The theme for fashion’s biggest night has finally been announced.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has unveiled its 2024 spring exhibition, which serves as the inspiration for the subsequent Met Gala, also known as the Costume Institute Benefit.
The Met announced on Wednesday in a press release that the Spring 2024 exhibit and Gala theme will be titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” a departure from the more straightforward themes that the Met Gala has taken on in previous years, such as last year’s “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” (2022), and “Camp: Notes on Fashion” (2019).
The exhibition will be on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 10 – Sept. 2, and the highly anticipated Gala will take place on May 6. Advanced technology such as AI, video animation, soundscapes and light projection will make the exhibit possible, conveying “the smells, sounds, textures, and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body,” according to the press release.
The exhibition will feature about 250 pieces, some of which are rarely shown to the public, from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection that spans 400 years of fashion history. This includes the central 15 historically significant pieces that are too structurally fragile to ever be worn again.
Among the pieces in the collection are a 17th-century Elizabethan-era bodice, a 19th-century ball gown by Charles Frederick Worth and a World War Ⅱ-era dress by the French designer Madeleine Vionnet. The exhibit will also display archival looks from iconic fashion houses Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparell.
The Met describes the upcoming show as “the natural world as a uniting visual metaphor for the transience of fashion,” explored through the cyclical nature of rebirth and renewal.
These historical and archival pieces will also be shown alongside contemporary works from fashion powerhouses such as Stella McCartney, Philip Lim and Connor Ives.
TikTok will be lead sponsor for both the exhibition and gala, in collaboration with Loewe and Condé Nast. This sponsorship by TikTok may heavily influence another rising trend from previous years’ Met Galas: internet influencers on the red carpet.
Madison Hong, co-president of the USC Fashion Industry Association (FIA), isn’t a fan of the new trend of TikTokers at the Met Gala.
“Fashion is getting so commercialized. I understand [it], but I also think that this year’s theme is the very opposite of commercialization of fashion, it’s more about history and tradition,” Hong said. “I feel like people who have no connection with the industry or history with the industry shouldn’t just go there to be in the spotlight.”
Maddy Brown, an E-board member of the events team at USC FIA, thinks that the invitation of TikTok stars to the Met Gala promotes inclusivity.
“I don’t think the Met Gala should be closed off or just [for] A-list celebrities. I think that inviting TikTok is inviting young people who, even a couple of years previously, would not have had this chance,” said Brown. “I think it does make that whole world, which is pretty closed off to us, a little bit more accessible.”
But this begs the question: How will celebrities and influencers alike translate this thematic call to past and present into Met Gala looks that are timeless?
Some may wear designs inspired by the historical garments on display. Many celebrities last year took inspiration from the past when interpreting the 2023 “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” theme, where guests were encouraged to dress in honor of the late designer. Many arrived in tweed, vintage looks inspired from Lagerfeld’s long and iconic tenure at Chanel.
It would not be surprising to see looks inspired by the historically significant ball gowns on display, new takes on the archival pieces from prominent fashion houses, or even the use of technology to enhance the ‘wow-factor’— think Zendaya’s light-up Cinderella gown in 2019, or Blake Lively’s dramatic Statue of Liberty-inspired gown in 2022.
What will be intriguing, though, is how the designers may choose to focus on the sustainability or natural beauty aspect of the theme for their designs.
Alexis Zoto, associate professor of teaching art and design at USC Roski School of Art and Design, echoed this sentiment regarding the eco-conscious nature of the Met Gala theme.
“One can imagine a very literal idea of using the image of Sleeping Beauty from fairy tales, to thinking about garments and outfits celebrating aspects of nature or signaling renewal,” Zoto said. “I also think someone will respond with a garment that rethinks an industry that is one of the worst polluters of the earth.”
Effie Trinket’s stunning Alexander McQueen butterfly dress from “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” was the image for Vogue’s Instagram announcement of the 2024 Met Gala theme, which could inspire designers to utilize the natural world as inspiration for their Met Gala looks.
Additionally, celebrities may choose sustainable designers for their looks. Conner Ives, a new leader in the fashion industry, is heralded for his emphasis on sustainability in his work. Having dressed Natalia Bryant, a fellow Trojan, for the 2021 Met Gala, he is no stranger to the event.
The official dress code has not been released to guests yet, but the open-ended theme means that there’s sure to be some surprises on the red carpet in May.