The inspiration: The theme was “The Garden of Time,” referencing a 1962 short story by British author J.G. Ballard, which takes place in a garden of time-bending florals.
The official dress code was “The Garden of Time,” which takes its title from a 1962 short story written by British author J. G. Ballard, set (as its title suggests) in a garden filled with translucent, time-manipulating flowers.
The Ballardian theme accompanies The Costume Institute’s exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which will run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 10 through September 2.
Here’s what you should know:
Co-chairs: Superstars Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth served as co-chairs — alongside American Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. Lopez, who wore a nude illusion Schiaparelli gown, described it as “quite the honor” to serve as co-chair, although she hinted it might be the last time. “I think that’s it for me.”
A second look from Zendaya: In addition to co-chairing, Zendaya worked double on the red carpet, which in fact was cream-colored. The “Challengers” star’s first look was designed by Maison Margiela and was an ode to nature, with a towering headpiece tucked into a forest-green beret, a hummingbird on her neck and fruits and vines draped around her deep blue-and-green gown. Her surprise second appearance was styled by Law Roach and sourced from Beverly Hills vintage clothing store Lily et Cie.
Fun spins on suits: Though their looks weren’t as attention-grabbing as their counterparts on the green carpet, several celebrity men — including Donald Glover, Ed Sheeran and Jack Harlow — put fun spins on suits and tuxedos with subtle nods to the night’s garden-centric theme.
Celebrities in all-black: The red carpet saw an array of colors, including a handful who interpreted the year’s theme in black ensembles. Stars like Juliana Canfield, Rosalía, Cardi B and Dua Lipa wore black. Rosalía explaining she wanted to embody lady Dior – but through the eyes of fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, and described herself as “a black tulip.”
Who didn’t attend: Met Gala favorites includingRihanna, Blake Lively, Kate Moss, Beyoncé, Solange and Taylor Swift were all not in attendance at this year’s gala.
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Here's who didn't show at the Met Gala this year
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Rihanna arrives at the Met Gala in New York City on May 7, 2018.
Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
Alas, fashion lovers: Some of our favorite Met Gala attendees of years past did not grace the green carpet this year.
Perhaps the most notable absence was that of Rihanna, who’s delivered some of the most memorable Met Gala looks of recent memory, including her stunning yellow Guo Pei cape from 2015 or that incredible, gem-encrusted mitre hat from John Galliano. When she has stopped by the Met Gala, she’s typically one of the final celebs to walk the carpet.
Blake Lively, another Met Gala regular, didn’t return this year either. Amateur Met Gala historians are still fawning over her 2022 Versace gown inspired by the Statue of Liberty’s patina.
Blake Lively attends the Met Gala in New York City on May 2, 2022.
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Supermodel Kate Moss was noticeably missing. Her 1995 pastel yellow Calvin Klein gown is one of the most casually beautiful looks in Met Gala history.
Beyoncé hasn’t been to the Met Gala since 2016, and yet every year, fans hold out hope that she’ll make her grand return. At least she’s delivered some exceptional country-fied looks on Instagram to celebrate the release of her new album, “Cowboy Carter.”
Solange, sister of Beyoncé and fashion icon in her own right, was deeply missed at this year’s Met Gala. The carpet could’ve used her unique infusion of personality, intellectual curiosity and fearlessness.
And finally, Taylor Swift, the other concert movie queen of 2023, has also chosen not to return to the gala since 2016. Perhaps she’ll consider returning in 2025 once she’s taken a break from world domination.
Taylor Swift attends the Met Gala in New York City on May 2, 2016.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
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"Succession" stars take the night off at the Met
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
These looks would never fly at WayStar Royco.– but on the Met Gala red carpet, the stars of the Emmy-winning HBO drama eschewed the corporate dress code.
Jeremy Strong attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
“Eldest boy” Jeremy Strong, currently starring on Broadway in “An Enemy of the People,” wore a creamy tux with floral embellishments on one side of his lapel and a single earring that Logan Roy would certainly not approve.
Kieran Culkin attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Kieran Culkin, who won an Emmy for his raucous performance as Roman Roy, was accompanied by his wife Jazz Charton and wore a colorfully printed suit.
Matthew Macfadyen attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Tom Wambsgans himself, Matthew Macfadyen, jazzed things up with a velvety blue tuxedo jacket.
Juliana Canfield attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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And Juliana Canfield, who played Kendall’s beleaguered assistant Jess across four seasons, finally got her moment in the spotlight, dazzling in a strapless black gown with a giant bow across the bodice and a feathery skirt.
