How this year’s Met Gala theme will inspire shoppers this summer

By Lucy Mazzucco

In terms of fashion, the Met Gala has truly seen it all. From themes such as “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” to “China: Through the Looking Glass,” it’s a safe assumption to always expect the unexpected when it comes to what viewers will be seeing on the red carpet.

iStock by naphtalina

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this year’s theme, called Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, will “reactivate the sensory capacities of masterworks in the Museum’s collection through first-hand research, conservation analysis, and diverse technologies—from cutting-edge tools, artificial intelligence, and computer-generated imagery to traditional formats of x-rays, video animation, light projection, and soundscapes.”

Approximately 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be on view, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which will be “visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion and a vehicle to examine the cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal.”

“The exhibition will breathe new life into these storied objects through creative and immersive activations designed to convey the smells, sounds, textures, and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body,” reads the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website.

The dress code for the evening will be “The Garden of Time,” which, according to a Vogue article, will be a “celebration of clothing and fashion so fragile that it can’t ever be worn again—and are thus sleeping beauties in the scrupulous archives of the Costume Institute.”

The same article noted that per the Metropolitan Museum of Art, viewers can expect to see a range of fashion on display, which dates back to “a 17th-century English Elizabethan-era bodice, that embodies the beauty of the natural world—its fragility and its inevitable decay. More modern, less delicate pieces imbued with the same spirit as the spotlit fashions will be showcased alongside them, and broken up into three sub-themes: Land, Sea, and Sky.”

So, what does this mean viewers can expect to see exactly? Well, Vogue says that many guests will be embracing the floral theme, nature in fashion, or even ensembles that play on the “land and sea” theme. Since the Met Gala’s theme is often taken metaphorically (and sometimes, even literally), Vogue’s prediction of seeing wood and fish scale-inspired outfits really doesn’t seem that far-fetched.

With many people anticipating the Met Gala every year in hopes of gaining some fashion inspo for the spring and summer months, small business owners may want to start putting aside some nature-inspired pieces for the occasion.

Whether that be flower crowns, floral tops or dresses, or even pastel-coloured purses and hats, now is the time to create outdoorsy displays and social media posts with twigs, leaves, flowers, and everything in between ahead of the Met Gala.

Remember to have fun and use it as an opportunity to spark conversations with shoppers about whether they’ll be tuning in and hearing what their fashion predictions are. The good thing about putting in this effort, is that camping season is just around the corner, too, so showing off floral and outdoorsy fashion items will be timely for more than just the gala.