Met Gala Announces ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Theme for 2024

NEW YORK:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Wednesday revealed the theme for the 2024 Costume Institute Exhibition and Gala, the fashion world’s party of the year: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” Every year, the Met Gala brings together some of the A-listers from the worlds of fashion, film, politics and sports – a list strictly curated by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Next year, the party will be held in Manhattan on May 6 to celebrate the opening of the exhibit, which is on view to the public from May 10 to September 2. Both are sponsored by popular video sharing app TikTok. The fascinating and immersive exhibition will feature some 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries, from the Costume Institute’s vast 33,000-piece archives — from a 17th-century embroidered jacket to an Alexander McQueen spring-summer 2001 dress made of seashells .

“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,” the Met said. Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton explained that when objects enter the museum’s collection, “obviously they can’t be worn. So you don’t see the movement. You can’t smell it, you can’t hear it, you can.” don’t touch it.”

With the exhibit, she said she hopes to “reawaken the kind of sensory abilities within fashion at the Costume Institute, through various technologies.” On a large table in a workshop-like room was a full House of Worth silk satin dress from the late 19th century, its embroidery, beading and sequins still shining despite the years.

The 1887 dress is now too fragile and damaged to be placed on a mannequin. So it will appear flat, but also be restored to its original glory thanks to computer imaging and the use of a hologram — a nod to immersive exhibitions that are in vogue today. Bolton said the museum approached Chinese-owned TikTok to support the event because of the “accessibility” of the platform.

“We really wanted to have the biggest, broadest kind of platform in terms of how the show spreads more globally,” he said when asked if he feared a backlash over choosing TikTok given its alleged ties to China’s ruling Communist Party. . The Met Gala is the main source of funding for the Costume Institute. Wintour took over the charity gala in the 1990s and turned it into one of the world’s liveliest galas.

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