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Celebrity men put subtle fun spins on suits
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Donald Glover attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Though their looks weren’t as attention-grabbing as their counterparts on the green carpet, several celebrities made impressions in suits and tuxedos with subtle nods to the night’s garden-centric theme.
Donald Glover, who recently teased new music from his rap alter ego Childish Gambino, looked relaxed in various shades of brown.
Ed Sheeran, attending with Stella McCartney, wore a powder blue suit straight out of an ’80s prom, complete with a casually undone bowtie.
Jack Harlow, on his third trip to the Met Gala, matched his mullet-in-progress with a gray-and-silver suit.
Jack Harlow attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Aliah Anderson/Getty Images
Nicolas Galitzine, who stars opposite Anne Hathaway in Amazon’s romance “The Idea of You,” wore a sharp custom Fendi tuxedo to his first Met Gala.
A blond Adrien Brody accented his otherwise standard black tuxedo with a large silver brooch.
Sebastian Stan looked relatively subdued in a black T-shirt and pants, minus his dashing coat with black sequin appliques.
Director Taika Waititi, accompanying wife Rita Ora to her 10th Met Gala, wore a monochromatic milky brown suit complete with gloves. It looks as though he was dipped in the river at Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Taika Waititi attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Cindy Ord/MG24/Getty Images
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Zendaya reveals second Met Gala look
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Zendaya attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Just when we thought we’d seen the last of her, Zendaya is again walking the Met Gala carpet in a surprise second look styled by Law Roach and sourced from Beverly Hills vintage clothing store Lily et Cie.
In addition to the dramatic black Victorian gown — pulled from the archives of spring/summer 1996 Givenchy by John Galliano —she accessorized with aheadpiece crafted from a bouquet of roses. It was designed by Philip Treacy for Alexander McQueen for spring/summer 2007.
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Lizzo's headpiece turned her into a flower
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Lizzo attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Dressed like a whimsical character out of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, Lizzo’s dress didn’t stop at her neck. Instead, it turned into a conical hat that wrapped around her face and was laced in the back with corset-like closures. The hem of her dress curved up, like the lip of an anthurium flower.
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Nicki Minaj pops in colorful custom Marni
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Nicki Minaj attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Nicki Minaj has made her grand entrance at the Met Gala, wearing a vibrant yellow Marni minidress reminiscent of an idyllic oil painting.
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This controversial Met Gala look glows in the dark
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Amelia Gray attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Model Amelia Gray’s mini Undercover dress is one of the most ambitious of the night: When the marigold look was modeled on the runway, it was filled with live butterflies.
The dress now appears to feature roses alone, but it’s no less show-stopping. It glows in the dark, too, though the lights of the carpet were too bright for the effect to fully dazzle.
The “terrarium” dress closed Undercover’s Spring-Summer 2024 show in Paris and is now on the cover of the hardcover book commemorating the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
It wasn’t without its detractors, though. Designer Jun Takahashi apologized for featuring live insects inside the dress after animal rights organization PETA criticized the look.
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Lewis Hamilton's Burberry look pays homage to the first Black gardener in Wales
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Lewis Hamilton attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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The British Formula 1 driver was proud to share the inspiration behind his oversized black coat from Burberry: An unnamed gardener, an enslaved man brought to the UK in the slave trade who became the first Black gardener in Wales in the 18th century.
The slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act went into effect in 1834.
“Through adversity, he really triumphed,” Hamilton said.
Inside the coat is a large tag with a poem from an unnamed Black English poet, he said.
Hamilton’s dedication to the Met Gala — this year is his fifth — is unmatched. He was in Miami just this morning after racing there on Sunday.
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Sydney Sweeney pairs a black bob with a ballgown
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Sydney Sweeney attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Theo Wargo/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
The scream queen and “Anyone But You” star shocked by trading in her signature blonde locks for a choppy black bob reminiscent of a punkier Snow White. The Miu Miu dress, meanwhile, was a more traditional baby blue gown with a tulle skirt and dozens of tiny flower buds, but Sweeney livened it up with black gloves.
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Worth the wait. Cardi B arrives in a voluminous black gown
From CNN's Tori B. Powell
Cardi B attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
John Shearer/WireImage/Getty Images
Rapper Cardi B arrived on the Met Gala red carpet just as the Vogue live-stream of the arrivals was wrapping up.
It was worth the wait. She wore a voluminous black gown, complimented by a tall black head wrap.
She said jokingly that the dress weighs 5 pounds more than she does.
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Sabrina Carpenter's striking in Oscar de la Renta
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Sabrina Carpenter attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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Sabrina Carpenter’s custom Oscar de la Renta gown features a sleeveless body-con fit that descends into a puffy baby blue and white train.
