The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that the 2024 Costume Institute exhibition and Met Gala will be themed “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” an homage to the cyclical nature of rebirth and renewal. After years of more direct themes honoring iconic designers like Karl Lagerfeld or broader concepts like American fashion, this poetic theme aims to use the natural world as a metaphor for fashion’s fragility yet timelessness.
The accompanying exhibit will feature around 250 pieces from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection spanning 400 years of fashion history. Historic garments from the 17th to 20th centuries, including rare pieces by House of Worth, Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Cristóbal Balenciaga, will be shown alongside more contemporary sustainable designs by today’s avant-garde like Stella McCartney, Conner Ives, and Jonathan Anderson of Loewe.
Immersive Exhibit Zones Inspired by Nature
Advanced technologies will help bring these “sleeping beauties” back to life through immersive experiences engaging all the senses. Animations, custom scents, and interactive light projections will allow visitors to discover nuances of the vintage garments that can no longer be worn.
The exhibit will be organized into three sections – Land, Sea, and Sky – with each zone housed in an ethereal glass enclosure or “bubble” inspired by biomes.””It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion,” said curator Andrew Bolton. “We hope to convey the smells, sounds, textures, and motions of these masterworks in a multisensory experience that reveals fashion’s fragile beauty.””
Sustainable Fashion and Historical Interpretations
At the star-studded Met Gala on May 6th, co-chairs Anna Wintour, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Lin-Manuel Miranda will announce the official dress code for guests. However, we expect celebrity interpretations to draw inspiration from historical fashions, mythological nature themes, and sustainable practices based on the exhibit’s focus. Last year’s “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” theme saw Hollywood icons like Nicole Kidman and supermodels such as Naomi Campbell wearing archival Chanel, while others commissioned bespoke looks nodding to Lagerfeld’s signature aesthetic.
The 2024 theme allows even more freedom of expression for designers and their muses. The Met Gala continues to grow in popularity and influence under the leadership of Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, who has chaired the event since 1995. What was once an elite fashion insider affair now draws over 600 attendees and extensive media coverage. This year’s star-studded guest list may feature even more Gen Z influencers thanks to new lead sponsor TikTok. While the Gala has evolved, the mission remains the same – raising funds for the Costume Institute’s exhibitions and collections. We look forward to seeing how fashion’s past is reawakened on the red carpet this May.
