of clothing and accessories from four centuries of history are on display. The exhibition, which will be open from May 10 to September 2, 2024, will take place in different rooms, each of which will feature a theme inspired by nature, “in an immersive environment designed to appeal to the sense of sight.” , the smell, touch, and hearing of the visitor.” Examples include a room decorated with the “insect embroidery” of an Elizabethan bodice, or a ceiling depicting “a flock of Hitchcock-style black birds” around an evening dress made of black tulle from the time before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Among the clothing designers, names such as Alexander McQueen, Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney and Connor Ives stand out. Additionally, the show includes pieces from Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and many other iconic couturiers. Also on display is an 1877 silk satin dress by American couturier Charles Frederick Worth, which inspired the exhibition.
Actor and singer Jared Leto dressed as “Choupette,” Karl Lagerfeld’s pet, at the 2023 Met Gala. Jeff Kravitz (FilmMagic)
The Met Gala began as a charity dinner in 1946 and over the decades has become one of the highest-grossing events (tickets can cost more than 30,000 euros and up to 200,000 euros per table) and the most glamorous date in the fashion world in New York. In 2023, the theme of the exhibition and therefore the Met Gala was Karl Lagerfeld: a beauty line to celebrate the legacy of the legendary designer, who died in 2019 at the age of 85. The red carpet featured surprising looks, like that of actor and musician Jared Leto, who attended the event as Choupette, Lagerfeld’s famous cat to whom he left part of his inheritance. Also news of the evening were the pregnancies of former tennis player Serena Williams and model Karlie Kloss, who chose one of the most photographed red carpets in the world to make them public, or the debut of Anna Wintour, director of the American edition of Vogue magazine and responsible for the organization of the evening (she is the one who invites and uninvites), who for the first time walked arm in arm with her partner, the British actor Bill Nighy.