We’re halfway through April which means the The Costume Institute’s new show “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its most iconic celebration—the Met Gala—is nearly upon us. This year the show’s theme is a little more esoteric than usual. The “sleeping beauties” in the show’s title refer to the rich collection of gowns that have been pulled from the depths of the Costume Institute’s vast collection, many of which are being displayed for the first time. As such, “the garden of time,” this year’s official dress code, is actually pretty open-ended; think about how a garden gets its beauty from many different flowers and plants, now imagine the garden is the Met and the flowers are the attendees in looks inspired by fashion’s many historical periods. While at the same time, the garden also nods to the fact that “nature” is one of the unifying themes for the garments in the show.
But that’s not all, as Vogue’s Lilah Ramzi pointed out, the dress code itself holds a clue; “The Garden of Time,” is a short story by JG Ballard about a couple who can only preserve their utopian surroundings against an encroaching mob by picking a flower from their garden every day “until there are none left.” You can guess how it ended. That means there is a sense of destruction and decay—the inevitable effects of the passing of time.
It’s a lot, we get it, but we love to be service-y! In the spirit of community, here are 37 gowns ready for the Met Gala red carpet, no matter your personality type.
If You Think Nothing Is More Romantic Than Florals
If You Think the Only Thing More Romantic Than Florals Is (Fashion) History
If You Want to Do An Extremely Specific Archive Floral
If You Want to Do Archive Florals, But Sexy
If You Want to Do Florals, But You Love A Naked Dress
If You’ve Always Wanted to Say, “It’s Lacroix, Dahling!”
If You Just Want to Look Hot
If You Just Want to Look Hot and Also You Are Kristen Stewart (Wear the Jacket Open, Remove the White Tights)
If You’re Doing a Floral, But You Want to Be Extra About It
If Gardens Immediately Bring to Mind the Magical World of Faeries
If You’re Greta Lee
If You Decide to Wear Something That Could Actually Be In the Show—Or At Least Channel the Period Clothes-Vibes
If You Decide to Wear Something That Could Actually Be In the Show—Or At Least Channel the Period Clothes-Vibes—And You Love Pajamas
If You’re Really Into the “Ballardian” Aesthetics of It All
If You’ve Spent Too Much Time Thinking About the Time Aspect of It All (“Passport Stamps Are Also A Marker of Time, If You Really Think About It!”)
If You’re Really Into Thinking About Time As a Bearer of Destruction and Decay In A Goth Sort of Way
If You’re Really Into Thinking About Time As a Bearer of Destruction and Decay But In A Hopeful Way Because “Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End”
