The first Monday in May is almost upon us, which can only mean one thing: The Met Gala has arrived.
This year, the theme for the most exclusive event in fashion and culture is “The Garden of Time.” Alongside Anna Wintour, the co-chairs for the 2024 Met Gala on Monday (May 6) are Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and Chris Hemsworth.
The annual fundraiser for the museum’s Costume Institute will be accompanied this year by an exhibit titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which includes 50-some pieces from the Met’s permanent collection that are too fragile to ever be worn again.
The 2024 Met Gala theme, “The Garden of Time,” is inspired by a short story by English writer J. G. Ballard about a couple living in opulence as a ragtag horde approaches their residence; the husband picks “time flowers” from a dying crystal garden to slow the throng’s inevitable advance (draw your own conclusions about how that theme connects to an evening celebrating conspicuous wealth held by a select few).
Last year, the Met Gala theme was “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” a love letter to the late, great fashion icon behind Chanel, Fendi and his own eponymous fashion house. Stars such as Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Ice Spice, Billie Eilish and Cardi B walked the red carpet, followed by a performance from Lizzo.
Each year, the Met Gala gives the brightest stars a chance to shine on the museum’s red carpet in looks that have ranged from iconically campy (see Lady Gaga’s grand entrance in four separate looks for 2019’s “Camp: Notes on Fashion”) and positively reverential (2018’s “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”) to all things avant garde and haute couture (basically every time Rihanna shuts down the carpet — most memorably in the hand-constructed yellow gown she wore for 2015’s “China: Through the Looking Glass”).
Click through Billboard’s gallery of some of the best Met Gala looks over the years below.