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Dua Lipa goes goth in Marc Jacobs
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Dua Lipa attends the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
Theo Wargo/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
The singer and occasional actress, who just released her third album and hosted “Saturday Night Live,” arrived on Jacobs’ arm in a revealing, lacy black dress with a feather boa, sheer sparkling gloves and a healthy dose of attitude.
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Doja Cat gets wet at the Met
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Doja Cat attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Doja Cat is wearing a wet Vetements by Guram Gvasalia T-shirt dress and Euphoria-esque glitter tears at the Met Gala.
Before she arrived on the carpet, she posed for paparazzi photos in white towels wrapped around her head and torso — which some fans think is an homage to a photo of Lady Gaga taken backstage at the 2019 Oscars.
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Kim Kardashian dazzles in metallic Margiela
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Kim Kardashian attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
The billionaire businesswoman’s look is a masterclass in mixed media: She’s wearing custom Maison Margiela, with a metal bodice and a silver floral overlay. For the illusion of comfort, she’s draped a gray, pilling sweater over her shoulders.
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Kendall Jenner's rare gown has never been worn before
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Kendall Jenner attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Looking like a forest queen from a fantasy series, the supermodel is wearing archival Givenchy, made by Alexander McQueen during his time helming the atelier.
“I’m the first human to ever wear it,” she told La La Anthony. The dress was made in 1999 but was never modeled on a person, she said, so when she and her team found the dress and it fit, the look felt meant to be.
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Stella McCartney brings sustainability to the red carpet with lab-grown diamonds and vegan leather
From CNN's Tori B. Powell
From left, FKA Twigs, Stella McCartney, Ed Sheeran and Cara Delevingne attend the 2024 Met Gala on May 6.
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Fashion designer Stella McCartney highlighted sustainability in her looks seen on model Cara Delevingne, and singers FKA Twigs and Ed Sheeran.
The stars each are wearing ensembles that feature lab-grown diamonds, McCartney told red carpet livestream hosts Ashley Graham and Gwendoline Christie. Sheeran’s shoes, she added, are made from vegan leather.
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Lana del Rey is an earthen goddess
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Lana Del Rey attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
In custom Alexander McQueen by Seán McGirr, Lana del Rey embodied a woodland queen aesthetic, apt for the theme’s roots in the natural world.
The hand-embroidered bronze-hammered bullion natural hawthorn branches — inspired by Alberto Giacometti’s sculptures — reach up her dress and crown her head. It’s upheld by the branches is an all-encompassing tulle veil that resembles a more fashionable version of mosquito netting, referencing McQueen’s fall/winter 2006 “Widows of Culloden” collection. McGirr and del Rey finished off the look with hoof boots.
The post was updated with more details on Del Ray’s dress and shoes.
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Kpop stars "Stray Kids" make their Met debut
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
I.N, Lee Know, Han, Felix, Seungmin, Changbin, Hyunjin and Bang Chan of Stray Kids attend The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Cindy Ord/MG24/Getty Images
Stray Kids are attending their first Met Gala with Tommy Hilfiger, who brought his distinctly American sensibility to the South Korean performers’ established aesthetic.
The boy band’s eight members are wearing unique suits tailored to their individual personalities: There’s a pinstripe ensemble, a larger jacket that resembles a school uniform and another made in snow white. But as a team, their looks work.
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Karol G's fantastical look turns her into an elf
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Karol G attends the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
The Grammy-winning reggaeton singer paid homage to fairies, elves and fantasy in her Marc Jacobs look, complete with a platinum blonde wig and pointy prosthetic ears. In her sheer, gem-encrusted gown, she resembled the elf queen Galadriel from “Lord of the Rings.”
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Ariana Grande holds hands with "Wicked" costar Cynthia Erivo
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo attend the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
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The “Eternal Sunshine” singer and her costar are playing Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in the two-part “Wicked” film adaptation, and their looks nodded to the styles of the witches they play.
Grande is dressed in a feminine, opalescent Loewe gown with a mother-of-pearl bodice with a pleated skirt, with some petals peeking out of the outer corners of her eyes. Erivo’s look is a punk-inspired suit from Thom Browne, with a cropped jacket and long skirt adorned with pink petals and tiny creatures one might find in the “Garden of Time.”
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Harris Reed reveals show-stopping vintage couture
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Demi Moore and Harris Reed attend the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
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Harris Reed and Demi Moore are bringing ethereal drama to the Met Gala with custom looks by the designer.
