Floral Reverie: Thoughts on the Met Gala

By  SOPHIE  ZHU ‘26 

The 2024 Met Gala fell on May 6, 2024, and was hosted by Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and celebrity co-chairs Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and Chris Hemsworth. The dress code “The Garden of Time’’ was chosen to complement The Costume Institute’s exhibition titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” 

The exhibition featured approximately 250 items from the museum’s permanent collection spanning four centuries of fashion houses, such as Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, and Maison Schiaparelli. Like the titular Disney princess, fashion experiences dormancy before being rejuvenated. Garments too fragile to be worn or hung will be brought back to life with projections that appear as objects in three-dimensional space. 

“The Garden of Time’’ takes inspiration from a 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard. It paints a hilltop villa inhabited by Count Axel and his wife, who watch as a shapeless rabble encroaches upon their serene garden. They are kept afar and rerouted to their starting line each time the count shears a flower, but the garden is depleted. Their civilized existence of books and music ends with cutting the final flower, a metaphor for the delicate balance between creation and decay. Quite fitting for the exhibition’s theme. Yet, it is difficult to ignore the overt irony of the story’s theme. 

But at its core, the gala consistently occupies a unique position of privilege and exclusivity and is inextricably braided with discussions of class inequality. Most evidently, once an individual has secured a coveted invite, they must still pay a $75,000 ticket fee to attend the event. In addition, fashion mirrors the period’s zeitgeist, and any thematic choice, however abstract or detached it may seem, carries with it connotations of societal dynamics. Fashion cannot be divorced from the broader context from which it was constructed. Nor can a garment be separated from its embedded narratives in its reawakening. 

Of course, many attendees lack a general interest in the evening’s theming, and their presence is due to their fame, relevance, or affiliations with fashion houses. These are undeniably great accomplishments in themselves, but the focus here is fashion. The disconnect between the gala’s thematic aspirations and the many unenthusiastic attendees does not diminish its significance as a platform for social commentary. Thus, the Met is merely a platform for artistic expression within the fashion industry.

“Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking.”

Disregarding any dystopian Hunger Games-like Capitol overtones I got from the entire event, there were many outfits I liked.

It’s clear where Elle Fanning, sculptural and frosted like a frozen “time flower,” gained the inspiration for her dress. Crystal flowers bloom from her shoulders, an elegant twist on the gala’s theme of fragility and life.

Lana Del Rey wore a custom Alexander McQueen fit-and-flare dress with embroidered vines snaking up from the floor to her thorny headpiece. I was hoping for motifs of rebirth and decay on the carpet, and with the studio lights backlighting her hair through the tulle, she looks like a deer in the headlights or a surreal apparition, haunting and otherworldly. 

Aesthetically, I liked Ariana Grande’s look, which epitomized whim and enchantment, with a custom Loewe mother-of-pearl bustier dress that cascaded layered silk chiffon. Thematically, it was not my favorite, but I have always been partial to the ethereal and fantastical, and the crystalline butterflies fluttering around her eyes added to the allure.

I also enjoyed Tyla’s Balmain sand sculpture—very on theme—Zendaya’s first dress, and Alia Bhatt’s look.  

Perhaps my favorite was Mona Patel’s gown, with an array of kinetic flower petals encircling her arms, fluttering in slow motion, and a scalloped train. The look was custom couture by Iris Van Herpen with kinetic motion artist Casey Curran. Stylist Law Roach brought the gown to an Indian embroidery house, combining tech, traditional couture, and culture. She looks serene. 

I expected botanical overload. The romantic Yves Saint Laurent Spring 1999 dress definitely came to mind first, as did the Studio Ghibli-esque Uncovered butterfly terrarium dresses. Maybe Dior Summer 2017 flower crowns and Guo Pei Fall 2019 and Spring 2018. Florals are markers of Spring. Perhaps a little cliché and overused, but that doesn’t mean they don’t resonate. But this interpretation seems surface level for a fashion event with such an interpretable theme. And I cannot count how many attendees simply neglected the theme altogether. They are given an entire short story to reference. We are the horde, and we can only ogle at their opulence. The Met Gala is escapist, which you can argue is out-of-touch with the current climate. It’s so removed from everyday life that it feels surreal.