The Met Gala began as a fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The first Met was known as The Costume Institute Benefit in 1948, and the funds from tickets sold went directly to the Costume Institute at the Met.
The funds for Met Gala tickets have continued to support the Costume Institute. As of 2024, tickets cost $75,000 each.
The Costume Institute showcases a new exhibition with a corresponding theme each year. This year, the exhibition is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” A showcase of fashion that is unable to be worn due to its delicate nature, the exhibit serves as a remembrance of many iconic looks. The exhibit has three sections: land, sea and sky.
The corresponding Met Gala theme is “The Garden of Time,” based on J. G. Ballard’s novel of the same name. Full of floral patterns, eccentric designs, and innovative fashion, this Met might have featured some of the best outfits since 2018’s “Heavenly Bodies.”
Best
1. Mona Patel: The dress features a mechanic on the back that attaches to the sleeves to make them move like butterflies. The dress seamlessly combines delicate fashion and innovative technology and matches the theme perfectly. It’s safe to say that she won the Met this year.
2. Tyla: Tyla’s dress made my jaw drop the first time I saw it, and I’m still in awe weeks later. The sand dress is molded to her body, with the material perfectly matching the “land” aspect of the exhibit. The hourglass bag and sand detailing on her shoulders push the look to second place. However, since it was molded to her body, she had to be carried up the stairs by a team. Very princess!
3. Zendaya: Zendaya was one of the four co-chairs for this year’s Met and did her job incredibly. Her first look was a Maison Margiela by Galliano, a recreation of a Dior 1999 dress. The details of the feathers, grape, vine and hummingbird look incredible. For her second look, she wore vintage Givenchy by Galliano. Although the dress is plain and all-black, the massive bouquet on her head carries the second look.
4. Alia Bhatt: Alia Bhatt looks like a floral princess. The look featured painstaking embroidery and jewel decoration, and her Sabyasachi Sari had a 23-foot-long train. It all seems delicate and ethereal and deserves much more acclaim than it received.
5. Lana Del Rey: I may be biased, but this look is incredible. The thorns and branches acting as antlers with the veil draped over and the hoof shoe are so stylish yet match the theme perfectly. The beige veil makes her face and makeup look slightly muted but excellent regardless.
6. Elle Fanning: This dress resembles a mixture of glass and water flowing down her body. The birds on her shoulders are such a beautiful work of art and call back to the delicate nature of the exhibit. My two criticisms are that I wish she wore a necklace that followed the bird motif and touched up her roots before the carpet.
7. Anok Yai: Anok Yai was one of the four Swarovski girls at the Met and looked incredible. The jewels contrast beautifully against her skin, and the flow of the colors fits the “sea” aspect perfectly. My only criticism is that I’m not a fan of the bottom of the jumpsuit, and I would prefer if it were a tight skirt instead of pants.
8. Eiza González Rivera: This look is incredible. The delicate layering on the dress makes her look exactly as I imagine Thumbelina. The flowers in the hair and the sweet, blushing makeup tie the look together perfectly.
9. Mindy Kaling: This dress is a work of art as much as it is a work of fashion. Its three-dimensional aspect and silvery accents make it look like a flowing sand dune.
10. Teyana Taylor: Teyana Taylor looks like a walking rose, dripping in blood. The velvet corset and black accents on the roses contrast wonderfully against the deep red of the dress. I wish there were some rose detailings on the train instead of leaving it plain, and I don’t believe the gold earrings and shoes matched the dress as well as red gems and black heels would have.
Worst
1. Doja Cat: Doja Cat is always willing to step outside the box, but not in the right direction with this look. Something like her 2021 iHeart Radio look, with the sheer green, or even her 2021 Dolce and Gabbana Alta Moda look would have worked wonderfully. Maybe it’s just a phase?
2. Michael Shannon: Not only is he wearing a regular black suit that looks like it’s been in a box with moths for a few years, but the Balenciaga chips made me so mad that I had to put Shannon at number two. Remember: Whenever a man wears a plain black suit to the Met, an angel loses their wings.
3. Cardi B: There’s not much correlation between “garden” and a black rug dress. I’m sure the janitors appreciated her sweeping up any dirt that got on the carpet, though.
4. Michelle Yeoh: I love Michelle Yeoh so much. However, her dress looks like a tinfoil ball that elementary school kids would try to create.
5. Natasha Poonawalla: This outfit looks like it was taken off the set of the live-action Cruella mixed with a rotting mushroom.
6. Cara Delevingne: The look is almost reminiscent of Joan of Arc. It would have worked better at the 2018 Heavenly Bodies Met Gala.
7. Zoë Saldaña: This dress is simply a walking Chloé advertisement.
8. FKA Twigs: If Cardi B’s dress were a rug, this would be the rug’s little sister. It’s not on theme, but it would be more likable without the crystal underwear.
9. Brie Larson: Brie Larson should fire whoever decided this dress was a good idea. The outfit is questionable as a whole, but the dress and the overlay are both incredibly ill-fitting and look tacky.
10. Greta Gerwig: Greta Gerwig looks like someone’s mother who got confused and wandered into the Met while trying to go to a gothic-disco event.
