MET GALA 2024 KICKSTARTS EXHIBITION ‘SLEEPING BEAUTIES: REAWAKENING FASHION’

words by EMMANUELLE PLANTIER 
editor MAREK BARTEK

For many, the MET Gala is only the most desirable fashion event of the year. But the light of the grandiose looks should not obscure the real purpose of the event: kickstart of the newest exhibition of the MET Costume Institute, which gathers the most impressive archival pieces centred around a theme. For this year’s rousing “Sleeping beauties: Reawakening fashion” Anna Wintour alongside curator Andrew Bolton tasked themselves with bringing to life a fairytale-like fantasy inside the museum. In Andrew Bolton’s words: “It is an ode to nature, and the emotional poetics of fashion”.

Even if the exhibition officially opens this Friday May 10^th, we could see a glimpse of the pieces that are going to be exhibited through the Instagram page of the Costume Institute. Some gowns are already famous, like the Junon gown from the A/W 1949 Christian Dior show, or the S/S 2011 Alexander McQueen ensemble sported by Effie in Hunger Games. The theme of the exhibition embodies a contrast between past and future. Through an interview with Stylenotcom posted on Instagram, Mrs Wintour and Mr Bolton stressed the emphasis on the use of technology in the exhibition to animate the garments, like the grass coat by Jonathan Anderson, that displays real plant growing into the fabric. This paradox is at the heart of fashion, where the cycle of death and rebirth, of bringing the past into the present is the leitmotif of this art form. The exhibition will last until September 2^nd at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. 

To better honour this magnificent spectacle, who else than Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Chris Hemsworth to take the role of co-chair of the evening? Even though the dress code “Garden of Time” (inspired by a 1962 short story by J.G Ballard) was conscientiously applied by all the celebrities attending the event, some absent faces were missed, like Rihanna, Blake Lively, Beyoncé and Kate Moss, all favourites of the MET Gala. Zendaya served two looks on the cream-coloured carpet, which we are definitely not mad about, one of them being a custom Maison Margiela Artisanal by John Galliano. Cardi B’s arrival was as flamboyant as her personality, by taking up the whole space with a huge black gown. Nine men were needed to position it on the carpet, which makes us wish we too had that many people helping us with our outfits everyday. Few other celebrities interpreted this year’s theme in black like Lewis Hamilton, Juliana Canfield or Zendaya’s first look, and it has the merit of saving our eyes from too many moody floral prints.

Another highlight of this morning was the buzz of an AI generated fake image of Katy Perry (who could not make it to the event), in a long floral gown. The whole Internet was stormed before it was debunked as fake, but the singer found that so funny that she reposted it on her own Instagram. The master-move of the night was orchestrated by Guram Gvasalia, Demna’s brother and creative director of VETEMENTS for Doja Cat. Dressed in a dress-fitted white t-shirt seemingly wet, the rapper embodied cotton, the most used flower as her Garden of Time. The concept is powerful, when thinking about the history of cotton and what it entails with themes like slavery, black identity and civil rights. It acts as an important reminder and her tear-dropping face emphasises the puissance of the look and gives it many layers of interpretation. 

This evening was truly one of a kind. The dreaminess of the looks created a sense of wonder on the stairs of the Museum – a living proof that fashion past and present is the recipient of creativity and passion.

Check out MET GALA 2024: BEST DRESSED