While all the fashion weeks have already happened, the next biggest fashion event is none other than the Met Gala. The Met Gala will be held on the first Monday of May and understanding the theme is vital to knowing who executes it well and who doesn’t. This year, the Gala will showcase the newest Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
This year the Met has made it a point to emphasize the idea of restoring pieces of fashion in the past. The exhibition being displayed has 250 rare dresses including designs by Dior, Givenchy, and so many more. Some more fragile pieces will also be displayed digitally. These digital displays include pieces done by Gilded Age Era designer Charles Frederick Worth.
With the idea of restoring old pieces, if we’re lucky, we’ll see some older pieces come back onto the red carpet. Pieces from Yves Saint Laurent’s 1999 rose bridal gowns would be on theme in both restoring and the natural aspect that comes in with “Garden of Time”.
The act of wearing an older piece brings that idea of restoring a piece for the gala. To shine focus on the time aspect in both the short story and the exhibition being displayed, an older piece could thrive.
The story behind “The Garden of Time”
The dress code for the Met Gala this year centers around the “Garden of Time”. This comes from a short story written by science fiction writer J.G Ballard. The short story, “The Garden of Time”, tells the story of a couple hidden away from the world.
The couple, Count Axel and his wife, live in a beautiful villa, full of lush gardens, rare books, and beautiful art. They, themselves, are beautiful, well educated, and sophisticated. The couple almost exists as a piece of the beauty within the estate. Despite the beauty they’re living, plants haven’t grown in a while and there’s a threat on the horizon.
Count Axel notices an army over the wall, coming to the conclusion that trimming a flower a day, keeps the army from advancing, he does what he must and ends up with just stems throughout the beautiful garden by the end of the story. While the beauty within the story is slowly stripped away, it tells of the natural decay that will happen to all things of the world.
How outfits will reflect the Met Gala’s theme
With this imagery, the Met Gala is expecting a lot of beautiful takes on the natural world. Animals, plants, flowers, are all going to be vital to many outfits within the red carpet. Popular across platforms like TikTok, people are recognizing the iconic orange butterfly dress worn by Effie Trinket in Catching Fire.
This dress, designed by Alexander McQueen, portrays the natural element that many guests will be aiming for. If we will see it on the red carpet is still up for speculation. Although personally, I doubt it. Of course, the idea of an abundance of nature within a dress will likely show up this year.
Other aspects to consider
Beyond this, with the tragedy of Count Axel and his wife losing the beauty around them, we could see some guests take a different route. Some guests might embrace the darker side of the story and come in pieces closing, relating to the death and decay of beautiful things.
Darker pieces could show up on the carpet at this year’s Met Gala. The piece pictured above from Balmain’s Spring Summer 2024 show would fit right in. The black alongside the flowers brings together a few ideas. This sort of piece will emphasize how decay and death are part of the natural world as well. The black lying under the colorful flowers helps to display how dark beauty can be underneath. It fits perfectly with the exhibition since some pieces are near the end of their lives and are currently unwearable.
Likely collections to see – Met Gala predictions
Most of the time, it is easy to predict what we may see at the Met Gala by looking back at recent collections from the top designers. However, this year, we may see more designs from past collections as the Gala is honoring archival designs. Other than the runway, the actual event will showcase some of the top designs that define high fashion.
The 2024 Costume Institute pulled out all the stops as they are featuring 250 items drawn from their permanent collection at this year’s event. These 250 designs will feature pieces from top designers, including Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent. One notable addition is Charles Frederick Worth’s 1887 Elizabethan bodice and silk satin ballgown.
These designs span over the last 400 years, bringing the guests into one of the most exclusive fashion installations. Within the last 400 years, some designs have withstood the test of time, but others are too fragile to display. Therefore, there will be designs showcased using AI, CGI, video animation, and light projection.
Giambattista Valli
To combine both the theme of natural beauty as well as natural decay, some suggestions are taking a more floral and naturalistic approach. Pieces from Giambattista Valli Haute Couture Spring Summer 2024 are popular on people’s “to be worn” lists. Giambattista Valli’s S/S 24 Couture collection draws inspiration from flowers and the soothing power of nature.
This collection emphasizes the beauty of the incomplete and the unfinished beauty of infinity. Making up the collection, Valli has a subtle emphasis on a simple bodice and corset. Throughout the collection, tight minidresses with billowing tulle draped in a variety of shapes harmonize together.
While this exact collection may not be an archival design, there is a high probability of other Giambattista Valli designs showing up. With their structural emphasis on their collections, be sure to look out for Giambattista Valli’s signature voluminous proportions and floral patterns on this year’s carpet.
Dries Van Noten and Schiaparelli
Similar to Giambattista Valli’s collection, Dries Van Noten’s 2024 S/S collection takes a little more of a subtle approach to the beauty of nature. Dries Van Noten’s 2014 show, while much more understated, projects a deep romanticism and nature theme.
Both collections display flowers in a less overt way. This inclusion of floral motifs in a more unique way could be a way for guests to display their own views of the nature around them and how they perverse the beauty of the world. Dries Van Noten’s collection puts the flowers against dark backdrops as well, helping the bright floral colors pop.
These displays not only the beauty of nature but also the beauty of simplicity, like the black background fabric. Overall, this design helps let the audience know that decay is right under the floral beauty. The display of flowers within the Jean Paul Gaultier piece is particularly relevant to this theme with the description of flowers given within the short story.
While this collection describes the simplicity of elegance, it may not fall under the extravagance of the Met Gala. Oftentimes, designers will take popular designs of the past and give them a new name in the current century. A notable example of this comes from Schiaparelli. One of Elsa Schiaparelli’s most famous designs is her 1937 Lobster Dress. The original off-white silk organza dress was a collaboration with artist Salvador Dali.
Recently, Schiaparelli paid an ode to the original dress in their Spring/Summer 2024 collection. In that collection, Schiaparelli incorporates a lobster motif as a gilded ceramic lobster lay upon the breast of a simple black gown. Moreover, the collection also featured a similar off-white design with a lobster embroidered over a draped jersey skirt. It is highly likely we will see Schiaparelli’s S/S 2024 collection making its way up the Met steps this year.
Jean Paul Gaultier
Ballard wrote, “The flowers grew to a height of about two metres, their slender stems, like rods of glass, bearing a dozen leaves, the once transparent fronds frosted by the fossilised veins.” This Jean Paul Gaultier S24 piece truly portrays the beauty of the flowers within the story.
This Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture collection by Simone Rocha reinterprets Gaultier’s known corsets in a feat of romanticism and couture. The overall collection is a nautical sea voyage as it captures an underwater fantasy land. Couture designs are highly likely to be spotted on the MET steps, and this collection encapsulates the essence of haute couture.
This year’s Met Gala could be full of surprises if guests decide to try alternative ways of expressing the theme. The themes of nature and decay are the obvious route to take, as well as bringing back archives of fashion’s past. The guests and their designers may find inspiration in different directions. Since the Met Gala is coming up on May 6th, 2024, we still have a few months until the carpet rolls and the designs emerge!
