Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth will host the Met Gala under the theme ‘The Garden of Time’
The event will be inspired by the theme of the exhibition ‘Sleeping Beauties: The Awakening of Fashion,’ and 19th century styles, crystals and flowers are expected
Anna Wintour, the head of Vogue magazine, released two pieces of news on Thursday morning, both in connection with the high-profile Met Gala, which will take place on May 6 at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. With less than three months to go, Wintour has finally explained what this year’s dress code will be: “The Garden of Time.” On the other hand, the editor-in-chief has revealed the names of the event’s co-chairs: two men and two women, all of them celebrities in their own right in the world of entertainment. They will be the singers and actresses Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya, who have become style icons in recent years, the Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, and the Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, known for his role as Thor. They will join honorary chairs Jonathan Anderson, creative director of the Loewe brand, and Shou Zi Chew, CEO of the TikTok platform.
The theme of the party is in line with the spring exhibition to be held at the museum. The gala takes place on the first Monday in May every year, and right afterwards, a fashion exhibition opens to review an era, a designer, a trend or an idea. This year, the exhibition will be called Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. In 2023, both the exhibition and the gala revolved around the late couturier Karl Lagerfeld, head of houses such as Chanel and Fendi, and the hosts were the actresses Michaela Coel and Penélope Cruz, the tennis player Roger Federer and the singer Dua Lipa. This year, these Sleeping Beauties will showcase very delicate garments, so fragile that they must be stored in special glass cases, as the curators of the exhibition explained a few months ago.
“The exhibition will breathe new life into these storied objects through creative and immersive activations designed to convey the smells, sounds, textures, and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body,” the museum explained in a statement. There will be three sub-themes: land, sea and air. Up to 250 garments and accessories from the last 400 years that have barely been seen until now will be on display in the museum, including an English Elizabethan bodice from the 17th century, which will be on display from May 10 to September 2.
Vogue has announced the four hosts and the theme with a video on social media that simulates a conversation between the four and Anna Wintour through text messages. It is Wintour who provides guidance about the dress code thanks to a painting uploaded by Jennifer Lopez: The Old Gateway, by the British artist Thomas Edwin Mostyn (1864–1930), depicting a Victorian garden with romantic and 19th-century touches. The dress code for the gala is based on the story The Voices of Time, published in 1962 by the writer J. G. Ballard (the same author of Empire of the Sun, which Steven Spielberg brought to the screen in 1987).
Therefore, the entire wardrobe will contain elements of gardens, crystals, melancholy and a “modern dystopia.” The magazine uses current examples of garments by designers such as Giambattista Valli, Valentino, Loewe and Simone Rocha, and also by Karl Lagerfeld and Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, although remembering that “the spirit of the exhibition focuses on the passage of time.”
As for the hosts, their role will be to accompany Wintour and receive the rest of the hundreds of guests who will parade on the red carpet of the New York museum. Of the four, the one who has drawn the most attention is Chris Hemsworth, as he does not have as direct a connection with the world of fashion as the other three, and in fact this will be his first time at the gala (it is possible that he will be accompanied by his wife, Elsa Pataky). New Yorker Jennifer Lopez, 54, and Californian Zendaya, 27, have become fashion icons, especially in recent years. Belonging to two very different generations, both stand out for always being among the best dressed, in addition to being lovers of design; it’s not unusual to see them in fashion shows and catwalks. Lopez, recognized as a Fashion Icon by the Council of Fashion Designers of the United States in 2019, has attended the event up to 13 times, with designs by Valentino, McQueen, Marchesa and Dolce&Gabbana. Last year she wore a Ralph Lauren, with a huge black train and a Philip Treacy headdress. Zendaya, who received the same tribute as a Fashion Icon by the Council in 2021, has attended five galas, including one in which she dressed as Cinderella and another as a modern Joan of Arc. The Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, 29 years old and whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is also one of the most groundbreaking men in terms of fashion, and this will be his third gala.
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