Key events
Gwendoline Christie ascends the steps in Maison Margiela
Chloe Mac Donnell
The Met Gala is all about drama and the British actor Gwendoline Christie is certainly bringing it by slowly ascending the steps and giving a different pose at each level. The GOT star is wearing a red velvet gown and sheer tulle cape by John Galliano for Maison Margiela. She closed his spring ‘24 couture show in January so it’s a natural fit. Although we do kind of wish she’d opted for that corseted rubber look. This feels a little less adventurous and tonight of all nights is when you can really push the red carpet boundaries. The bouffant is fabulous, wonder how many cans of hairspray it took?
Ellie Violet Bramley
Model and co-host of Vogue’s livestream, Ashley Graham has gone for all black, which has been a big look on red carpets of late. But this is no ordinary black tie, this is the corseted work of young designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin. Darkly floral with a directional fringe. Maybe Graham is a Ballard fan.
Ellie Violet Bramley
Chris Hemsworth, star of upcoming Furiosa, is one of this year’s co-chair – a power move given this is his debut Met Gala. He hasn’t, strictly speaking, played it safe with this Tom Ford suit – even for celebrities, all cream is never guaranteed not to be spilled on. But he certainly hasn’t gone all guns blazing in the sartorial stakes, which is not surprising. Ahead of tonight Vanity Fair asked him if he considered himself a fashionable person, to which he replied: “No. Do I think they made a mistake? Yes.” He has, on a previous occasion, been known to wear flip flops on the red carpet.
Chloe Mac Donnell
It will come as a surprise to no one that Anna Wintour is early. Cue the florals for spring memes. Apologies to all botanists but I’m going to say they are some type of tulip? Last year, she made headlines for hard launching her rumoured relationship with Bill Nighy when they walked the carpet arm-in-arm. This year she’s flying solo. Her velvet coat is from Loewe – remember its creative director Jonathan Anderson is an honourary chair so it’s not a huge surprise. If you zoom in you’ll notice that the embroidery is incredible. The bob is also bobbing. This is a strong start.
Chloe Mac Donnell
The first big reveal of the night is the carpet that covers the Met’s famous steps. This year it’s not red but a cream and green tie-dye effect. Florals would have been a bit too literal but why not some luscious real life green grass? This is a bit like someone left a green sock in a white wash.
Chloe Mac Donnell
Florals for the Met? Groundbreaking. But alas it seems guaranteed.
But digging into the fashion archives could prove fruitful. Remember Moschino’s 2018 collection where Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber dressed as actual bouquets. Fun! Or what about that finale dress from Chanel’s 2005 haute couture show covered in handcrafted silk camellias. It would be incredible to see the Challengers star Josh O’Connor, who is also a Loewe menswear ambassador, in one of the brand’s grass growing pieces. An accidental nod to Wimbledon’s centre court, each of the sprouting pieces were the product of a collaboration between the Spanish fashion house and Spanish bio-designer Paula Ulargui Escalona. Game, set, match!
Time seems like another easy literal interpretation of the theme. Many celebrities already have lucrative contracts with high jewellery watch brands so an excuse to wear multiple timepieces will be hard to resist. This could also be the perfect time for someone to dig out Jeremy Scott’s grandfather clock dresses from his 2008 show. But if past themes are anything to go on, as journeyed through in this gallery by my colleague Nyima Jobe, we can expect a little bit more effort. Let’s see if anyone can top Billy Porter being carried up the Met steps by six shirtless men, Rihanna’s 55lb “omelette gown” or of course, the outrage caused by Kim Kardashian in Marilyn Monroe’s 1962 JFK dress.
Strap yourselves in, it’s showtime!
