Zendaya, Bad Bunny, JLo, and More to Host 2024 Met Gala
What we have all been waiting for, from theme and sponsors to co-chairs and the dress code.
For fashion lovers, there is no other time of the year more exciting than the annual Met Gala. The star-studded turnout, the over-the-top fashion looks, the bathroom selfies — the Met Gala is considered the fashion Super Bowl for a reason. And now, we officially know which of your favorite celebrities will be hosting this year's fête. As the first Monday in May draws near, let's recap everything we know about the 2024 Met Gala.
On November 8, Vogue revealed that the 2024 Met Gala theme will be "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." But as much as the theme evokes the image of Disney princesses, this year's dress code is "The Garden of Time," inspired by J.G. Ballard's 1962 short story of the same title.
"It's pretty much an ode to nature [...] Nature as a metaphor for fashion and for its fragility and its ephemerality," Andrew Bolton, the head curator of the Costume Institute, told The New York Times.
The coinciding exhibit, which will be sponsored by TikTok, will be centered around 50 historically significant pieces that are too delicate to be worn again — hence the name "Sleeping Beauties." Other pieces to be highlighted in the exhibit include around 250 items from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s permanent collection and designs by Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, and Yves Saint Laurent, among others. The exhibit will open on May 10 and run through September 2.
And who are Anna Wintour's co-chairs this year, you ask? On February 15, Vogue revealed that Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and Chris Hemsworth are the 2024 Met Gala co-chairs and hosts. While Zendaya, JLo, and Bad Bunny are all Met Gala veterans, this will be Hemsworth's first time in attendance.
Alongside them, Loewe and J.W. Anderson creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will also serve as co-chairs.
As for the guest list, celebrities including Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Blake Lively are slated to attend. For those of you who have been following the Met Gala carpet looks for some time, it's well-known that Rihanna doesn't settle when it comes to her take on the theme. Famously, the singer wore a Catholic-inspired gown for the 2018 gala, "Heavenly Bodies." For last year's theme, she arrived in a grand bridal-inspired look meant to emulate the brides who appeared in Lagerfeld's collections at Chanel. Beyonce's presence will be much anticipated, as she hasn't attended the event since 2016. At the 2016 Met Gala, centered around the theme "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology," the singer wore a beaded latex Givenchy dress in a beautiful blush pink. Lively, of course, has regularly attended with her husband, Ryan Reynolds; she did, however, skip last year's Met Gala. The year before, in 2022, Lively wore a New York City-inspired gown to "In America: An Anthology of Fashion." The Atelier Versace look featured beaded and embellished columns, a stunning aquamarine train, and, of course, a crown meant to emulate the look of the Statue of Liberty.
There are a few key celebrities, however, who are rumored to not attend despite getting an invite.
“Taylor and Travis are not going to the Met Gala. They passed,” a source told Us Weekly.“They might go as it gets closer, but for now, they are not going.”
Last year's theme was in honor of the late Karl Lagerfeld, the well-known designer who is best recognized for his long stint at Chanel. This in turn left many celebrities interpreting the theme with Chanel-inspired pieces, though some celebrities took a more literal approach.
Jeremy Pope wore a long cape with a detailed etched face of Lagerfeld on the back. Doja Cat made her Met Gala debut dressed as Lagerfeld's cat, Choupette. She wore a sequin Oscar de la Renta gown but it was the prosthetic cat nose and cat ears that really had all eyes on her. Jared Leto also cosplayed as Choupette, though he literally came dressed in a life-sized, fur cat suit.