From Broadway stars to fashion statements: Inside the Met Gala 2024 | Fashion trends

As he strolled the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on his way to cocktails, James Corden comically spread his arms out, as if he owned the place. “Let me know if you want me to walk you through this,” he said, pointing to the priceless art on the walls as he joked with Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sánchez, who happened to be walking behind him. It was all in good fun, but Corden, like many celebrities, is a Met Gala regular. Then there are the firsts. These guys, no matter how famous they are in their field, often express a bit of wonder at the concentration of celebrities around them, and even some nerves, like a kid arriving at a new school.

For example: stray children. The K-pop band arrived en masse at their first gala, all eight dressed by designer Tommy Hilfiger in various iterations of red, navy blue and white. As they entered the museum, they climbed the grand interior staircase, reached the reception line and then headed to the cocktails, where, they said, they slowly began to relax. (Read also: Met Gala 2024: From Alia Bhatt to Zendaya; 8 best-dressed celebs who stole the spotlight on fashion’s biggest night )

“We were nervous at first.” said band number Bang Chan. “We didn’t know what to expect, who we would meet,” said bandmate Felix. But they were settling in nicely and had already spoken to Chris Hemsworth, Steven Yeun and Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons. Then there was Ayo Edebiri, star of ‘The Bear’, who was a multiple winner on the awards circuit this year but was attending her first gala. She seemed almost out of breath after greeting presenters Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Hemsworth and Vogue’s Anna Wintour, who as always oversaw the whole affair, at the top of the stairs.

“I’m really, really excited to be here,” she said. “This is something very beautiful again and I will do my best to remember it.” Dressed in a lace floral dress from Loewe, one of the evening’s sponsors along with TikTok, Edebiri headed for cocktails in the airy Charles Engelhard Court in the American wing of the museum. Due to the usual commotion outside on the carpet, guests trickled in slowly at first, leaving the receiving line with little to do in the first moments (Lopez and Bad Bunny took a few joint selfies).

Among the early risers were Australian director Baz Luhrmann and his wife, costume designer Catherine Martin, who served as creative consultants for the evening. They both spoke passionately about the gala’s function as a fundraiser for the Costume Institute and its benefits to the museum overall — not to mention its potential to engage young people around the world, whom Luhrmann noted carpet looked online, to draw the art. Met officials said Tuesday evening that more than $26 million had been raised, a record and a huge amount for a fundraising campaign. Some other memorable moments and scenes from inside the gala:

A MAGICAL FOREST

Although the name of the party’s accompanying exhibition was ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’, it wasn’t really about Princess Aurora from our fairy tales. Rather, it was about spotlighting and highlighting fragile garments from the museum’s collection that were now ‘awakened’ to the world. Still, it’s safe to say that the museum went full fairytale.

Upon entering the Great Hall, guests passed a huge 33-foot centerpiece representing a “whimsical tree.” Huge green fabric flowers sprouted above a forest-like thicket with twisted branches that looked exactly like the foliage that Sleeping Beauty’s prince had to cut to give her true love’s kiss. Guests then walked through a live string orchestra and a tableau of performers dressed as woodland creatures – in tunics and tights – frolicking in the woods.

FASHION AS ART

Given the choice of viewing the exhibition or going straight to cocktails, most guests chose the latter. But some did go to the show, a multi-sensory fashion experience that involved not just sight, but also sound, smell and touch. Lena Waithe spent time alone inspecting the garments and said she was “just in awe of the work I see.”

The actor/producer added that she, like many, often sees fashion as fun and light. “But then I come here and I’m reminded that it’s an art form,” she said. And she recalled a speech that Meryl Streep, as a Wintour-like character, gave to Anne Hathaway in “The Devil Wears Prada,” about the clothes we wear that are chosen for us. “I think we need to be reminded of that, that our style is influenced by people who have been gone for a long time,” Waithe said.

SETH MEYERS REMAINS ON HIS STREET

Host Meyers, who attended the gala with his wife, said it was a nice break to get away from child care for an evening. But he also jokingly asked why his little ones (8, 6 and 2 years old) weren’t invited. “I think it’s very rude that Vogue didn’t invite them,” Meyers joked. “It’s so child-friendly here. And they are so good at keeping things at bay.”

Meyers said what he enjoyed most about the gala was seeing “a lot of people that I’m a fan of, or that I’ve interviewed on the show.” But when it comes to fashion, he likes to play it straight, he said: “No one wants a guy like me to make a big swing. I’ll stay on my path.”

THE BROADWAY CROWD

There is always a strong Broadway contingent at the Met Gala, as Wintour is a big theater fan. At the gala, Jonathan Groff, fresh off a Tony nomination for “Merrily We Roll Along,” laughed and joked with good friend and fellow “Glee” alumnus (and “Funny Girl” star) Lea Michele, expecting her second child and radiant in her appearance. baby blue Rodarte reminisced about past Met Galas he attended, including one where he performed from the show “Hair,” and another in 2016 where guest Beyoncé had just released “Lemonade” a week earlier, he recalled. “was epic.”

‘LITTLE ME WOULD BE SO HAPPY’

A table away sat another Broadway star, J. Harrison Ghee. Last year, Ghee attended their first gala, about a month before she won the Tony for best actor in “Some Like it Hot.” Ghee wore a dramatic feathered look by designer Howie B, inspired, they said, by a tube worm – perfectly in keeping with the evening’s nature theme. The evening, Ghee said, was proof that fashion was a vital and expressive art. And they added; “My little self would be so happy. I contact them all the time: would they be proud? They would.”

A DRESS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS (BROKEN) PARTS

As Sánchez and Bezos walked through the exhibit, her signature dress made an equally distinctive sound as it scraped the floor. “We won’t lose you,” Bezos joked. Sánchez said she burst into tears the first time she tried on Fernando Garcia and Oscar de la Renta’s striking design by Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim. The voluminous skirt featured pearl and mirror appliqués and was meant to evoke Tiffany glass. “If you need a mirror, just use my dress,” Sánchez joked. She added that she felt the dress symbolized life – where everything is a little broken, and it depends on what you do with the pieces. And she was misty-eyed as she described trying on the dress for Bezos: “He told me I had never looked so beautiful,” she said.

Fun fact: Sánchez said Garcia told her he needed an item to repair the dress, and that he ordered it on Amazon.

A CLARION CALL FOR DINNER

How do you get hundreds of chatting celebrities to stroll through the museum before dinner? The organizers have tried different ways. One year it was a team of buglers. Another year, Jon Batiste and his melodica led a band that weaved through the crowd. Last year, David Byrne did the honors. On Monday, a huge choir formed, singing original music titled “Future of Us,” accompanied by dancers. Then a bell rang and the performers shouted, “To dinner!” And the crowd moved – slowly – to the Temple of Dendur, where the fairytale motif continued with tables of “enchanted candlesticks entwined with flower arrangements.”

WHAT TO EAT?

Being late is still fashionable; Some guests still arrived at 9pm and even much later. But for those who made it before dinnertime, this was what was on the menu: a main course of beef tenderloin, pea tortellini, morels and spring vegetables, followed by a dessert of petits fours inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of, yes, “Sleeping Beauty” – along with treats “in the form of custom-made hats.”

This story was published via wire agency without modifications to the text. Only the headline has changed.