Fashion’s biggest night occurs annually in New York City on the first Monday of May as celebrities, designers, and politicians display extravagant looks on the iconic stairs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, often referred to as simply ‘the Met.’ The event, known as the Met Gala, is a fundraiser for the Met’s Costume Institute but also “serves as a glamorous arena of high fashion for designers and celebrities,” in the words of entertainment journalists Olivia Singh, Michelle Mark, and Amanda Karause of Business Insider, which celebrates the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual exhibit. To honor and promote the exhibit, creative consultant to the Costume Institute Diana Vreeland introduced themes with the 1973 Met Gala celebrating the ‘world of Balenciaga.’ Vreeland evolved the event into the extravaganza known today throughout her time working on the Met Gala by switching the venue to the Metropolitan Museum and inviting stars and pop culture icons as well, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Since then, the Met Gala and Costume Institute have paid tribute to designers, cultures, and fashion throughout history through the themes and exhibits. 

This year the theme of the evening was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” inspired by the Costume Institute’s spring exhibit of the same name. With this exhibit, curators attempted to create a multi-sensory experience with innovative technology that ‘reawakens’ over 200 garments spanning 400 years of history and fashion from the 17th century to the 21st, writes Vogue. The phrase ‘sleeping beauties’ refers to 15 key pieces within the exhibit, too fragile to be worn again or even put on a mannequin, that are instead displayed lying flat. Creative consultant Nick Knight related how technology was used to capture the spirit of the garments and focus on the future of fashion in addition to the past in an interview with Vogue. Furthermore, Met CEO Max Hollein described the use of technology as a tool for “evoking how [the garments] feel, move, sound, smell, and interact when being worn,” without actually wearing or touching the actual garment. Curators employed video animation, light projection, soundscaping, AI, CGI, and more in order to do so. Visitors can listen to crashing waves in the sea sections of the exhibit or smell tubes of collected scents from previous wearers. There is even a custom-built OpenAI Chatbot that accompanies the final garment of the exhibit, “a dramatic, satin mermaid-esque wedding gown from the 1930s once worn by New York socialite Natalie Potter,” describes Isabelle Bousquette of The Wall Street Journal. The chatbot adopts the persona of Potter and allows viewers to ask questions about her life and the dress, exposing the layers of the garment to reveal more of its story, says Brett Refner, technology project manager at The Met. 

In an attempt to reawaken garments from throughout history, the exhibit highlights the life cycles of fashion and the preservation of garments. This is done not only through technology but through the motif of nature. Themes of nature are used as metaphors for the transience of fashion, describes a press release from the museum. The exhibit is sectioned into three major themes—earth, air, and water—with rooms dedicated to specific motifs such as birds, gardens, and insects. 

The first major theme, earth, is a celebration of flowers in fashion, says head curator Andrew Bolton, exploring the symbolism of the motif throughout different garments. In a room dedicated solely to the red rose, a ​​Yves Saint Laurent evening dress from Dior’s Spring/Summer 1958 collection stands alongside an equally as bold blood-red look from Valentino’s fall 2022 couture collection. Other rooms explore the motif of flowers through Dior gowns, garments inspired by Van Gogh’s flowers, poppies, tulips, and more. One room, simply called ‘the garden,’ features a plethora of nature-inspired looks. From dramatic hats to a vintage 1953 Christian Dior gown, the garden provides many unique experiences for the viewer. Most memorable may be a Johnathon Anderson coat designed for LOEWE’s spring 2023 menswear collection. The coat, which is covered in oat, rye, and wheatgrass, is actually alive, explains the Costume Institute website. Seeds were planted within the fabric and grown in a special greenhouse to create the overgrown look. Throughout the exhibit, Bolton explains, the coat will slowly die before it is replaced with a fresh new coat. 

The second part of the exhibit, dedicated to the motif of air, explores nature from beetles to butterflies to birds. Insects practically crawl off the garments of this exhibit due to the technology employed by curators. Patterns featured on the clothing come alive in animations on the ceiling and walls. The sound of screeching birds surrounds visitors as they gaze upon a 1995 orange Alexander McQueen jacket patterned with black birds. In the butterfly room, visitors can see a 2011 Alexander McQueen dress designed by Sarah Burton. The dress, appearing to be covered in the wings of monarch butterflies, is actually adorned with turkey feathers painted in the pattern of the butterfly’s wings. Also within the room are two butterfly ball gowns, designed by Charles James in 1955. The gowns take on a more abstract approach in their interpretation of nature, with the bodice resembling a cocoon and a large bustle skirt as wings. While one dress has noticeable flaws from its usage over the years, the other remains in pristine condition, having been carefully stored since its design. The two dresses are yet another example of how nature can be used as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion. As Bolton points out, the garments within the butterfly room also portray transformation and renewal within fashion. He compares the life cycle of a butterfly to that of fashion and its rebirth displayed throughout the exhibit. The water section pays tribute to all things found under the sea. Looks from Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen, Botter, and more showcase the mysterious styles of the underwater world. An ensemble from Thebe Magugu’s fall 2023 ready-to-wear collection depicts the story of sirens luring sailors into a shipwreck. A Charles James evening dress named “La Sirène” takes inspiration from the mythical monstress differently, in the form of an elegant black draped dress. Another room showcases ensembles inspired by or using shells within the garments. One example is Alexander McQueen’s razor clam dress from his Spring/Summer 2001 collection. The dress, covered completely in shells, displays how fashion takes inspiration from the natural world and human nature. Designer Philip Lim also used alternative materials in his “Algae Sequin” dress, similarly featured in the exhibit. As a substitute for plastic sequins, Lim teamed up with designer Charlotte McCurdy to create bioplastic paillettes (a piece of material similar to sequins) from algae, reports the Council of Fashion Designers of America. The last room features looks inspired by mermaids. In addition to the “Mermaid Bride” scalloped dress worn by Natalie Potter in the 1930s, the gallery displays designs from Norman Norell, Marc Jacobs, and Michael Kors, writes the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Two Joseph Altuzarra dresses stand alongside other mermaid-inspired ensembles. One black and one gold, they are covered in metallic sequins, which in movement, sound like crashing waves.