Everything You Need To Know About The Met Gala 2024

Fashion’s biggest night out – the 2024 Met Gala – took place on Monday night. As ever, the gala celebrated the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s spring exhibition, which this year centres around 50 historically significant pieces that are far too fragile to ever be worn again. With the theme of Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, the exhibition features items ranging from a 17th-century Elizabethan-era English bodice through to 21st-century acquisitions by designers including Conner Ives and Stella McCartney. Vintage is an increasingly popular choice on the first Monday in May (last year’s celebration of Karl Lagerfeld really delivered on this front), and this year’s theme saw A-list guests dip into the archives for their Met Gala looks, as well as being inspired by past creations.

When is the Met Gala 2024?

The 2024 Met Gala took place on Monday 6 May in New York. The event has taken place on the first Monday in May every year since 2005, apart from in 2020, when the Met Gala was cancelled, and in 2021, when it was held in September, as a result of the pandemic.

What is the Met Gala 2024 theme?

The spring 2024 exhibit is entitled Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. The exhibition is structured around approximately 50 beautiful and historically significant pieces from the collection that are far too fragile ever to be worn again. “These are the ‘Sleeping Beauties’ of the title,” Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu curator in charge of The Costume Institute, explained. Cutting-edge curation and technology give a deeper understanding of these fragile pieces – an illusion technique known as Pepper’s ghost has been used to revive some looks, while video animation, light projection, soundscaping, AI, CGI and other forms of sensory stimulation provide a deeper context to each piece, according to Vogue’s Luke Leitch.

“Fashion is one of the most emotional artistic forms because of its connection to the body,” Bolton continued. “It is imbued with memory and emotions, and we relate to it very much via our senses. One thing I hope this show will activate is that sensorial appreciation of fashion.” The exhibition will be open to the public the day after the Met Gala, and will run until 2 September 2024.

Read more: Met Gala 2024 Red Carpet

Who are the co-chairs of the Met Gala 2024?

On 15 February it was announced that Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Bad Bunny would join Anna Wintour as co-chairs of the 2024 Met Gala, while Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew were named honorary chairs. All eyes were on Zendaya’s look(s): a custom Maison Margiela creation, followed by a vintage Givenchy runway look. Not only is she the internet’s favourite fashion girl and method dresser, it was her first Met Gala since 2019, when she memorably attended as Cinderella, complete with light-up ballgown and stylist Law Roach as her “fairy godmother”.

What is the dress code for the Met Gala 2024?

The dress code was “The Garden in Time”, inspired by a short story of the same name by JG Ballard, who is perhaps best known for his novel Empire of the Sun, which was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1987.