Met Gala unveils 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion' theme for 2024
MANILA, Philippines — The Met Gala 2024 will be carrying the theme "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion," inspired by the fragile garments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the event formally known as the Costume Institute Benefit is held.
These garments will be displayed in a number of galleries organized by themes of nature. The encased items draw comparison to the popular fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty."
"Using the natural world as a uniting visual metaphor for the transience of fashion, the show will explore cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal, breathing new life into these storied objects through creative and immersive activations designed to convey the scents, sounds, textures and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body," the museum said in a statement.
Vogue magazine, headed by Anna Wintour who has chaired the Met Gala for nearly 30 years, shared that this year's show would feature around 250 items drawn from the benefit's permanent collection, some of which are rarely seen in public.
These include a 17th century English Elizabethan-era bodice; Christian Dior’s famous Junon and Venus ballgowns; an 1877 Charles Frederick Worth silk satin ball gown and 21st century acquisitions by designers, including Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney and Conner Ives.
Exhibit curator Andrew Bolton further explained that each garment takes on a new meaning once it becomes part of the Costume Institute's collection, bringing together a history that spans more than 400 years.
"What was once a vital part of a person's lived experience is now a motionless 'artwork' that can no longer be worn or heard, touched, or smelled," Bolton said. "The exhibition endeavors to reanimate these artworks by re-awakening their sensory capacities."
The most recent Met Gala theme was in memory of the late controversial fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, best known for his work with Fendi, Chloé and Chanel.
Standouts on the gala's red carpet included actress Anne Hathaway in Atelier Versace and co-chair Michaela Coel in Schiaparelli, though regular attendee Jared Leto turned heads trying to literally dress up as Lagerfeld's iconic cat Choupette.
Singer Dua Lipa, tennis legend Roger Federer and actress Penélope Cruz were co-chairs with Wintour and Coel at last year's Met Gala. The 2024 panel will be announced at a later date.
The Met Gala 2024 will be on May 6 while the "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" exhibit runs from May 10 to September 2, 2024.
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