NEW YORK — When the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute announced the dress code for its annual fundraiser, “The Garden of Time,” back in February, organisers couldn’t have predicted how prescient it would feel nearly three months later.

The theme was inspired by J. G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name, which tells the story of Count Axel and his wife, who live a life of leisure and beauty in a grand villa surrounded by a sprawling walled estate with a garden of crystalline flowers with glass-like stems. Beyond the villa, an encroaching mob threatens to disturb the peace, which Axel staves off by picking a time-reversing flower until none are left.

The inevitably of the destruction loomed almost as large in the lead-up to Monday’s green-and-cream carpet as it did Ballard’s dystopian tale, with several external forces threatening to disrupt the proceedings. Until coming to a last-minute deal agreement, unionised Condé Nast employees were set to protest outside the event over stalled contract negotiations. While the union called off its plans, on nearby Park Avenue, there were pro-Palestine protests, which have been omnipresent on college campuses for weeks. Meanwhile, the fate of the night’s lead sponsor, TikTok, hangs in the balance after President Joe Biden signed into law legislation that would force the platform’s parent company, Bytedance, to sell it to a US-based entity or face a ban in the country.

Still, despite all that threatened turmoil, as scores of celebrities ascended the Met’s famed steps on Monday to fete the institute’s Spring exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, which will open to the public on Friday, May 10, any signs of trouble were barely visible.

Instead, the carpet resembled a lush garden, with a number of the attendees taking a literal approach to the “Garden of Time” dress code with floral-covered looks. Cynthia Erivo wore a Thom Browne skirt suit with a long train covered in flower petals, while awards season favourites Ayo Edebiri and Greta Lee continued their red carpet streak in Loewe floral gowns, the event’s sponsor. A more adventurous interpretation was Lana Del Rey’s gown, by Sean McGirr’s Alexander McQueen, which sported tree branches supporting a veil which was designed to look like a forest engulfed by fog.

“I wanted to connect to the more sinister part of the story and Lana’s music is a major inspiration,” McGirr said of the look’s inspiration.

Male guests added flair to otherwise standard tuxedos. Jonathan Groff wore a custom Simone Rocha tuxedo embellished with pearls on the shirt’s collar, and Colman Domingo, in custom Willy Chavarria, wore a cream double-breasted jacket affixed with black calla lillies on the lapel and billowing black trousers. The look was complete with a cape, an homage to both the late Chadwick Boseman’s 2018 Met Gala ensemble and Andre Leon Talley’s signature aesthetic.

Other attendees sought to hone in on the destructive elements of Ballard’s story. Actress Rebecca Ferguson wore a Thom Browne gown made to resemble a garden statue engulfed by ravens. Dua Lipa wore a black two-piece gown complete with a corset, sheer skirt and feathered cape. Bad Bunny, one of the evening’s co-chairs, wore a custom Margiela ensemble outfitted with a black satin corset, a navy jacket, a beret — a look fitting for a villain in a story book.

“We wanted to continue ‘The Garden of Time’ story but showing what happens when the garden is destroyed,” said Tom Eerebout, who styled Ferguson for the evening. “The ravens which make their way over the silhouette slowly engulf her.”

Some instead focussed on the “time” element of the story, embracing archival looks that turned back the clock. Balenciaga embraced its heritage on multiple attendees: Comedian Rachel Sennot, a first-time attendee, wore a gown made from three Balenciaga dresses from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s while Nicole Kidman wore a reinterpretation of a Cristobal Balenciaga-designed gown that had been captured in a Richard Avedon photograph. Kendall Jenner wore a 1999 Givenchy gown by Alexander McQueen that had never before been worn, as it was originally presented on a mannequin.

A unique take on the “time” theme came from Tyla, who wore a bespoke Balmain gown made from sand that was moulded to her body. A fitting representation of the sands of time, but one that made it difficult for the singer to walk up the stairs; she had to have men lift her from step to step.

