The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently revealed the theme of the 2024 Costume Institute Exhibition and Gala, a major annual appointment in the world of fashion that will be titled “Sleeping Beauties…Reawakening Fashion.”
Every year, the Met Gala attracts an elite group of celebrities from the worlds of fashion, film, politics and sports, with a guest list carefully curated by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
Next year, the ceremony will be held in Manhattan on May 6 to celebrate the opening of the exhibition, which the public can attend from May 10 to September 2. The two events are co-sponsored by the famous video sharing application “Tik Tok”.
The comprehensive, immersive exhibition will include about 250 pieces of clothing and accessories spanning four centuries, from the vast archives of the Fashion Institute, which includes 33,000 pieces, from an embroidered jacket from the 17th century to a dress made of seashells from the Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2001 collection.
The Metropolitan Museum said in a recent statement: “Using the natural world as a unifying visual metaphor for the transience of fashion, the exhibition will explore cyclical themes of birth and renewal, injecting new life into these historical objects.”
“When pieces enter the museum’s collection, it is clear that they cannot be worn,” explained the curator of the Costume Institute, Andrew Bolton. So you don’t see the movement. “You can’t smell it, you can’t hear it, you can’t touch it.” Through the exhibition, he hopes to “reawaken the sensory abilities within the fashion pieces at the Fashion Institute through different techniques.”
The Met Gala is the main source of funding for the Fashion Institute. Anna Wintour has been directing the charity concert since the 1990s, and has turned it into one of the most attention-grabbing concerts in the world.
• 250 pieces of clothing and accessories spanning four centuries will be included in the exhibition.
