The associated exhibition, entitled "Sleeping Beauties: The Awakening of Fashion", breaks away from the classic narratives of the Brothers Grimm or Disney to instead celebrate those fashion items so fragile and precious that they cannot be worn a second time, jealously guarded in the archives of the Costume Institute. Andrew Bolton, curator of the institute, appears almost like a prince destined to awaken these "sleeping beauties" for the exhibition.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition will range from historic pieces such as a 17th-century English Elizabethan-era bodice, exemplifying the beauty and fragility of the natural world, right down to its inexorable decay. Alongside these historical treasures, modern pieces will be exhibited, less delicate but equally significant, divided into three sub-themes: Earth, Sea and Sky.
This year's dress code, "The Garden of Time," draws inspiration from a 1962 short story of the same name by JG Ballard, known for his novel "Empire of the Sun" later adapted into film by Steven Spielberg. The story tells of Count Axel and his wife, the Counts, who live in a utopia of leisure, art and beauty, in a villa overlooking a garden of crystalline flowers with translucent leaves and glass-like stems, and crystals at the heart of every flower. However, as in all of Ballard's works, there is a dystopian element: keeping this paradise intact is like trying to keep every grain of sand in your grasp.
The narrative ends with a pressing crowd invading the villa, now a ruined property with a neglected garden, where the statues of the Count and Countess are entangled in nightshade plants.
The 2024 Met Gala promises to be an event that not only celebrates high fashion, but also invites reflection on transience and ephemeral beauty, exploring how art and fashion can capture and preserve the fragility of those moments before they slip away away, just like the petals of a flower in a garden that time seems to want to reclaim.