The goal with the dress, Olivier Rousteing, Balmain’s creative director, said, was to “create something that would last forever.”

But of course, it was Zendaya, one of the event’s co-chairs, who had all attendees in conversation. She was one of the first arrivals in a custom ocean-blue Margiela by John Galliano gown adorned with tulle and a dramatic headpiece, and then came back to close out the evening in a never-worn Spring 1996 Givenchy black gown, also designed by Galliano, with a 2007 Philip Treacy floral headpiece.

The Met Gala is fashion’s undisputed biggest night of the year; but 2024 has brought forth more tough competition, driven by standout looks at the Academy Awards and buzzy press tours for films like “Challengers” and “Dune 2.” Red carpet-centric discussion online was up 12.4 percent in the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to social media analytics firm Brandwatch.

Despite greater opportunity to make a splash at smaller events, brands still consider the Met Gala an “excellent business opportunity,” said Chavarria, which could generate meaningful impact and awareness for brands of all sizes.

“[The Met Gala] puts me in a circle where I’m able to approach people like Erykah Badu about possibly dressing them,” said designer Willy Chavarria. “That is not something I could have easily done five years ago.”

The Met Gala’s Headaches

On the night of the event itself, the controversies that surrounded the lead-up to the event went mostly ignored.

Despite the ticking clock on its US operations, TikTok’s future wasn’t much of a topic on the red carpet. The social platform hosted several activations, including airing the live red carpet alongside Vogue.com and an interactive voting experience designed to let users weigh in on the night’s best looks.

The disruption threats from Condé Nast employees were also moot: With its last-minute deal, any union protests were avoided.

“Our pledge to take any action necessary to get our contract, including walking off the job ahead of the Met Gala, and all the actions we took this week, pushed the company to really negotiate,” said Mark Alan Burger, Vanity Fair social media manager and a member of the Condé Union bargaining team, said in a statement.

Still, some attendees sought to acknowledge politics through their ensembles. Actor Morgan Spector, whose voice is heard in the Costume Institute’s exhibition reciting the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae in a room dedicated to poppy-inspired looks, wore a Willy Chavarria maroon suit jacket and cream trousers with a poppy flower on his jacket lapel, the national flower of Palestine.

“It’s a quiet nod to being in solidarity with the people of Gaza but it does hold some very powerful resonance with the state of the world today,” said Chavarria.

Inside the Met

Similar to the fashion on the carpet, this year’s correspondent exhibit, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” was heavy on the florals, but also embraced technology, bringing over 250 garments spanning four centuries from the Costume Institute’s archive to life through use of artificial intelligence, light projection, smell and soundscaping.

“Nature is a broader metaphor for fashion, its fragility and the ephemerality of fashion. But also the circular nature of fashion and ideas of renewal and rebirth and regeneration,” said Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge at the Met’s Costume Institute, at the exhibition preview on Monday morning.

The exhibition is organised into three self-contained galleries focused on the elements of earth, wind and air, with rooms themed around flowers (there are rooms for poppies and roses), insects (both butterflies and beetles get a room) and other nature-adjacent figures, like mermaids and sirens.

To bring the pieces to life, the exhibit incorporates sensory elements, such as walls scented with a garment’s odour and the sound of a dress’ rustling playing overhead. The exhibit’s closing look, a 1930s bridal gown with a mermaid train worn by New York socialite Natalie Potter, also got the tech treatment. Museum-goers will be able to converse with an AI replica of Natalie Potter about her life, her taste in fashion, the garment and life in New York in the 1930s.

Visitors will be able to see these garments and others like them, juxtaposed with contemporary creations from Marni, Alexander McQueen, Colina Strada and Loewe (which is also selling candles, bags and other branded items in the gift shop adjacent to the exhibit’s entrance).

“Fashion is a living art form,” said Bolton. “One of the primary intentions behind the exhibition and the sensory interactions … is to transform [visitors] from passive to active participants.”

0 of 10