Chloe Mac Donnell
The guest list is kept strictly confidential which only sends the rumour mill into overdrive, although Rihanna has broken that protocol revealing her look will be more “demure” than previous years. As a co-chair Jennifer Lopez is a guaranteed RSVP while Zendaya will also be taking a spin up the steps – her first since 2019. There is heavy speculation that Taylor Swift will be there but it’s unclear whether her boyfriend, the American footballer Travis Kelce, will join her. If he does expect another #breaktheinternet moment.
Ellie Violet Bramley
Hi, Ellie here, also from the Fashion desk, with a little more on the theme of this year. While the Costume Institute’s show is entitled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” unlike in previous years the dress code for the gala diverts away from the exhibition itself. Guests have been told to pay homage to The Garden of Time, a title that takes its name from a 1962 short story by JG Ballard.
The dystopian work of the 20th century sci-fi writer might not seem like an obvious place to root for a theme to a Met Gala, and in fact the deeper you dig the more strange it seems as a choice.
As commentators have been pointing out in the run up to this year’s event, Garden in Time was no tale of a bucolic utopia. Growing from the wonky, satirical mind that also brought us the likes of symphorophilia-inspired Crash and High-Rise, with its take on crumbling high-society, it tells the story of Count Axel and his Countess wife, who live in a villa surrounded by gardens. They must keep a Goya-esque angry mob at bay – an “approaching rabble” – by plucking the flowers. Spoiler alert: no amount of flowers can keep the “advancing army” away.
As fellow fashion writer Rosalind Jana has pointed out, there is a “delicious irony” here. “This is a short story in which the last bastion of rich, refined beauty – with its classical music, rare books, and its lovely clothing – is overrun by a working-class mob.” An interesting choice for an event that could easily be seen as the zenith of excess, to put it mildly.
But there will no doubt be more than a few outfits that skirt this aspect of the inspiration text entirely and land instead on on-the-nose florals. While some may at least nod to the darkness with riffs on weeds over roses and peonies.
Plus Ballard, who once described himself as a “a man of complete and serene ordinariness”, knew his way around a flower – he worked for a stint as a Covent Garden flower market porter. So perhaps he would have taken some delight in what are sure to be some spectacular floral-inspired garments tonight? We can but speculate.
Chloe Mac Donnell
Hello and welcome to the 2024 Met Gala, the biggest and oftentimes the most bonkers night in fashion. It has earned the moniker “the Oscars of the East Coast”, but such is the wider cultural impact of the extravaganza that, in the fashion world at least, its influence now supersedes the actual Oscars.
Helmed by Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue and global chief content officer of Condé Nast, the party lasts about five hours – from the red carpet posing to the dinner that no one actually eats.
It is the ultimate merger of today’s power-players, spanning a roster of famous names from fashion, film, sport, music, social media and, more recently, tech. If you have seen the 2016 documentary The First Monday In May, then you’ll already know that every single guest is personally approved by Wintour. To get the amalgam right she works with a number of co-chairs, this year they are Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Bad Bunny.
Loewe’s creative director Jonathan Anderson is an honorary chair as is Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, which is sponsoring the event – insiders says this has become a little awkward as the USA has since threatened to ban the app deeming it a national security threat under its current ownership. Wintour, as ever, seems to be styling it out, choosing to ignore online criticism from US senators.
This isn’t the first time Wintour has set out to woo the titans of tech. In 2012 Amazon Fashion sponsored the event with Jeff Bezos posing next to Wintour in a Tom Ford tuxedo. Bezos is rumoured to be making another appearance this year, alongside his wife Lauren Sánchez who, according to reports, Wintour is “personally helping” hone her image. Watch this space.
While the night always results in a string of viral memes the main goal is in fact, fundraising, for the fashion wing of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art – it coincides with the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual show. Every one of the 400 or so guest seats are paid for, usually by a brand. This year a single ticket costs $75,000 (up $25,000) from last year while tables begin at $350,000. And remember, as Wintour approves each guest, even if you are part of the 1% you can’t just buy your way in. Last year’s event raised almost $22m, setting a new record for the philanthropic event.