Moore’s entire costume is made of vintage archival wallpaper that, via 11,000 hours of silk embroidery, was repurposed into “this Victorian idea of basically blooming on the carpet, and covered in these, like, thorns,” Reed said in a Vogue livestream interview. It was inspired by the floral Cartier necklace Moore’s wearing, he added.
“It’s one of my favorite moments of my entire life,” Reed said of attending his second Met Gala with Moore, whom he styled for the event.
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Elle Fanning shimmers in Balmain
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Elle Fanning attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Theo Wargo/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
Elle Fanning looks stunning in a sheer off-the-shoulder Balmain gown, the sleeves of which peak with flying birds made from resin.
The actress played Sleeping Beauty alongside Angelina Jolie in the 2014 Disney movie “Maleficent.”
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"Challengers" stars are serving on the Met carpet
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor and Luca Guadagnino attend The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
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“Challengers” director Luca Guadagnino and actors Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist have arrived at their first Met Gala, wearing Loewe suits by Jonathan Anderson — honorary chair of the Met Gala and “Challengers” costume designer.
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Rosalía describes the thinking behind her all-black Dior ensemble
From CNN's Tori B. Powell
Rosalía attends the 2024 Met Gala on May 6 in New York City.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Spanish pop star Rosalía said she wanted to embody lady Dior – but through the eyes of fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri for her all-black ensemble on the Met Gala red carpet.
The singer said she thought about dreams upon hearing of the gala’s “Garden of Time” theme.
She said the color black represents the prelude before a dream.
“Today I’m celebrating Dior and I’m a black tulip,” Rosalía said.
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Dwayne Wade strikes a pose in purple
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Dwyane Wade at The Carlyle Hotel before the 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Lanna Apisukh/WWD/Getty Images
The former Miami Heat point guard arrived in pastel purple, a welcome departure from the darker hues worn by other men in attendance. His wife Gabrielle Union looked like a mermaid in a shimmering Michael Kors creation.
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Sarah Jessica Parker looks like a living doll
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Sarah Jessica Parker attends the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images
Met Gala mainstay SJP is known for her intricate headwear, and her petal-like fascinator tonight doesn’t disappoint. She’s wearing an ornate, structured beige gown from Richard Quinn that makes her look like a paper doll come to life. (Beige and earth tones are an unexpected trend tonight.)
There are flower details throughout, and she completed the look with one very long string of pearls (and her plus-one, Andy Cohen).
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Ayo Edebiri glows in a garden-inspired look
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Ayo Edebiri at the 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images
“The Bear” star arrived in an intricate gown layered in handmade flowers whose colors become more saturated and vibrant down the length of the dress.
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'Barbie' stars align at Met Gala
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Greta Gerwig and Emma Mackey attend The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Greta Gerwig and Emma Mackey — “Barbie” director and an actor in the film, respectively — have arrived at the Met Gala in Chloe outfits that contrast in color yet are kindred in style.
Gerwig’s all-black ensemble is a high-collared top with black beading and a ruffled hem, paired with black wide-leg pants.
Mackey has on a cream-colored gown with ruffles layered through its center, along the long sleeves and down the slit that highlights her burgundy thigh-high boots.
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NBA's Ben Simmons is on time, and on theme
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Ben Simmons attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Cindy Ord/MG24/Getty Images
The Brooklyn Nets small forward must have read “The Garden of Time,” the J.G. Ballard short story that inspired this year’s Met Gala theme.
He’s wearing a black and tartan tweed coat, embroidered with one large white rose, and clutching a small suitcase with a clock face on its front.
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Gigi Hadid wows in custom Thom Browne
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Gigi Hadid attends the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
Theo Wargo/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
After surprising fans with flowers as she exited the Pierre hotel, Gigi Hadid posed on the Met Gala carpet in a custom white corseted Thom Browne gown.
Trailing behind her, the button-up ruched train embroidered with yellow flowers is a separate piece that’s detachable. Five men helped Hadid, whose curled blonde bob evokes Grace Kelly, ascend the staircase.
The look was a true labor of love, Hadid told La La Anthony on Vogue’s livestream: There are 2,800,000 beads on the dress, and it took 25 people 5,000 hours of work to complete.
“I’m literally wearing a sculpture,” Hadid said.
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Inside Anna Wintour’s indelible influence on the Met Gala
From CNN's Marianna Cerini
Anna Wintour arrives at the Met Gala in 2022.
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Anna Wintour, who has been at the helm of Vogue — fashion’s most influential magazine — since 1988, is a household name not just in the industry, but across society at large.
She’s been the subject of documentaries and the inspiration for movies, as talked about as the celebrities she’s put on her covers (rumors she was about to leave Vogue back in 2018 fueled a flurry of wild speculation online) and as immediately recognizable, thanks to her power bob and ever-present sunglasses.
