Hello! I’m Jude, I’m a Junior Literary at MSA and I love fashion. I don’t think you understand, I am obsessed. And with fashion, there are always runways. One of the most famous runways? The MET Gala. Regarded as one of the most prestigious and opulent fashion runways in the world, anyone who is anyone is invited. It is technically an annual fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in Manhattan. Used as an event to mark the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual exhibit, The Met Gala has a different dress code every year, as well as a different themed exhibit. Now, the exhibit theme and gala dress code are two very different things. The dress code describes to the guest what their outfits should be inspired by, while the exhibit theme pertains to the outfits being shown in the Costume Institute. This year, the gala theme was The Garden of Time, which is a short story by J.G. Ballard. In this story a count, vilified by an angry mob, cuts a glass rose from his garden, which gives him the ability to slow down time, but only for a short duration. The count continues to cut these glass roses from his garden, pushing the mob back slightly, until there are no more roses left. That being said, enough background info, I’m going to walk you through my favorite and least favorite outfits of the 2024 Met Gala show.
Favorites
1. Janelle Monae
One word. Stunning. Janelle Monae has always been a favorite of mine, but this blew everything else out of the water. Wearing Vera Wang, with REZA jewelry, she elegantly traverses the red carpet. The discs hanging from her dress were made from recycled plastic, with a 3D flower, sprouting from her shoulder, reminiscent of the glass flowers from the story that inspired the dress code. It was tasteful, beautiful, and on theme. Tens across the board.
2. Tyla
Tyla and Balmain took the theme of time much more literally. In a sculpted dress made of sand, yes, sand, she makes a nod to the sands of time. Of course, the hourglass clutch makes that even clearer. Who knew that you could make a dress from sand and crystals? Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, that’s who.
3. Cynthia Erivo
Cynthia Erivo in Thom Browne. Beautiful style, beautiful voice, beautiful all around, and keeping with the theme. Along with her dress, Erivo affixed an embroidered dragonfly to the base of her skull. Love the design choices, along with the mini insects on her tuxedo (as much as I dislike bugs anywhere but in nature). This was an amazing choice for the dress code, though I wish I had seen more of the aspect of time.
Least Favorites
1. Nicole Kidman
Girl, what is this? It’s weirdly shaped, boring in color, and doesn’t have any visible correlation to the dress code! Balenciaga did it again everybody! Ugly clothes that no person with any sense in their head would wear. Now NK’s 2023 MET dress was beautiful, but she flopped on this one.
2. Kim Kardashian
Waist cinched to oblivion, organs nowhere to be found, aluminum leaves chained together and to a fake silver corset. And the cherry on top of this pile of dog doo? The cheap, and pilling, mind you, H&M sweater. Go home.
3. Doja Cat
I can’t put the picture up here but she’s basically naked. Done in poor taste. Try again soon.
ok, LOVE this. can’t wait to read more of your fashion reviews. while i might not agree with you takes, i appreciate that you are actually taking the theme into consideration unlike so many people on tik tok who dont care about the MET and just want to judge celebs based on their life and not their outfits lol. i will definitely be sharing my own fashion thoughts and opinions, thank you for the inspiration
definitely! I’m definitely going to check your reviews out when you post them. and I’m glad that we can agree to disagree on certain things. I really can’t stand it when people judge outfits based on the person wearing them so I do try not to do that lol.
I honestly know little to nothing about fashion or the met gala, so this was a super fun read it felt both informative in its own way along with creative! I hope to see more blogs like this from you and I love how you worded it in such a way that the reader could really see you in your own work.
I love your breakdown of the good outfits, I love fashion and I think it’s such an interesting art form! I’d love to see more fashion posts from you and how you would follow the theme.
Honestly, I love the format of this. Not only do you want to get your point across, but you also want us to understand the background and reason of the Met gala. I can hear the passion you have for it through your words and don’t get me started on the ratings. They are opinionated and thoroughly explained, it gives fashion magazine!!