Met Gala 2024 Recap: ‘Sleeping Beauty: Fashion Awakening’

Every year on the first Monday in May, fans around the world eagerly await the “Superbowl of Fashion” to appear on their screens. The Met Gala has become a wondrous exhibition of fashion and artistry thanks to the avant-garde looks of the industry’s best designers. It also acts as a fundraiser to raise awareness Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, curated by Andrew Bolton.

This year, Bolton wanted to delve into the history of fashion and put some archive pieces back into the spotlight for the 2024 annual exhibition. Ultimately he arrived at this year’s theme: “Sleeping Beauty: Fashion Reawakening.” The carpet was given a dress code with the inscription ‘The Garden of Time’, which inspired attendees and their designers to come up with absolutely breathtaking work inspired by natural elements, which debuted on May 6.

There were many looks that made their way to the Met carpet this year, each equally inspired and captivating in its own right. There were a few standout looks that captured the theme perfectly and reflected the artistic prowess that the Met Gala prides itself on.

Memorable moments

Emma Chamberlain walked the carpet in a brown sheer dress designed by Jean Paul Gaultier for her fourth year as the Met Gala red carpet host. It took about 640 hours to conceive and create. She said Vogue magazine in an interview that her gothic look was meant to look like “the underbelly of nature” and twist the garden theme. She described her appearance in one word: “rotten.”

One of the first celebrities to grace the carpet was Jennifer Lopez, who wore a piece from Maison Schiaparelli, designed by Daniel Roseberry. Met Gala co-host Gwendoline Christie called her presence a “Hollywood vision.” The piece was inspired by the delicacy of butterfly wings and was a breathtaking entrance to JLO’s 14th Met Gala experience.

Amelia Gray wore a dress from Jun Takahashi’s Spring 2024 collection that probably tied in most with the exhibition aspect of the evening. The dress was essentially a terrarium that lit up from within, revealing bundles of roses and greenery. It resembles another terrarium dress that appears on the promotional posters for the event and that exists in the Met exhibit itself.

Demi Moore wore an architectural dress designed by Harris Reed inspired by the thorns of a flower. The dress’s floral decorations are made almost entirely of upholstered vintage wallpaper. In an interview with Vogue Magazine, Reed said that dressing Demi Moore was “one of (his) favorite moments” of his life because he loved that she was open to embracing his creativity.

Ariana Grande was a “popular‘see that evening in a habit Loewe appearance designed by Jonathan Anderson. The bodice is made entirely of mother of pearl and then flows into a silk chiffon skirt with pink and green tones in honor of her upcoming debut as Glinda in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical ‘Wicked’.

Gigi Hadid was one of the most anticipated guests of the evening and certainly did not disappoint in her custom sculptural dress from Thom Browne. It was handmade by 70 people using more than 2,800,000 beads over the course of more than 13,500 hours and has made its mark as one of the most intricate garments on the carpet this year.

Kendall Jenner was inspired by the ‘sleeping beauty’ aspect of the theme and decided to breathe new life into an archive Dress by Givenchy by Alexander McQueen. The garment was shown just once on a mannequin in 1999, making Jenner the first human to ever wear it and requiring no alterations to fit her body.

Elle Fanning wore a Balmain dress that looked straight out of a Cinderella story. The dress was made of a material that resembled resin and lay on her body like an ice sculpture. There were also two sculpted pieces designed to hold up the garment, which also seems to be a nod to the princess.

Lana Del Rey sprouted on the Met steps and resembled Mother Nature herself. Her designer Sean McGirr was inspired by the structural elements true to the Alexander McQueen branding, but with its own ethereal flair. He told Vogue that he took a “sinister” approach to the theme by interweaving the garment and her hair with tree branches.

Sabrina Harrison contributed a piece composed by Chrishabana which appeared to be made of gold and was inspired by a painting by Salvador Dalí called “The persistence of memory.‘The painting shows a distorted dripping bell, similar to the one on Harrison’s dress. This was probably the most unique take on the theme as most of the other guests chose to wear flowers.

Last but certainly not least, Met Gala co-host Zendaya brought the crowd to its knees with not one, but two custom looks. She walked at the beginning of the evening in a theatrical blue and green Maison Margiela look focused on the theme ‘Garden of Time’. She then shocked the world by appearing for a second time in an archival black avant-garde Givenchy dress created by designer John Galliano in 1996, which happens to be the year she was born. She added an extravagant headpiece adorned with roses to complement the look.

Boring tuxedos are not for the Met

There were a number of simple tuxedo looks that made their way to the carpet. The Met Gala is the one event of the year where people want to see something incredibly unexpected, so the disappointment is enormous when a guest doesn’t even try to achieve their goal. Seth Myers told Vogue Magazine, “No matter what the theme is, I always just wear a plain tuxedo.” Many of the other men on the carpet, such as Andy Cohen and Jack Harlow, also opted for everyday suits. Tuxedos look nice, but they’re not quite the recipe for a memorable Met look.

However, there were some suits on the carpet that were a hit. Damiano David wore a Diesel suit made from a sheer lace fabric that perfectly matched the pink dress Diesel made for Dove Cameron. Dan Levy even wore a Loewe-designed suit that resembled a regular tuxedo, but was embroidered with a multicolored floral print that added an element of creativity to the look.

There’s one masculine look from the catwalk that deserves wide recognition, as it became one of the more poetic theme interpretations of the evening. Fashion influencer Wisdom Kaye wore a bright red reconstructed suit with flared trousers and a long skirt designed by Robert Wun. The ensemble was completed with what appeared to be burn holes in the fabric indicative of nature’s degeneration. This take on a classic suit only further proves the point that some of the more unimaginative suits on the carpet this year simply lacked a creative spark.

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