“The amazing thing about Anna is the average person knows who she is,” designer Tom Ford told fashion journalist Amy Odell in the first pages of “Anna,” a 2022 biography of Wintour. “You show them a picture and they say, ‘That’s Anna Wintour from Vogue.’”
Wintour is “militant” in her planning of the Met Gala, Odell wrote in the book. She oversees every detail, including the guest list — “you just can’t buy your way into it,” Odell said — and the menu. She’s reportedly banned chives, garlic, onion and parsley.
(Wintour has a habit of not learning the names of the people who work under her, including her assistants and some of the museum staff.)
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Taylor Russell and Greta Lee make Met Gala debut
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
“Bones and All” and “Past Lives” stars and Taylor Russell and Greta Lee, respectively, have arrived at their first Met Gala in custom Loewe looks.
Taylor Russell attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Greta Lee attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Lee dons a sheer white architectural gown that looks to be blooming its own flowers from the Chantilly lace.
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Mindy Kaling's dress is the "melting flower of time"
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Mindy Kaling attends the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images
The writer and comedian evoked sculpture with her beige gown by Indian designer Gaurav Gupta, accented with silver throughout. The back of the immaculately constructed dress resembles a large bloom.
Her look even has a name, she told Vogue livestream correspondent La La Anthony: “The Melting Flower of Time.”
“It makes me really happy to rep such talented geniuses who happen to be from my community,” she said, praising Gupta.
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Tyla accents her dress with an hourglass
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Tyla and Donald Glover attend The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Neilson Barnard/MG24/Getty Images
“Water” singer Tyla brought the sands of time with her to her first Met Gala, pairing her shimmering golden Balmain gown and sparkly body paint with an hourglass, a nod to the night’s theme, “The Garden of Time.”
Tyla attends The 2024 Met Gala with an hourglass in New York City, on May 6.
Marleen Moise/Getty Images
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Who is J. G. Ballard, the author whose 1962 short story inspired the Met Gala's red carpet theme?
By CNN's Leah Dolan
Author J. G. Ballard photographed in Shepperton, England, in September 1984.
Bryn Colton/Getty Images
In February, the Met revealed Ballard’s “The Garden of Time” as the theme for tonight’s red carpet.
In the “Garden of Time,” Count Axel and his wife live in a grand villa with a sprawling walled estate. A crystalline meadow of glass-like “time flowers” spring out across the plot, while over the horizon, a whip-yielding angry mob inches closer and closer. Everyday Axel picks the head of a time flower, winding back the hours and reversing the mob’s advancement, until all the blooms are finished — an inevitability that looms large over the story’s few pages.
Since the 1950s, the British author — who died in 2009 — built an oeuvre centered almost exclusively on dystopian catastrophe. Whether the scene is a luxury high-rise apartment complex or an affluent gated community in the south of France, Ballard’s thesis remains the same: The glittering sheen of upper-middle class life is nothing but a thin veneer, seconds away from cracking.
Even if you don’t recognize his name, you are likely to have come across Ballard’s unnerving musings on human psychology. Steven Spielberg’s 1987 film “Empire of the Sun” is based on Ballard’s 1984 novel of the same name, for example, as was David Cronenberg’s 1996 adaptation of the writer’s 1974 work “Crash,” which follows a group of people sexually aroused by auto collisions. But it’s not just film — Ballard’s worldview has infiltrated art, music, architecture and fashion, perhaps more consistently than any other 20th-century author.
Click through to learn more about Ballard, and the creatives his work inspired.
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Jennifer Lopez details what it's like to be a Met Gala co-chair
From CNN's Tori B. Powell
Jennifer Lopez described what it means to be co-chair of the Met Gala tonight.
This is Lopez’ 14th time serving as a Met Gala co-chair.
“I think I retire tonight,” said Lopez, who was wearing a nude illusion Schiaparelli gown. “I think that’s it for me.”
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"Outer Banks" star Madelyn Cline stuns in Tommy Hilfiger
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Madelyn Cline attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
“Outer Banks” actress Madelyn Cline has arrive on the carpet in a Tommy and Dee Hilfiger look custom-made to fit the gala theme.
Meeting the business attire-esque bodice is a floor-sweeping train adorned with flowers.
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"The Garden of Time" is the theme of this year's Met Gala red carpet
From CNN's Leah Dolan
People take photos of clothing on display during a press preview of the Met Costume Institute's spring 2024 exhibition "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" on May 6.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
The official dress code for this year’s Met Gala is “The Garden of Time.”
