Everything We Know About the 2024 Met Gala’s Theme, Dress Code, and Guests

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Benefit is officially here, and this year’s dress code is “The Garden of Time.”

Allow us to explain: The 2024 Met Gala theme celebrates the institute’s new exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” According to Vogue, “The exhibit will feature approximately 250 rare items drawn from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection. Spanning over 400 years of fashion history, the pieces will include designs by Schiaparelli, Dior, Givenchy, and more, as well as current pieces from Stella McCartney and Phillip Lim. Some garments that are too fragile to ever be worn again—such as a Charles Frederick Worth ballgown from 1877—will also be displayed via video animation, light projection, AI, CGI, and other forms of sensory stimulation.”

Unlike last year’s event, which featured lots of black-and-white looks, preppy pearls and bows, and cats for “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” the energy for this year’s gala is more ethereal, soft, whimsical, and, dare we say, coquette.

Ahead, everything we know about the Met Gala so far.

When is the 2024 Met Gala?

This year’s Costume Institute Benefit, a.k.a. the Met Gala, will take place on Monday, May 6, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of course. Red carpet footage typically begins at around 6 P.M. ET.

Who are this year’s co-chairs?

On February 15, Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and Chris Hemsworth were named Anna Wintour’s co-chairs for the 2024 Met Gala.

Lopez spoke about co-charing the Met Gala hours before the event on Good Morning America. She was “really honored” to be chosen. “Anna was gracious enough to ask me, and we’re going to have a good time,” she said.

Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew are serving as honorary chairs.

What is the 2024 Met Gala dress code?

The dress code for this year’s Met Gala is “The Garden of Time,” and Vogue noted that it is important to take the museum’s exhibition into consideration in order to fully understand the sartorial direction. The exhibition is titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” and, contrary to its name, it has nothing to do with Disney princesses. It is instead a celebration of fashion that is so fragile now that it can no longer ever be worn (read: rare, archival pieces). Think: Elizabethan-era corsets and dresses with intricate and beautiful designs and cuts—long admired and studied, but delicate and demonstrating “inevitable decay.” The exhibit is broken into three parts: Land, Sea, and Sky.

Vogue also suggested that to be able to appreciate the theme for all that it is, you should familiarize yourself with the short story that inspired it, The Garden of Time by J.G. Ballard (1962). It’s about Count Axel and his wife, the Countess, a happy, loving couple who live alone in a peaceful, deserted utopia. Their balcony overlooks a pristine, almost magical-looking garden.

In the distance, an angry mob approaches their villa, drawing nearer and nearer, and in an effort to save himself and his wife, the Count begins to pluck time flowers, which used to grow in abundance in their garden. With every flower he picks, time goes back further and further. Count picks every last flower until the mob unavoidably reaches the home, with the garden now destroyed.

So, how does this translate into what guests will be wearing to the prestigious event? Per Vogue, it is about “fleeting beauty.” In a more literal translation, guests could show up in florals as a play on the “garden” in “The Garden of Time” dress code. They could also choose pieces that are an ode to nature in general.

We also could see a more whimsical take, with guests wearing more avant-garde looks inspired by tales like Alice in Wonderland or Beauty and the Beast.

Attendees could also lean further into the Elizabethan aspect, dressing in ensembles directly inspired by 16th-century fashion.

On the day of Met Gala, Wintour spoke with Today about the dress code and apologized for any confusion over the theme.

“This exhibition broke my cardinal rule,” Wintour said. “When we came up with the title ‘Sleeping Beauties,’ it’s wonderful and poetic and romantic, but actually, it could be many, many things.”

“[Met museum curator Andrew Bolton] also thought of the dress, and I said, ‘What are we gonna say to people to wear to this night?’ And he said, ‘Well, what about ‘Garden of Time?’ So I fear that we’ve unleashed a lot of confusion out there, and for which I deeply apologize. I imagine we’ll see a lot of flowers.”

Who’s invited to the 2024 Met Gala?

The official guest list hasn’t been revealed yet, but some educated guesses can be made. Zendaya’s boyfriend, Tom Holland, could attend. It may be a little less likely though, as his London play Romeo & Juilet will be in its last week of rehearsals.

Lopez’s husband, Ben Affleck, is more likely to come, as he and Lopez have attended the Met Gala together before. Hemsworth’s wife, Elsa Pataky, could also show up with him.

Since the TikTok CEO is an honorary chair at this year’s event, it’s also likely there will be more influencers.

Kim Kardashian has attended every Met Gala since 2012, so it would be a surprise if she doesn’t show up for this year’s. She also often brings her younger sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Another potential guest on the list is Rihanna. Like last year, the singer usually opts to arrive fashionably late, with the red carpet already empty. Still, there is a chance that she could make a cameo alongside A$AP Rocky.

While Taylor Swift hasn’t attended the museum’s festivities since 2016, fans initially speculated that this year could mark her grand return. (Her Eras Tour picks up on May 9 in Paris, so Swift is theoretically free on the night of the gala.) Swifties also noticed her stylist, Joseph Cassell, recently followed a Met Gala fan account on Instagram, which offered more proof. However, recent reports indicate that the she and her boyfriend Travis Kelce will not, in fact, be in attendance, despite being invited.

Can anybody go to the Met Gala?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Benefit is quite the elusive event. But even if you’ve managed to climb high enough on the social ladder to snag an invite, you’d have to shell out about $50,000 for a ticket.

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