Awards season may be over, and fashion month long gone, but the most anticipated red carpet runway flow is yet to come – The Met Gala. Every year, on the first Monday in May, the Upper East Side is stormed with a slew of A-listers, Hollywood darlings, music idols, and elite designers ready to ascend the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in support of its coveted costume institution.
The Met Gala
The Met Gala or Met Ball, formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala is popularly regarded as the world’s most prestigious and glamorous fashion event and social gathering and is known as “fashion’s biggest night.”
The Met Gala
The Met Gala is the first Monday in May, as is tradition. The big day is Monday, May 6. In theory, the timed arrivals — each guest is allotted a slot — start at 5:30 p.m., usually with the evening’s hosts, and end around 8 p.m.
What is the theme this year?
This year, the annual event will celebrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” The showcase will feature around 250 rarely seen items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, spanning from a 17th century Elizabethan-era bodice, to designs by Elsa Schiaparelli and Christian Dior, to modern pieces by the likes of Phillip Lim and Stella McCartney.
Additionally, the show will center on 15 or so historically significant pieces (including the aforementioned bodice and a Gilded Age silk satin ballgown by the American couturier Charles Frederick Worth) which Andrew Bolton, the institute’s curator, explained “are the ‘Sleeping Beauties’ of the title,” as they are too fragile to be worn and will be displayed in other ways, including video animation, light projection, soundscaping, AI, CGI, which will be used throughout the exhibit.
What is the Met Gala dress code?
This year’s Met Gala dress code is “The Garden of Time.” Inspired by J.G. Ballard’s short story of the same title, written in 1962, it can be interpreted in a myriad of ways. Still, we’ll likely see many a floral and botanical looks grace the famed Met Gala red carpet.
Who is hosting the Met Gala 2024?
The 2024 Met Gala hosts are Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and Chris Hemsworth. They follow last year’s star studded group: Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, and Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The latter has run the Met Gala since 1995, shaping it into the much-loved annual celebration of fashion we know today.
Who’s attending this year?
Guests at the Met Gala are typically a surprise until the evening before the main event. However, the Met hosts around 450 attendees which also includes designers attending the event with their muses. Some of the frequent guests at the Met Gala over the years include Priyanka Chopra, Beyonce, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Blake Lively, among many others.
The speculated guest list for this year has names such as Kim Kardashian, Kylie and Kendell Jenner, Jennifer Lopez’s husband Ben Affleck, Chris’s wife Elsa Pataky, Taylor Russell, Jamie Dornan, Greta Lee, Josh O’Connar will be a part of the fashion event.
The newest speculation though is celebrity couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce making an appearance at the Met Gala red carpet this year. Though it is not confirmed yet. Given Swift’s Eras Tour stop in Paris just 3 days after the event, scheduling is likely the reason for the couple’s notable absence. Swift has not attended the Met Gala since 2016. Lauren Sanchez, Caitlin Clark, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos are also some of the names that are expected at Met Gala this year.
How to watch the 2024 Met Gala?
The Met Gala will be livestreamed on Vogue’s website and social media channels beginning at 6 p.m. ET. The “hautest” event of the year will air live on E! starting at 6 p.m. ET.