The theme takes its title from a 1962 short story written by British author J. G. Ballard, set (as its title suggests) in a garden filled with translucent, time-manipulating flowers.
Ballard, who is closely associated with New Wave science fiction, often set his searingly relevant dystopian stories in eras of ecological apocalypse or the rise of sinister technologies.
The Ballardian theme accompanies The Costume Institute’s exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which will run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 10 through September 2.
The Met Gala theme often vacillates between straightforward retrospectives (such as the event’s 1997 theme dedicated to Gianni Versace, or 2011’s iconic “Savage Beauty,” paying tribute to Alexander McQueen) and more artful, subjective prompts.
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J.Lo stuns in nude illusion beaded gown
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Jennifer Lopez attends the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
Theo Wargo/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
Blooming like a bedazzled flower, Met Gala cochair Jennifer Lopez beams in a sheer gown with a structured bodice. The Schiaparelli creation is embroidered with streams of silver that resemble the veins of a plant.
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"Dune's" Rebecca Ferguson takes avian inspiration
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Rebecca Ferguson attends the 2024 Met Gala in New York City on May 6.
Theo Wargo/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
Ferguson revealed a black sequined gloved dress with silver detailing underneath a dramatic cape. The baby blue lining of the cape is embroidered with the silhouettes of crows.
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Zendaya stops the show
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Zendaya attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
John Shearer/WireImage/Getty Images
The final Met Gala cochair of the night arrives in show-stopping fashion. Zendaya’s Maison Margiela look is an ode to nature, with a towering headpiece tucked into a forest-green beret, a hummingbird on her neck and fruits and vines draped around her deep blue-and-green gown.
She’s got the Margiela makeup to match. With her thin brows, dramatic eyes and doll-like skin, she looks quite similar to the models from the fashion house’s beloved couture show earlier this year.
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Here's how to watch the Met Gala red carpet
From CNN staff
Celebrities are beginning to make their way to the red carpet for the 2024 Met Gala.
The red carpet portion of the proceedings lasts for a few hours and is the only part the public sees. Afterward, guests tour the exhibition and have a seated dinner.
Vogue.com and its digital platforms will exclusively livestream red carpet arrivals at 6 p.m. ET. The livestream will be hosted by model Ashley Graham, actress Gwendoline Christie and actress La La Anthony, according to Vogue.
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Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth cut striking figures on the green carpet
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Bad Bunny poses at the Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Met Gala cochair Bad Bunny made a dramatic entrance in a navy Maison Margiela ensemble with visible stitching, clutching a cloth bouquet. He’s wearing a voluminous hat with tiny diamond-shaped glasses.
Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky attend The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Aliah Anderson/Getty Images
Chris Hemsworth, making his Met Gala debut alongside his wife Elsa Pataky, is donning a beige, summery suit with his shirt buttons undone. Pataky is in a gold gown, wearing a crown of golden flowers, with a blonde sectioned ponytail reminiscent of Rapunzel.
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How the Met Gala became such a big deal
From CNN's Allyssia Alleyne
Diana Vreeland poses at the opening of the "Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in November 1974.
Don Higan Charles/New York Times/Getty Images
On the first Monday in May, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art opens its doors for the Met Gala, an annual fundraiser to benefit the museum’s Costume Institute, and a launch party for its spring exhibition.
The Costume Institute is the only curatorial department at the Met that has to finance its own activities. The gala is its biggest fundraiser. The event was initially named the Party of the Year, but it’s only relatively recently that it fulfilled that promise.
From 1948 to 1971, the benefit wasn’t pegged to an exhibition and was held off-site at the Waldorf Astoria or the Rainbow Room. Guests indulged in fine dining and were entertained by “skits, raffles, and pageants of models in historic costume,” according to the museum’s records.
Former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland brought new glamour to the Costume Institute when she joined as a consultant in 1972. Vreeland curated some of the most ambitious exhibitions in its history and used the gala as an opportunity to inaugurate them, with designers and fashion industry insiders turning out in full force.
Anna Wintour, Vogue’s current editor, shifted the focus to celebrities when she took over as chairwoman in 1999, recruiting A-list co-chairs and through the years inviting stars such as Lady Gaga, Billy Porter and Kim Kardashian to attract more attention to the event.
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The Met Gala livestream cohosts have arrived in floral fashion
From CNN's Kristen Rogers
Vogue’s Met Gala livestream cohosts Emma Chamberlain, Ashley Graham, La La Anthony and Gwendoline Christie have arrived on the carpet.
