"The Garden of Time": A Met Gala in Retrospect

Feb 24

3 min read

Welcome to Part Three of our Met Gala Countdown series! As we wait for the First Monday in May, I think it’s worth revisiting notable years. Why don’t we start with the 2024 Met Gala?

Last year’s Met Gala exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” was a multisensory journey through the history of fashion and featured garments deemed too fragile to be worn again. It explored themes of decay and renewal and illustrated how fashion, much like nature, can undergo cycles of transformation while preserving its essence through artistry and innovation. Iconic pieces from designers like Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior, and Elsa Schiaparelli were displayed alongside historical textiles, creating a dialogue between fashion, nature, and time. The exhibition featured 250 pieces spanning over 400 years and used innovative technology, including AI, projections, and scent, to breathe life into these old designs.

Here’s a guided tour:

The accompanying dress code for this exhibition was “The Garden of Time,” and attendees were encouraged to blend elements of nature and fantasy into their attire. Some attendees showed up to the Met Gala in creative interpretations of the theme, while others stuck to a standard black tie dress code. The following highlight reel doesn’t capture EVERY single look, but I think it captures some of the stand-out celebrity looks of the night:

I think that it was a good night for red carpet looks. Perhaps not at the same tier as 2019’s “Camp: Notes on Fashion” or 2018’s “Heavenly Bodies,” but it was no flop. I did have two favourite looks from the night, both of which were creative and original approaches to the dress code:

Tyla in Balmain

Oliver Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, embraced ephemerality and nailed the assignment. The sand was a clever play on the theme - Tyla embodied the sands of time, thus the hourglass dress silhouette (molded to the singer’s body) and an hourglass clutch. Also, can I say that a sand dress is not something anyone can easily pull off? It takes a certain je nais se quoi to own a look like this, and Tyla nailed it without really trying. It’s simple, original, and it’s art. This dress earned a spot in my favorite Met Gala looks of all time.

Mona Patel in Iris Van Herpen

An Indian woman wearing a pale beige butterfly inspired dress on a red carpet at a black tie event. — Mona Patel in Iris Van Harpen at the 2024 Met Gala Photo Credit: Getty Images for The Met Museum

God, it was such a perfect look. The colors, the fabric, and the design were perfect from head to toe. Credit here goes to stylist Law Roach, who worked with Patel to create this look. The lack of a necklace was such a brilliant choice as it allowed the dress to speak for itself. My favorite detail was the fluttering wings, an idea of Patel’s developed and perfected by kinetic artist Casey Curran. Using the butterfly as the motif was the perfect interpretation of both the theme and exhibition - butterflies are the epitome of cycles and time, and (pardon the science lesson) they are vital pollinators contributing to the life cycle of flowers and gardens. It was an original and elegant look that became one of the most talked about of the night, and rightfully so.

Did I mention that this was Tyla and Mona Patel’s Met Gala debuts? Those gentle people and gentle people are how you make debuts. Now, a question for you, dear readers: what were your favorite looks from “The Garden of Time”?