Sleeping Beauties

Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, the 2024 Met Gala theme, has been announced. So let's get into it.

Courtesy of Getty

The actual Met exhibition is being curated by Andrew Bolton, who has selected about 250 pieces from a collection of 33,000. These will be laid out in glass cases when they are too delicate to hang, as if sleeping under a witch's spell themselves. The theme obviously refers to the classic fairytale, Sleeping Beauty, but in the case of the curation, the bringing of archive clothing back from the ghostly slumber of being displayed, untouched, or even packed away through their presentation, and trying to bring their tangible qualities back to life even from behind glass, draws parallels to the tale. What the press already knows is that the exhibition will be themed through sections of land, sea, and sky, and the garments will be brought back to life through sensory aspects like the found design and maybe even the scents. There seems to be a strong focus on nature as rebirth, and garments lucky visitors can look forward to seeing will include everything from 17th-century embroidered bodices to iconic Alexander McQueen pieces. Of course, the Met Gala is often almost more looked forward to than the exhibition itself, as we get to enjoy the spectacle of celebrity costumes from our computer screens. We don’t know yet who the celebrity co-hosts of the gala will be, but we can speculate on how the theme will be interpreted. While the exhibition seems to be swerving around the fairytale notes of its name, to focus on the reawakening in nature, one could hope that some attendees will dress to the fairytale element of the theme.

Courtesy of Vaquera

We're expecting lots of florals, traditional princess silhouettes like full skirts and puffing sleeves, maybe even nods to sleep, sleepwear, or bedding from the more adventurous guests. But what prompted the theme? Well, maybe Anna Wintour thinks it's time to pump some new life into the MET and into the fashion world, to return to nature and all reawaken ourselves to what is important. Or maybe she’s just done with having people in mascot costumes of white cats on her runway.