2024 Met Gala Theme Revealed

Set your alarms now—you won't want to sleep through this event. 

After all, the 2024 Met Gala is gearing up to be a pajama party for the ages with its "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" theme.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit of the same name—from which the Gala finds its theme every year—will feature 250 pieces from the Costume Institute's permanent collection, but presented in an innovative way. In fact, many of the pieces have also rarely been put on public display. 

"This innovative show will push the boundaries of our imagination," museum CEO Max Hollein said in an announcement on Nob. 8, per Vogue. "And invite us to experience many facets of a work, to learn more about its history, and, ultimately, to gain a deeper appreciation of its beauty."

The exhibit will feature fashion ranging over hundreds of years, with modern pieces displayed alongside their historical counterparts, and will be shaped around three main "zones"—land, sea and sky—in an effort to trace the way humans' ever changing relationship to the natural world can be seen through fashion. 

As for who will chair the first Monday in May event alongside Anna Wintour? Well, that'll be revealed at a later date. One thing that is certain, however, is that "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" will be a can't miss exhibit.  Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge at The Costume Institute, said of the show, "It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion."

So, where do the "sleeping beauties" come in? The core structure of the exhibition will revolve around 50 historically significant pieces that are too fragile to ever be worn again.

Some of the designers that will be featured in the exhibit—which will be open from May 10 to Sept. 2, 2024—include Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney, Connor Ives, Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior. 

"Fashion," Andrew continued, "is one of the most emotional artistic forms because of its connection to the body. It is imbued with memory and emotions, and we relate to it very much via our senses. One thing I hope this show will activate is that sensorial appreciation of fashion."