There’s always a lot of anticipation leading up to the announcement of the next Met Gala theme, and next year’s event is shaping up to be one for the books. “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” will serve as Met Gala’s next theme, and it will span 400 years of fashion history.
The Costume Institute’s next exhibition will celebrate the beauty of dormant, fragile garments that have long been forgotten because they’ve been rarely seen in public before. Approximately 250 items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection will be displayed in an entirely new way, for the whole world to see.
The exhibition will feature everything from 17th-century English Elizabethan-era garments to dresses by such legendary designers as Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, and Hubert de Givenchy to creations of the 21st industry titans, including Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney, and Connor Ives.
Max Hollein, The Met’s director and CEO, promised this new exhibition will push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience the multisensory facets of different fashion garments.
“‘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,” said Hollein in a statement to Vogue.
The “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibition will first see the light of day during the Met Gala on May 6, 2024, before running from May 10 to September 2, 2024.
