It’s that time of year again! Fashion’s biggest night of the year is right around the corner. While you may not have a coveted invite from Anna Wintour to the Met Gala, thanks to social media we can fawn over the glitzy dresses and A-list celebrity appearances from afar. Here is everything you need to know before the event:
SO, What are The Basics?
The Met Gala is Monday, May 6th in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The charity event is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, which puts on an exhibit for the event. This year, the exhibition is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”: the institute will display 250 items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection focused on 15 historically significant pieces too old and fragile to be worn again.
What is The Dress Code?
This year the dress code is “The Garden of Time”, which is inspired by J.G Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name. The story centers around Count Axel and his wife, who live in a utopia of beauty, leisure, and art. Beyond the walls of his lush villa, however, is a chaotic mob that threatens their tranquility. To ward off the mob, the count must pick a time reversing flower, but soon all of them are gone and the mob descends on the villa. Each year, fashion designers draw upon the Met Gala theme, to varying levels of adherence, to create the dresses worn by celebrities in attendance. While one can expect a high level of stylistic creativity with the theme, you can reasonably anticipate dresses inspired by florals, nature, and melodrama.
Who will be there?
Up until the evening of the event, the guest list is top secret, but expect the biggest names in music, fashion, cinema, and social media to be in attendance. This year Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and Chris Hemsworth will host.
Whether you tune in for the exquisite dresses and extravagant jewelry or are simply watching for the celebrity drama that may ensue, the Met Gala is an event to clear your schedule for. As J.G Ballard demonstrated, the real world can be a troubling and chaotic place, so I, for one, will be vicariously joining the celebrities in their luxurious utopia of beauty and peace – if only for the night.