Styled by Jared Ellner, Chamberlain — who will interview some of the biggest stars as Vogue’s livestream special correspondent — put a darker twist on the “Sleeping Beauties” theme, wearing custom Jean Paul Gaultier fall 2003 couture wrapped with floral and vine appliqués.
Emma Chamberlain attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images
Graham’s look, created by Parisian designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin, is a black floor-length gown embedded with pieces of metal and Swarovski crystals that required 500 hours of meticulous placement by hand, Graham said in an Instagram post.
Ashley Graham attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Anthony’s striking number features a mermaid silhouette, with the tail covered in red flowers that evoke the potential inspiration for the Met Gala invitation design, which some internet sleuths have traced back to Philip Treacy’s rose headpiece from his spring/summer 2000 collection.
La La Anthony attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Christie’s dramatic ensemble entails a form-fitting red velvet Margiela gown and a sheer black cape, with makeup by Pat McGrath.
Gwendoline Christie attends The 2024 Met Gala in New York City, on May 6.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
The post was updated with details on what Chamberlain is wearing.
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Anna Wintour arrives in a floral coat
From CNN's Scottie Andrew
Anna Wintour attends The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, on May 6.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
The first Met Gala cochair has arrived. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour hit the green-and-beige carpet in a black coat with floral appliqués. Underneath, she’s wearing a creamy white beaded gown.
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Zendaya and Bad Bunny are among this year's co-chairs
From CNN's Leah Dolan
From left: Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Zendaya.
James Devaney/GC Images/Getty Images; Victor Aubry/Sipa USA; Christina House/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images; Neil Mockford/Filmmagic/Getty Images
Superstars Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth are serving as co-chairs — alongside American Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour — for the 2024 Met Gala.
Hemsworth will make his first appearance at the event, while Zendaya will return for the first time in several years. Bad Bunny has attended the event (in dramatic fashions) in 2022 and 2023; Lopez has attended on some 13 previous occasions.
Honorary chairs include Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
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This year's Costume Institute exhibition will showcase "Sleeping Beauties" from its fashion archives
From CNN's Jacqui Palumbo, Nick Remsen and Kristen Rogers
Fashions on display during a press preview of the Met Costume Institute's spring 2024 exhibition "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion," on May 6.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s 2024 spring exhibition, which serves as the inspiration for the theme of the accompanying Met Gala, will be on display at the museum from May 10 through September 2. And while the themes of the past three year’s showcases have been more straightforward — mining the archives of Karl Lagerfeld’s career, glamour from the Gilded Age, and American fashion broadly — this year’s will be based on more conceptual reference points around fashion history, nature, technology and the senses.
“Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” will pull 250 rare “masterworks” from the Institute’s archive for museum-goers to experience in a new, imaginative way, according to a news release.
The exhibition’s pieces will all be united through their connections to the natural world, exploring “rebirth and renewal,” according to the release.
Garments too fragile to be dressed on mannequins will be displayed instead as the titular “sleeping beauties,” appearing in coffin-like glass displays with microscopes available to observe their deterioration up close, according to the Institute.
Contemporary technology enhances and enlivens the antiquity: There’s a 3-D-printed maquette of a “Mini Miss Dior” dress, and an audio recording of razor clam shells that were embroidered on a Spring 2001 Alexander McQueen Dress. There’s even a custom ChatGPT portal, where visitors can ask questions to a ghost-in-the-machine of a woman named Natalie Potter, who was a socialite in 1930s New York. Her 1931 wedding dress by Callot Soeurs closes the show.
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What actually happens at the Met Gala?
By CNN's Jacqui Palumbo
Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Jared Leto and Kylie Jenner at the Met Gala last year.
Arturo Holmes/MG23/Getty Images
A frenzy of A-List arrivals and photographs, the red carpet portion of the evening’s proceedings last for a few hours, but that’s the only part the public sees. So what happens next?
Inside, guests tour the exhibition, which opens to the public in the days following the gala, and have a seated dinner. Phones at the table are discouraged, and the seating chart is carefully crafted by American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who has organized the gala since 1995. (Wintour has “final say” over every guest in attendance, the New York Times has previously reported.)
Though the red carpet and afterparties get the most attention of the night, the gala is above all, a fundraiser, whose five-figure tickets raise millions of dollars for the museum each year — setting a record at nearly $22 million in 2023, according to the recently-released book “Fashion’s Big Night Out.”
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Take a look at the Met Gala's enchanted carpet
By CNN's Kristen Rogers
A view of the red carpet at the Met Gala on May 6.
Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images
Reminiscent of an enchanted forest with rivers that twinkle in the sun, the carpet that celebrities will walk at this year’s Met Gala is fitting for the theme that’s partly centered around nature and the senses.
