Upon the arrival of the first Monday of May, Vogue Magazine hosted its annual Met Gala in celebration of the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new costume exhibit: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” The dress code, “The Garden of Time,” aimed to honor the historical celebration of the exhibition, although celebrities seemed to stop their interpretations of the theme at the word “garden.”
A-List Celebrities Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Zendaya co-chaired the event, while other celebrities, such as Lana del Rey and Ayo Edebiri were also in attendance. The event featured a performance from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, co-stars of the “Wicked” film to be released this fall.
Over 250 guests arrived at the event dressed to the nines, taking swings at this year’s theme, “The Garden of Time.” Some celebrities conquered the steps in floral gowns such as supermodel Gigi Hadid dressed by designer Thom Browne. Others arrived in archive couture looks, like actress Nicole Kidman in Balenciaga, emphasizing the “time” element of the theme. Inevitably, some celebrities continued their annual tradition of not following the theme at all, like Chris Hemsworth, who made the bold decision to co-chair the “Fashion Superbowl” in a beige suit.
Unsurprisingly, internet discourse about theme interpretation was divided. Pacifying the annual Instagram and TikTok comment-section arguments about what the theme actually means, Vogue themselves issued an article, in which the editor of the magazine, Lilah Ramzi, said, “Boiled down, the dress code, as well as the exhibition, is about fleeting beauty.”
She described the new exhibition as “the celebration of clothing and fashion so fragile that it can’t ever be worn again—and are thus sleeping beauties in the scrupulous archives of the Costume Institute.”
The 250-piece exhibit derived its name and inspiration from the short story “The Garden of Time” by J.G. Ballard, a story about a couple living in a villa with a beautiful garden. Ramzi said, “There is a dystopian element to [the couple’s] paradise; holding onto it is like trying to keep every grain of a fistful of sand intact in your palm.”
Junior Oliva Weber said, “My favorite Met Gala look was Ariana Grande’s,” who wore a mother of pearl corset paired with a drop waist skirt. “I felt like she nailed the theme,” she continued.
Similarly, senior Kaya Bhandari’s favorite look was also Ariana Grande’s.
Olivia continued, “I really liked Nicole Kidman’s look because the bottom part of the dress was organza, which is really delicate, especially with age, which I feel like celebrates timeless fashion.”
Nicole Kidman, who wore a 1951 reinterpreted archive Balenciaga ball gown, described her look in a Vogue red carpet interview. She said, “In the vein of the sleeping beauties and the gowns and bringing them back to life, this was one of those, so I consider this a sleeping beauty that’s been brought back to life.”
Due to the subjective nature of a typical Met Gala theme, controversy is inevitable. Prior to the event, Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue and organizer of the Gala, said, “This exhibition broke my cardinal rule. The title ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is wonderful and poetic and romantic, but it can really be many many things, so I fear that we have unleashed a lot of confusion out there, for which I deeply apologize.” She continued, “I imagine we’ll see a lot of flowers.”
Junior Aria Balani said, “I thought the theme was supposed to be mostly floral, and I think a lot of the looks were on par with that.”
Freshman Sara Cutinho thought differently, but ultimately said, “I loved the Met Gala theme. Even though not many people followed it, the people who did looked amazing.”
