MET GALA 2024 // Best Dressed
It's the First Monday in May, which means it is fashion's biggest night out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Met Gala! The theme for this year's exhibition is "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion", which blends nature and technology into the art of preserving fragile archival pieces spanning hundreds of years. I always look forward to visiting The Costume Institute's new exhibits every year at The Met and I am looking forward to visiting this one soon! It is made up of 250 timeless pieces from The Met's archive that are too fragile to ever be worn again, which are aptly being called "sleeping beauties". With this exhibit, The Met is putting an emphasis on the convergence of rebirth, renewal, and the preservation of the fashion.
The theme of the red-carpet event that celebrates the opening of the exhibition is "The Garden of Time," which is based off of a short story from 1962 by author J.G. Ballard. Vogue best summarized the short story in their press release, "The night's sartorial theme gets its name from a J.G. Ballard story about a count who—to stave off an angry mob nearing his castle—cuts a rose from his garden to slow down time until there are no flowers remaining. With the story's dystopian undertones in tandem with the exhibit's emphasis on old and new, we can expect a red carpet filled with everything from florals to techno-inspired fashion—and maybe even a Sleeping Beauty reference or two."
The fashion at this event was absolutely among the best in recent years. There is so much elegance and innovation present this year. I always love seeing all of the creativity and artistry that goes into the designs for this event, here's some of my favorites!
Gigi Hadid
One of my absolute favorite looks of the night is from Gigi Hadid, she always nails the theme every year. This beautiful gown was designed by Thom Browne and took a team of more than 70 people over 13,500 hours to make entirely by hand. The embroidery alone took 5,000 hours and used 2.8 million micro beads! The attention to detail and the craftsmanship is so incredible. Her stylist Mimi Cuttrell was inspired by garden statues and pillars wrapped in vines and flowers. She looks so incredible and fully embodies the garden of time theming!
Emma Chamberlian
The evolution of Emma Chamberlian is like no other. This year, she wore a beautiful custom brown lace Jean Paul Gaultier dress partially inspired by a piece from the house's Fall 2003 collection. While a lot of the fashion this year is obviously very floral to match the garden theme, Emma took a different, darker, approach with it. "This is sort of a fantasy, enchanted-like theme. It’s fun to do a dark twist on it; the underbelly of nature," Emma told reporters on the red carpet. To describe it in one word, she called it "decaying". I love everything about this look, from the color of the lace, to the styling, to the gothic smokey eye. She looks incredible and I am always looking forward to what she does next! She has been working to establish herself in the fashion industry for quite a few years now, but I think we'll look back on this look as the moment Emma truly became a fashion icon.
Kendall Jenner
Kendall says she was the "first human" to ever wear this stunning Givenchy gown designed by Alexander McQueen in 1999. It was only ever displayed on a mannequin and has been in the archives ever since. She said that no tailoring was allowed at all, but it naturally fit her perfectly! Kendall is always a stand-out at The Met Gala every year and this may be one of my favorites yet.
Taylor Russell
Taylor made her Met Gala debut this year in a custom Loewe gown that was 3D modeled to fit her body perfectly. It was then printed with the wood pattern using a technique called hydro sublimation, which the brand has experimented with in their recent collections. "Playing with the senses is central to the experience of the exhibition and we play similar tricks with trompe l'oeil in collections at Loewe, blurring the line between what’s real or surreal, what’s natural or unnatural," the brand's designer J.W. Anderson told Vogue. This is such a gorgeous design that is unlike anything I have ever seen before!
Lana Del Rey
Lana is wearing custom Alexander McQueen, taking inspiration from the house's Fall/Winter 2006 "Widows of Culloden" collection. This design looks so delicate and romantic, but still makes such a statement. That is quintessentially Lana to me, she looks so stunning. I have loved seeing her style evolution over the past year, especially during her incredible headlining spot at Coachella just a few weeks ago and at The Grammy's back in February! This look is so ethereal and really ties into the Sleeping Beauty aspect of the exhibition's theme.
Zendaya
Zendaya made her long-awaited return to The Met this year and for the first time as a co-chair of the event. As always, she brought the drama in these two beautiful looks. Her first was a custom Maison Margiela Artisanal by John Galliano design, based on a 1999 Dior dress. The combination of the royal blue and deep emerald tulle is so stunning. The close-up details of fruits, flowers and hummingbirds were so beautiful too. She looked like she was straight out of a fairytale!
Toward the end of the night, Zendaya walked the carpet again in a beautiful Givenchy gown from 1996 designed by John Galliano, paired with a 2007 Alexander McQueen bouquet-inspired headpiece. She is always so expressive through her fashion and always will put her own twist on the night's theme for a showstopping moment.
Elle Fanning
Sleeping Beauty herself embodied the theme so beautifully! Elle Fanning's custom Balmain gown was so gorgeous and glistened like it was made of ice. The sleeves were also adorned with flying birds made with resin. The design was directly inspired by "The Garden of Time", the short story that the theme of the event was based around by J.G. Ballard. An excerpt from the story reads: "The flowers grew to a height of about six feet, their slender stems, like rods of glass, bearing a dozen leaves, the once transparent fronds frosted by the fossilized veins." It is so intricately crafted and looked so magical when it caught the light.
Tyla
Tyla made her Met Gala debut with this stunning sculpted sand gown by Balmain. The design takes inspiration from "the sands of time" aspect of the event's theme in such an innovative way, completely redefining the boundaries of traditional fashion principles. The brand's creative director, Olivier Rousteing, and Tyla's stylist, Katie Qian, collaborated on this custom piece, which was made from a mold of her body and sculpted using actual sand. The details of the sand dusted on her shoulder, along with an hourglass clutch designed by Balmain, tied together the look so beautifully. "The inspiration behind this creation stemmed from a desire to redefine boundaries and transform a transient material into an everlasting masterpiece," Olivier told Vogue. "The idea of sculpting a garment from something as ephemeral as sand ignited my imagination, and I could not be happier with the end result."
M O R E
F A V O R I T E S
Anok Yai
Venus Williams
Irina Shayk
Mindy Kailing
Wisdom Kaye
Ugbad Abdi
Imaan Hammam
Olivier Rousteing
Sabrina Harrison
Nicole Kidman
Da' Vine Joy Randolf
Ayo Edebiri
Jennie Kim
Aya Nakumura
Jessica Biel
Jeff Goldblum
Amelia Gray
Penélope Cruz
Sebastian Stan
Jaden & Willow Smith
Quannah Chasinghorse
Elsa Paraky & Chris Hemsworth 
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