What Is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala, formally named the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising event held to support the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in our very own New York City. The gala is an annual event that takes place on the first Monday of May with a different theme and dress code every time. It includes a red carpet for A-list celebrities and icons; Elise Taylor, a writer at Vogue, explains in her piece “I Tried to Go to Every Single 2024 Met Gala After-Party,” that in order to get an invite “you can’t just be an actor. You have to be an actor in a hit movie.” And “you can’t just be a model. You have to be a model who walks the runways of New York, London, Milan, and Paris.”
2024 Theme and Dress Code
The Met Gala 2024 took place on Monday, May 6, celebrating the Costume Institute’s upcoming exhibition entitled “Sleeping Beauty: Reawakening of Fashion.” Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute, says that the exhibition is “very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion.” The guests followed the dress code of “The Garden of Time,” which is inspired by the J.G. Ballard short story of the same name.
This Year’s Best Dressed
Every year, fashion fans are on the edge of their seats as we eagerly await to see our favorite celebrities in their most extravagant outfits. Each Met Gala, the designs get increasingly creative and innovative, sparking major reactions in the pop culture world. In recent years, I have particularly admired the red-carpet looks of a few celebrities, including Blake Lively, Zendaya, Billie Eilish, and Rihanna. In my mind, they win best-dressed every year.
Despite the fact that some of my favorite celebrities were absent this year, such as Blake Lively, Billie Eilish, and Rihanna, new icons attended the event wearing looks that caught my eye, prompting me to become a bigger fan of them.
Sydney Sweeney, an American actress gaining popularity from the series “Euphoria” and renowned for the new hit movie “Anyone But You,” arrived in a new and unrecognizable look. Instead of seeing her usual blonde hair, she showed up in a black bob wig, surprising us all. She wore a glamorous blue floral gown by Miu Miu, paired with black latex gloves and a diamond necklace. This outfit contrasted Sydney’s first two Met Gala dresses in 2022 and 2023, as she had an edgier take on the theme this year. Her shocking look captured my attention and I then wanted to learn more about the details behind the outfit. Along with Sweeney, many stars at the event wore whimsical and fairy-tale inspired gowns, which were all very fitting to the evening’s theme.
Another celebrity who caught my eye was Tyla. The 22-year-old South African singer and songwriter became popular in 2023 from her hit release “Water.” Tyla made what may be one of the best Met Gala debuts yet. For Tyla’s first Met Gala experience, I would say she nailed it, especially as one of the youngest guests that night. She stuck to the “Time” part of the dress code, holding an hourglass-shaped purse by Balmain. The star wore a custom Balmain creation made of sand and micro-crystals. You might be wondering how a dress can be made of sand. Well, you are not the only one. Tyla’s look sparked major interest and amusement from all of us. Her dress was extremely fragile, as one would expect, she even had to be lifted up the steps of the museum to avoid the gown’s sand crumbling from the movement.
While these were my favorites this year, I was curious about others’ opinions. Sophomore Brooke Lawrence said, “My favorite Met Gala dress was Elle Fanning’s. It looked like she was an ice sculpture, and I think she really nailed the theme.” Sophomore Lila Daniels shared that she “liked Lana Del Rey’s outfit because it was funny how she kept hitting people with her tree.” (Lila Daniels is a Managing Editor for the Polygon.)
The Met Gala is one of the most awaited events of the year. It includes celebrities, fashion, and, most importantly, extravagance. As each year brings new themes and inspirations, the event remains a night of great significance in the fashion industry.