The carpet’s cream-colored middle is bordered with foliage and white flowers adorning the stair railings, and tree-filled wallpaper lines the walls.
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These celebrities went to the Met Gala—and didn't enjoy it
By CNN's Jacqui Palumbo and Alex Rees
Quannah Chasinghorse, left, at the Met Gala in 2021, and Tina Fey at the Met Gala in 2010.
Kevin Mazur/MG21/Getty Images; Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
Though for most fans of fashion and celebrity spectacle, the Met Gala is considered a hotter-than-hot ticket such that it could burn a hole in the pocket of your best red carpet ensemble.
But for some lucky enough to have landed invites in the past, the event didn’t live up to expectations. Previous guests who have sworn off returning including Demi Lovato (who had a “terrible time”), Zayn Malik (who found it “self indulgent”) and Tina Fey. In 2015, five years after she made an appearance at the event, Fey said on “Late Show with David Letterman” that the gala is a “jerk parade.”
Model Quannah Chasinghorse remembered feeling “lonely” during her 2021 debut appearance, telling Insider that, “It was just such a weird space to be in… I remember standing there and looking at everyone and feeling so alone. Like, really, really lonely.”
She returned to the Gala in 2022 and 2023.
And Jennifer Garner has said she found the event “a little scary” when she attended in 2007, and hasn’t been back since. (She made the admission in a video for “Vogue,” though, so presumably there’s no bad blood.)
Some celebrities backtrack, however. After saying in an interview that going to the 2016 event felt “like a punishment,” Amy Schumer attended again the next year; Gwyneth Paltrow infamously called the Met Gala “un-fun” in 2013 and said she’d “never” go again, but returned in 2017 (and 2019).
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See inside one Met Gala guest's "glamification" process
By CNN's Jacqui Palumbo
"RuPaul's Drag Race" star Symone prepares for the Met Gala on September 13, 2021.
Dina Litovsky/Redux for CNN
After winning the 13th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in April 21, 2021, the drag performer Symone was invited to that year’s Met Gala, which celebrated American fashion and designs (as did the 2022 event the following year).
As she prepped for her debut with her glam squad at the Mark Hotel in New York City — the venue from which many celebrities make their way to the Met — Symone shared insight into her look and the hard work it takes to make a red carpet moment seem so easy:
Rarely seen vintage photos show celebrities letting loose at the Met Gala
From CNN's Jacqui Palumbo
Andre Leon Talley and Anna Wintour arrive at the Mat Gala in 1999.
Rose Hartman/Getty Images
While red carpet photos of the Met Gala have become instantly accessible, documentation of the splashy gala has changed in recent years, asphotographers have largely been limited to snapping attendees’ highly posed entrances. To see A-listers in more spontaneous contexts (the likes of Bella Hadid and Marc Jacobs gathering in the bathroom for a smoke break, for example) you’d have to turn to after-party photos or their Instagram feeds.
Images from the galas of yesteryear, though, are enticing because of their nostalgia factor and retro styling, but they also reveal a more relaxed atmosphere. In 1999, Anna Wintour’s first year as chair of the event, photographer Rose Hartman snapped a photograph of the Vogue editor-in-chief walking in with former editor-at-large André Leon Talley, who passed away in 2022. The image of them is joyful, with both editors resplendent in costume and caught in motion.
Cher attends the Met Gala in support of the Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design exhibition in 1974.
Ron Galella/Getty Images
The Met Gala debuted in 1948 as a fundraiser for the nascent Costume Institute, organized by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert. Tickets for the banquet reportedly cost $50 each.
Over the decades, the gala has transformed from an industry fete at off-site locations like Manhattan’s Rainbow Room into an A-List phenomenon. In the 1970s, Vogue editor Diana Vreeland positioned the gala as the opening soiree of the Institute’s major exhibitions and invited the crème de la crème of the fashion world and New York society. Wintour, her successor, has favored high-profile musicians, actors and entertainment figures, turning the gala into one of the most-watched events of the fashion calendar — and the year. In 2023, the software company LaunchMetrics found that the Met Gala generated nearly double the “media impact value” for brands than the Super Bowl, at $995 million.
The first theme was “The World of Balenciaga” in 1973, tied to a retrospective of the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga; the event was attended by guests including Halston and Calvin Klein, according to “Fashion’s Big Night Out.”
Early themes included “Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design,” “The Glory of Russian Costume,” and “The 18th-Century Woman.” But gala-goers mostly kept to conventional eveningwear until the 2000s, when some guests began to have more fun with the themes — and the Internet allowed more eyes on the arrivals.
