We’re back for our annual Met Gala debrief. I’m here to equipped you with all the knowledge you need to be able to properly judge everyone’s outfits this upcoming Monday. Of all the themes and dress codes we’ve discussed so far over the years, this one feels like it’s the most straightforward, so I don’t think I’ll be keeping you too long. As a fashion history nerd, I look forward to making my way to the Met to view this exhibit, and I’d love to say that I’m looking forward to see what everyone wears, too, but we all know that expectations should always be kept low for that.
Anyway, let’s get into it!
This year, the Costume Institute will be presenting us with ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’, but these are not the sleeping beauties from your fairytales, “sleeping beauties” refers to 50 items from the Met’s permanent collection that are too fragile to be worn.
According to the Met, “Approximately 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be on view, visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion and a vehicle to examine the cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal.”
The inspiration for the exhibit came from a ball gown by Charles Fredrick Worth, circa 1877. If you don’t know, Worth is considered to be the OG couturier (I talk more about him in one of my first ever newsletters), and instead of actually being in the museum, this specific gown will actually be shown through some kind of video projection. AI, CGI, x-rays, light projection, soundscapes, etc. will be used to help display a lot of these items, as some are so fragile, even withstanding light is too much to ask.
The further we go back, the more often clothing was made with natural fibers. Things like cottons, silks, and wools are a lot more sensitive to external factors than synthetic fibers are. While, insects might be an obvious threat, lightning, temperature, air quality, and moisture can also interfere with the preservation of garments. That’s why when you see clothing dating back to, perhaps the 15th century, it’s often not out for a very long time. You may also notice that when you enter the Costume Institute’s exhibits, the rooms are quite dim.
To help bring life back to our aged darlings, the exhibit will be a sensory experience, using smells, sounds, textures, and motions to reimagine the garments (my synesthesia is intrigued), and will be separated into three zones: land, sea, and sky.
Andrew Bolton, the lead curator of the Costume Institute said, “It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion.”
I’m sure this isn’t why this is the theme this year, but it is funny that it comes two years after Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s naked dress to the gala, to most people’s dismay. There were the few fashion historians or fans that felt it was nice seeing such a historic piece out and about, but most were horrified to see the damage that was done after Kim wore it— I am part of the latter group. This is why conservation is important!! Also, the whole point of the dress was for it to look naked, and it obviously didn’t match Kim’s skin tone. It would have been more impressive if she’d had Bob Mackie remake the gown to be perfect for her. ALSO, heard that up until literally 2023, the Met Gala this year was meant to be John Galliano themed, but it was too controversial. Following a Karl Lagerfeld themed Met Gala, it honestly would have been a bold move, even for Anna Wintour.
Now, the dress code. Although interchangeably spoken about with the theme, the dress code is not the same thing. This year, the dress code is ‘The Garden of Time’, based on a short story of the same name by J.G. Ballard. In the story, Count Axel and his wife live in a beautiful villa, behind a large wall. There’s a meadow of glass like flowers sprawling across their land and an angry mob in the distance getting closer and closer. Count Axel plucks a flower each day, which rewinds time and reverses the mob's advancement, until one day all the flowers are gone. The mob finally reaches the villa, breaking through the wall, only to reveal a barren land and two stone statues of the Count and his wife. It’s a metaphor for human history, and this cycle of creation and destruction. Themes of decay, fragility, and beauty are explored, and seem to connect to this idea of “sleeping beauties.” Essentially, the idea of fleeting beauty.
What do I think people will wear? Florals, of course. I’m not necessarily opposed to the idea, I just don’t want a boring floral, you know? I want a floral!!! Think Christian Dior FW2010 Couture by John Galliano, anything by McQueen but specifically Alexander McQueen SS2007, the finale look from Chanel FW2005 Couture, or Thierry Mugler SS1982. Or if we’re thinking of the short story, the flowers are like glass, so let’s get crazy and wear a dress fully made of glass, I don’t know!
I’m expecting a lot of Loewe since the brand is supporting the event, so plays on the florals in Spring 2023 or Spring 2024 would be fun. Also, Loewe Spring 2023 Menswear— imagine someone literally plucking flowers from another person and watering them. I believe the sticker dresses from Marni Spring 2024 will be featured in the exhibit, however seeing something custom based on them would be fun, or perhaps some painted dresses a la Marni Fall 2024! Simone Rocha could do something interesting, with florals or without, especially since we just saw that beautiful couture collection she did for Jean Paul Gaultier. The terrarium dresses from Undercover Spring 2024 were absolutely breathtaking, and feel like a perfect embodiment of the short story and the exhibit.
Moving on from the florals and garden of it all, I’m sure we’ll see people taking the exhibit name literally, by dressing as princesses, or like they’re ready for bed. Honestly, if that means wearing a look from Viktor & Rolf FW2005 Couture, I won’t be complaining. I know I’m mentioning Loewe a lot, but using the idea of the feather looks from Fall 2023, it would be interesting to see an interpretation of the shell dress from Alexander McQueen SS2001. You know I love Nicolas Ghèsquiere, but the Louis Vuitton looks are often a miss at the Met Gala, because they’ll wear, like, a random pre-fall collection look right off the runway, BUT the Resort 2024 collection, is strong, and one that is often referenced for custom looks. Nicolas explored this idea of creatures coming out of the water and becoming flowers that don’t actually exist. Someone else that could give us a bit of sea, from the land, sea, and sky of it all is Di Petsa with her wet looks, while the garden of TIME makes me think of the clock dress from Moschino Fall 2022.
More metaphorically, time could be interpreted just through the wearing of archival pieces. I believe the Junon dress is going to be part of the exhibit, but I beg Dior not to recreate that shit for the millionth time— it never hits the same. Maison Margiela SS1996 featured trompe l’oeil style gowns, with vintage dresses printed on jersey dresses, which feels reflective of the way that alternative techniques will be used to display garments in the museum. Christian Cowan Fall 2024 kind of had that same idea, but instead used technology to create a color changing dress, so it would be interesting if someone wore some kind of projection that changed to an array of different archival pieces, showcasing one brands history.
It’s interesting that this theme comes at this specific time, because I find that the owning of archival pieces is rising in popularity, and is almost being used as this form of cultural capital for those who are in the know when it comes to fashion. It also suggests that there is value in looking to the past, and that fashion isn’t necessarily always this innovative thing.
When I think of Andrew Bolton describing it as the “emotional poetics of fashion,” I’m reminded of Anne Hollander talking about fashion being a visual memory, connecting us to the past, while shaping our present experience. So, perhaps people will dress in relation to their own personal, significant memories.
Then also thinking about the exhibit being a sensory experience and exploring the idea of fleeting beauty, I think of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theories discussed in ‘In Thinking Through Fashion’ where the author writes, “While most attention has been paid to the look of female fashions and how they appear to others, there has been far less focus on the haptic qualities of clothing and how these are experienced by wearers. It has been assumed that women’s pleasure in dress is a secondary one which derives from them vicariously placing themselves in the same position as the putative male spectator, that is, they would only experience pleasure through their internalization of the objectifying male gaze, seeing themselves as others see them.” Clothing is an extension of us, and our bodies are not separate from our minds, so it’d be interesting to see how attendees could turn their own looks into sensory experiences.
Haha, remember when I said I wouldn’t keep you here long. Never trust a yapper! Anyway, see you back next week to judge everyone and everything<3
TTYL!!!
xx