Where To Watch The 2024 Met Gala Tonight
By
7 months ago
The buzziest global event in fashion is back for another year
It’s arguably the biggest annual fashion gathering in the world, with celebrities from all over the world attending (dressed, of course, to theme) in celebration of New York City‘s beloved art museum. The Met Gala can only be described as spectacular, but it took a lot of planning to make it what it is today. Here’s everything you need to know about the event – as well as the upcoming 2024 Met Gala dress code and theme.
The Met Gala 2024: All The Details
How To Watch The 2024 Met Gala
TV
US viewers will be able to catch red carpet coverage of the Met Gala on E! from 6pm Eastern Time; unfortunately for viewers across the pond, UK TV channels will not be covering the event.
Stream
For those unable to watch the 2024 Met Gala on TV, there are plenty of streaming options. The event’s official partner, Vogue, will be live streaming the event live across its digital platforms, including TikTok and YouTube, as well as its website. To save you the ease, we’ve popped the livestream link below for you:
What Is The Met Gala?
Established in 1948 by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, the Met Gala is an annual fundraiser held for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. Coinciding with the opening of the museum’s spring exhibition, the event asks guests expected to dress up based on the year’s exhibition theme in a formal and haute couture style – making it one of the most glamorous fashion events on the yearly calendar. Since 1995, the event has been co-chaired by Vogue editor-in-chief and pop culture icon Anna Wintour.
When & Where Is The Met Gala?
The Met Gala is held every year in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As per tradition, it is held on the first Monday of May, to mark the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibition – and the next gala falls on 6 May 2024.
Who Attends?
Unlike other charity events, the Met Gala is invitation only – and there’s usually a waiting list to get a ticket. The event is usually attended by celebrities and personalities spanning the arts, fashion, film, music, sports and high society.
Who Are The Co-Hosts?
The Met Gala has recently announced this year’s co-hosts (or co-chairs, as they’re officially known): Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez and rapper Bad Bunny.
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What Is This Year’s Theme?
The theme for the 2024 edition of the Met Gala is Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. Now, this isn’t a reference to Disney princesses or fairy tales, but rather a celebration of around 250 garments and accessories in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection that are now too fragile to be worn.
The exhibition itself will feature original research, conservation analysis and diverse technologies which will bring these garments to life in a multi-sensory display, evoking the feeling of wearing these masterworks while highlighting the transience of fashion. The garments, which also share looks related to nature, will span four centuries of fashion history and be divided cross a sequence of self-contained galleries with themes inspired by the natural world – with a series of ‘sleeping beauties’ (garments that can no longer be dressed on mannequins due to their fragility) displayed in glass ‘coffins’.
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‘The Met’s innovative spring 2024 Costume Institute exhibition will push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience the multisensory facets of a garment, many of which get lost when entering a museum collection as an object,’ said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. ‘Sleeping Beauties will heighten our engagement with these masterpieces of fashion by evoking how they feel, move, sound, smell and interact when being worn, ultimately offering a deeper appreciation of the integrity, beauty and artistic brilliance of the works on display.’
‘When an item of clothing enters our collection, its status is changed irrevocably,’ added Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge at The Costume Institute. ‘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 endeavours 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. By appealing to the widest possible range of human senses, the show aims to reconnect with the works on display as they were originally intended – with vibrancy, with dynamism, and ultimately with life.’
What Is The Dress Code?
Alongside the Met Gala’s overarching theme, the dress code for the event has just been unveiled as ‘The Garden of Time’. Every year, the dress code helps guests to more closely define the Met Gala’s general theme and dress accordingly; in this case, ‘The Garden of Time’ is a reference to J.G Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name, which follows the demise of two lovers’ utopian lives. The story’s protagonists, Count Axel and his wife, enjoy a life of joy and serenity in a beautiful palace. To keep this fragile perfection intact, however, the Count must pick time-reversing flowers from his garden one by one. The story ends as the last flower dies and brutal reality finally invades – gesturing metaphorically to the inescapable cycle of creation and destruction.
If this all sounds rather abstract, the Met Gala dress code simply serves to illuminate this year’s theme of fragile, transient beauty, and its horticultural focus will likely see many guests decked out in floral looks.
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When Does The Met Gala Exhibition Open?
When: May 10–September 2, 2024
Where: The Met Fifth Avenue, The Tisch Galleries, Gallery 899, Floor 2
BOOK: metmuseum.org
Featured image: “Tulipes Hollandaises” evening cloak, Charles Frederick Worth (French, born England, 1825–1895), textile designed by A. M. Gourd & Cie, textile manufactured by Morel, Poeckès & Paumlin, 1889;Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of the Princess Viggo in accordance with the wishes of the Misses Hewitt, 1931 (2009.300.1708). Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image: Nick Knight, 2023.
