My 2024 MET Gala Review: "Spring Has Sprung"
From Zendaya being a John Galliano vision, Lana Del Rey and Kim Kardashian being staircase besties, to Tyla's staircase troubles, "The Garden of Time" is the MET Gala’s first post-pandemic success.
Despite my best “gatekeeping” efforts, here’s another edition of The People Person, the ONLY newsletter that spills the tea on fashion’s hidden gems and (accurate) pop culture hot takes.
Today… My 2024 MET Gala review is in… As much as it’s controversial, I absolutely loved (almost) everything. Why, you ask? Well, any event with Bushwick’s Michael Jackson, aka Charli XCX, is a guaranteed hit!
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In lieu of Anna Wintour’s Today Show “apololie” for the 2024 MET Gala’s confusing dress code (“Garden of Time”), Vogue fashion historian Lilah Ramzi beautifully listed her designer picks to nail the opening of the museum’s latest spring exhibit, titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”— granted the day-of clarification did nothing to save the stylists of Willow Smith, Serena Williams, and event co-chair Chris Hemsworth. Alongside Wintour and Hemsworth, Zendaya, Bad Bunny, and Jennifer Lopez also served as co-chairs for this year's MET Gala.
Per the press announcement, The Costume Institute’s Curator in Charge, Andrew Bolton, expanded on the collection’s “sleeping beauties” thesis: “When an item of clothing enters our collection, its status is changed irrevocably. What was once a vital part of a person’s lived experience is now a motionless ‘artwork’ that can no longer be worn or heard, touched, or smelled. The exhibition endeavors to reanimate these artworks by re-awakening their sensory capacities through a diverse range of technologies, affording visitors sensorial ‘access’ to rare historical garments and rarefied contemporary fashions.”
Again, since most attendees were confused by the MET’s “too fragile to be ever worn again” sentiment, the night’s memorable moments opted for more literal interpretations of J.G. Ballard’s 1962 “Garden of Time," as it's the eponymous inspiration for this year’s dress code. The short story juxtaposes the natural passage of time with the fragility of human life using crystalline flowers that turn back time.
Namely, Lana Del Rey and Tyla recaptured the story’s ending best with two completely different mothering “statues”: Lana cosplayed a thorny siren, bathed in custom Alexander McQueen cloths and a billowing veil, accentuated with a single red rose in hand; Tyla opted for a “carry me up the stairs” number in a bodacious sand-colored Balmain gown, complete with a hourglass clutch. For Lana’s look, McQueen’s creative director, Sean McGirr, referenced an archival design from the house’s fall 2006 collection.
Although an underrated opinion, Kim Kardashian was more on theme than co-chair Jennifer Lopez, where silver florals drenched the Skims founder in what she’s dubbing an “armored lace,” 18-inch-waisted custom dress from Maison Margiela Couture. And Kim’s sweater is the winning point. Much like the “sleeping beauties” inside the new exhibit, there’s a tendency to shield “motionless ‘artwork’” from human admonishment, no matter how intact and beautiful. And every time Kim readjusted that grey sweater, everyone thought she was acting shy after bombing Netflix’s The Roast of Tom Brady, but my eyes saw the true vision— immediately! It was a win in my book… especially whilst accompanying Lana to the event entrance.
If there were any outliers (*cough* every man and BLACKPINK’s Jennie), they were buried underneath the amount of head-turners climbing the MET’s iconic stairs. The usual stunners— Gigi Hadid, co-chairs Bad Bunny and Zendaya, Emma Chamberlin, Kendall Jenner, Ariana Grande, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elle Fanning, Teyana Taylor, and Cardi B— were absolute eye candy from their modern minimalism (*cough cough* Doja Cat) to their nature-oriented extravaganza (*cough cough cough*Amelia Gray).
However, all eyes were on the Loewe table, especially as first-year sponsors, with particular emphasis on label darlings Taylor Russell and Greta Lee: The “Bones And All” starlet shined in a 3-D-printed corset that morphed her into a real-life wood nymph, while the “Past Lives” actress looked reborn in a white abstract-yet-fitted lace number.
As Ariana Grande changed into an unpadded Maison Margiela Spring 2024 Couture look for a performance melody, I realized the 2024 MET Gala was a night of too-tight corsets, florals galore, and second looks— this time, worn sinfully incorrect. Even if florals are forever last season, I realized when you don’t have someone in you’re ear saying this year’s gala was mediocre, “Garden of Time” is perhaps the best dress code execution in the post-pandemic era (thus far.) In my own wise words, if nobody is clocking Anna Wintour’s outfit, then the night is a win.
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