Floral prints and patterns inspired by nature are the theme of this year’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York – Met Gala 2024. The fundraising event is known as an extravagant fashion show.
Guests try to “match” the year’s theme before attending dinner and donating to the museum. The record of receipts was set last year – 22 million dollars.
The theme of the evening was “Sleeping Beauties” and the dress code was “Garden of Time”
From Bad Bunny to Jennifer Lopez, the wave of celebrities began on Monday at the Metropolitan Museum gala, an unmissable philanthropic event in New York, near which pro-Palestinian students could be heard, kept at a distance by the police, writes AFP quoted by the news. ro.
The prince of reggaeton and Latin rap, Bad Bunny, was one of the first to climb the steps of the prestigious museum on 5th Avenue, which overlooks Central Park, wearing a dark suit with detailed stitching, a large hat and a bouquet of flowers. flowers held in a black glove.
The Puerto Rican artist, who is one of the most streamed in the world, is one of the co-chairs of the event, along with actress Zendaya, singer Jennifer Lopez, who wears a glittering dress with wings, Marvel actor Chris Hemsworth and the high priestess of the event, editor- head of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour.
“Thanks to a dream that I worked for, other (dreams) that I didn’t even imagine came true. We are blessed. Thank you for the love, always,” he said.
The world event took place amid daily demonstrations on American university campuses to denounce Israel’s war on Gaza. Several hundred demonstrators, who had gathered earlier in front of a university, approached the museum shouting “viva Palestine” or “Intifada, Intifada” (revolt, in Arabic). The police, who arrested two people, kept them at a distance behind some barriers.
Behind other barriers, hundreds of fans will spend the evening trying to catch a glimpse of the celebrities at this event at the intersection of fashion, worldliness and philanthropy.
The theme of the evening was “Sleeping Beauties” and the dress code was “The Garden of Time”, an allusion to a story of the same name by science fiction writer JG Ballard about the ephemeral nature of beauty. This was a source of inspiration for the designers who used the event to promote their outfits.
Along with Zendaya, the Barbadian singer Rihanna was one of the most anticipated stars of the evening. The most listened to French singer in the world, Aya Nakamura, appeared with platinum blonde hair, in a bright and sensual dress with embroidered rose motifs.
The head of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, also walked the carpet. The ultra-popular youth video app, owned by Chinese group ByteDance, was the sponsor of the evening, at a time when Washington, which accuses it of spying on its 170 million users in the United States for the benefit of Beijing, gave it an ultimatum : cut ties with China or be banned.
The purpose of the Met gala, in the tradition of American philanthropy, is to finance the fashion department of the prestigious museum, The Costume Institute. According to The New York Times, a seat at this year’s dinner costs $75,000, an entire table $350,000, and the previous edition brought in approximately $22 million.
Hologram and artificial intelligence
The event always takes place on the first Monday in May and accompanies the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual grand exhibition, revealed to the press during the morning.
Following the trend of immersive exhibitions, this year the Met used technology to “awaken” its “sleeping beauties” and present the most precious, original and sometimes fragile pieces from an extraordinary collection of 33,000 articles of clothing and accessories that covers several centuries of fashion history. Like a satin silk ball gown, embellished with embroidery and embellished with Worth muslin, that can no longer be put on a mannequin. The piece from 1887 has been reconstructed in computer generated images and brought back to life, with the frills unfolded, in the form of a hologram.
As the exhibits unfolded, visitors were greeted to the sounds of an Alexander McQueen dress made entirely of seashells, the contradictory sounds of which were recreated in a deaf chamber to preserve their purity.
The museum has also partnered with OpenAI, a specialist in generative artificial intelligence, to allow visitors to chat with 20th-century New York socialite Natalie Potter about the stunning cathedral train dress she wore in his wedding day, December 4, 1930.
Editor: Daniela Chihaia
