Vogue has announced the highly anticipated Met Gala Theme for 2024 entitled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” which is inspired by the Metropolitan Museums exhibit showcasing 50 historically and culturally significant pieces that are too fragile to ever be worn again, hence the “sleeping beauty” title.
Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute spoke on the exhibit saying: “Fashion is one of the most emotional artistic forms because of its connection to the body.
“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.”
In light of this announcement let’s take a moment to look back at the best themes from the previous iconic first Mondays in May.
For 2019’s exhibition, they drew inspiration from Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay, “Notes on ‘Camp’” describing a sensibility marked by performance, excess, and a kind of winking bad taste exemplified by figures like Oscar Wilde and outré aesthetic movements such as Art Nouveau.
The Camp: Notes on Fashion theme gave us some of the best and most extravagant looks the Met Gala has ever seen such as Lady Gaga’s Fushia gown designed by Brandon Maxwell which became a performance piece as she undressed herself all the way up the stairs.
T7E0BT New York, New York, USA. 06th May, 2019. Lady Gaga at The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City. Credit: John Palmer/Media Punch/Alamy Live News
The 2018 gala is a crowd favourite titled Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, the exhibit being debuted had hundreds of holy items on display, including dozens of artefacts and objects sent over from the Vatican; most of which had never seen the light beyond Rome.
We saw some utterly divine, outrageous and inspired looks including Rihanna as the pope, Zendaya as Joan of Arc and Arianna Grande in a dress painted like the Sistine Chapel.
MKF84E Zendaya attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala 2018 in New York, USA. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Picture date: Monday May 7, 2018. See PA story SHOWBIZ MET Gala. Photo credit: Ian West/PA Wire
In 2015 the gala celebrated China’s influence on Western fashion with the theme China: Through the Looking Glass”. The exhibition was a joint effort between the head of the museum’s Department of Asian Art and the Costume Institute, showing looks from Chanel, Alexander McQueen, and Christian Dior Haute Couture.
As usual, the unofficial queen of the Met Gala Rihanna was perfectly on theme with a gorgeous yellow couture coat designed by Guo Pei. Some other stand-out looks of the night were from Zendaya, FKA Twigs and Lady Gaga.
ENH3F3 New York, New York, USA. 4th May, 2015. RIHANNA arrives wearing a yellow fur-trimmed, embroidered cape on the red carpet at the Met Gala on Monday evening for the Costume Institute Gala Benefit ‘China: Through the Looking Glass.’ © Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMAPRESS.com/Alamy Live News
In America: An Anthology of Fashion was the 2022 theme and the second part of the Metropolitan Museum’s examination of American fashion.
This theme was supposed to act as a historical insight into both the designs and the stories of their designers drawing mostly from the gilded age of fashion. However, we at Fashion North think this was one of the most misread themes we’ve had so far.
Although some incredible looks were showcased, we think it was a missed opportunity as there was so much potential for greatness that went to waste.
Some celebrities who did understand the assignment though are Blake Lively in her corroding Statue of Liberty dress, Kim Kardashian in Marilyn Monroe’s dress she wore to sing Happy Birthday to JKF, Emma Corrin’s ode to the King of the Dudes, Sarah Jessica Parker’s 19th century structured dress and finally Genesis Suero, the unknown TV reporter who stole the show and hearts of people all over the internet for being so on theme in a beautiful bejewelled gown.
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