Current:Home > BackAll eyes on The Met: What celebs will see inside Monday's high-fashion gala-InfoLens
All eyes on The Met: What celebs will see inside Monday's high-fashion gala
View Date:2024-12-23 14:42:15
NEW YORK − The line between high fashion and nature is blurred throughout the Metropolitan Museum of Art's newest exhibit "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." The exhibition is the centerpiece of this year's Met Gala, an event that has become so eclipsed by celebrity it can be hard to remember it's actually a fundraiser for the museum's Costume Institute.
Once A-listers climb those famed steps, the public is shut out of what lies inside. Attendees − handpicked by Anna Wintour, Vogue editor-in-chief and an elective trustee of the institute − are not permitted to broadcast from the party. As a result, the Met Gala is both extremely public and extremely private. While we can't tell you which celebs will inevitably pose for bathroom selfies or exchange flirtatious glances, we can reveal the art they'll take in.
Here's a rundown on "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion."
Zendaya teases Met Gala 2024 lookHow her red carpet moments made her a fashion darling
The Met Gala theme, explained by its creators
"When a work of fashion enters into the Met’s collection something happens: it becomes an object," Met director and CEO Max Hollein said in remarks delivered at a press preview Monday morning. "We can no longer wear it, we can no longer touch it, we can no longer feel it. We don’t feel it and we can’t even smell it. Not in the way the original creator has intended,” he continued.
Hollein is laying out the internal logic of the exhibit, which seems to be − fashion is to be felt, not just admired, and no number of years passed should preclude that original purpose. While you cannot touch the clothing on display, the museum has created clever ways to allow visitors to experience the fashion through all senses.
Drawn exclusively from the Met’s permanent collection, the exhibition houses some 220 pieces dating back to the 17th century, head curator Andrew Bolton told the crowd Monday. Many of the galleries showcase a "sleeping beauty" or a dress lying flat, too delicate to even stretch around a mannequin for display.
The exhibit isn't all antiquity though, there's plenty of modern design and technology at play.
Tech is the key to "reawakening" theme
For a display deeply rooted in works from the past, trappings of the modern world are everywhere. Immersive and multi-sensory, some of the galleries house speakers playing the swishing sound of silk that the gowns would have made while others allowed you to touch the walls to feel the texture of the fabrics.
"Reawakening" is an operative word for the exhibit. Working in tandem to reference the rebirth of spring and the floral patterns that come with it, "reawakening" also refers to the technology used to bring older garments to life.
The final gallery features a 1930s wedding gown worn by New York socialite Natalie Potter. Nearby, a QR code can be scanned to open a custom version of ChatGPT where attendees can "ask" Natalie questions about her dress and life and she'll answer. Using old family letters and newspaper articles, OpenAI "brought Natalie and her world to life through her gown,” Mira Murati, the chief technology officer for the company said Monday.
Other galleries had tubes emitting scents "reawakened" from the dresses through a process that identifies molecules emitted from the fabric, then reproduces them. In others, attendees could rub the wall gently and then smell it to take in perfume scents of yore.
“What this exhibition tries to do in an experimental and also I think very engaging way is kind of bring back some of this artistic integrity that’s in these objects through technological means,” Hollein told USA TODAY.
Floral motifs just in time for Spring
Appropriate for a spring show, the exhibit is centered around floral motifs and designers who took cues from the natural world. Wintour herself attended the preview in a long green coat complete with bright floral embellishments at the sleeves and the base.
Galleries are separated in large part based on the portion of the natural world from which designers drew inspiration. One room was all poppies, with John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" read aloud from overhead speakers. Deep reds and oranges punctuated gowns from Isaac Mizrahi and Sarah Burton. Another was all about roses, with a "Beauty and the Beast" style rose encased in glass in the center and an ostentatious rose headpiece.
One room took inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock, displaying a blazer and gown with dark swallows as footage from "The Birds" played overhead. Another hallway headed to the coast, showcasing garments inspired by the oceanside and a series of shiny shell purses.
As professional and couch critics alike prepare for the evening's red carpet, all eyes will be on how designers choose to interpret "reawakening" (and whether the celebrities sporting the looks can pull it off).
veryGood! (34888)
Related
- Contained, extinguished and mopping up: Here’s what some common wildfire terms mean
- Nashville officers on 'administrative assignment' after Covenant shooter's writings leak
- Chick-fil-A announces return of Peppermint Chip Milkshake and two new holiday coffees
- Donald Trump’s lawyers ask judge to end civil fraud trial, seeking verdict in ex-president’s favor
- Former West Virginia jail officer pleads guilty to civil rights violation in fatal assault on inmate
- The moon will 'smile' at Venus early Thursday morning. Here's how to see it
- Lyrics can be used as evidence during rapper Young Thug’s trial on gang and racketeering charges
- Last 12 months on Earth were the hottest ever recorded, analysis finds
- Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says
- The Best Gifts For Runners On The Trail, Treadmill & Beyond
Ranking
- Voyager 2 is the only craft to visit Uranus. Its findings may have misled us for 40 years.
- Germans commemorate ‘Night of Broken Glass’ terror as antisemitism is on the rise again
- Why Michigan’s Clean Energy Bill Is a Really Big Deal
- Kenya says it won’t deploy police to fight gangs in Haiti until they receive training and funding
- Advocates Expect Maryland to Drive Climate Action When Trump Returns to Washington
- Plastic balloon responsible for death of beached whale found in North Carolina
- Federal prosecutors say high-end brothels counted elected officials, tech execs, military officers as clients
- As Hollywood scrambles to get back to work, stars and politicians alike react to strike ending
Recommendation
-
Kentucky gets early signature win at Champions Classic against Duke | Opinion
-
Hollywood celebrates end of actors' strike on red carpets and social media: 'Let's go!'
-
Southwest Airlines says it's ready for the holidays after its meltdown last December
-
Japanese Americans were jailed in a desert. Survivors worry a wind farm will overshadow the past.
-
A growing and aging population is forcing Texas counties to seek state EMS funding
-
Not vaccinated for COVID or flu yet? Now's the time ahead of Thanksgiving, CDC director says.
-
Tennessee Titans' Ryan Tannehill admits 'it hits hard' to be backup behind Will Levis
-
The Best Gifts For Runners On The Trail, Treadmill & Beyond