The exhibition 'will explore notions of rebirth and renewal ... as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion'. AFP
The exhibition 'will explore notions of rebirth and renewal ... as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion'. AFP
The exhibition 'will explore notions of rebirth and renewal ... as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion'. AFP
The exhibition 'will explore notions of rebirth and renewal ... as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion'. AFP

Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

What does the 2024 Met Gala theme mean and what can we expect to see on the red carpet?

Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion exhibition will feature 250 garments from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection

Lindsay Judge

November 09, 2023

  • English
  • Arabic

The theme for the 2024 Met Gala and its accompanying exhibition has been revealed as Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.

One of the biggest events on the global fashion calendar, and traditionally held on the first Monday in May, the Met Gala opens the annual Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The theme for the upcoming exhibition was unveiled via a news conference in the presence of Anna Wintour, Conde Nast chief content officer and Vogue global editorial director; Andrew Bolton, curator of the Met’s Anna Wintour Costume Centre; and Max Hollein, chief executive and director of the Metropolitan Museum.

Andrew Bolton, head curator of the Anna Wintour Costume Centre at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Conde Nast's Anna Wintour. AFP
Andrew Bolton, head curator of the Anna Wintour Costume Centre at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Conde Nast's Anna Wintour. AFP

Each year, the exhibition theme is celebrated with a red carpet event attended by some of the world’s biggest celebrities, models, designers and fashion VIPs. The dress code runs in line with the exhibition theme. Last year’s exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, celebrated the life and designs of the late fashion designer.

What does the 2024 Met Gala theme mean?

Try to dismiss any Disney notions and connections to the Sleeping Beauty's Aurora – although it's likely that we will see a good few princess style gowns. According to the Met Museum, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion “will explore notions of rebirth and renewal, using nature as a metaphor for the impermanence of fashion”.

The theme is set to bring “new life” to around 250 costumes and accessories from the museum’s archive. Called “sleeping beauties”, the pieces, which are no longer worn, will be brought back to life with the use of animation, artificial intelligence, projections and soundscapes, making it a fully immersive experience.

The theme is set to bring 'new life' to around 250 costumes and accessories from the museum’s archive. AFP
The theme is set to bring 'new life' to around 250 costumes and accessories from the museum’s archive. AFP

The exhibition will be split into three themes: Land, Sea and Sky, paying tribute to the natural world through fashion.

The idea of rebirth also links closely to nature and its meaning in fashion.

“Nature is such a throughline in our collection. But also nature, I think, is a broader metaphor for fashion to serve out the fragility and the ephemerality of fashion, but also society, the secular nature of fashion and ideas of renewal and rebirth and regeneration,” says Andrew Bolton, curator of the exhibition.

A video posted on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Instagram page features gowns from designers such as Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli, as well as older garments including a ninth-century ball gown from House of Worth and a Second World War-era evening dress by Madeleine Vionnet.

Who and what might we see on the 2024 Met Gala red carpet?

The Met Gala guest list is likely to include personalities such as Rihanna. AFP
The Met Gala guest list is likely to include personalities such as Rihanna. AFP

Each year, the opening ceremony for the exhibition is one of the biggest nights on the global fashion calendar.

While the 2024 hosts are yet to be revealed, former co-chairs have included Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, Karl Lagerfeld and Penelope Cruz.

READ MORE

Everything you need to know about the Met Gala, fashion's biggest night

The Met Gala guest list is one of the most coveted in the celebrity party circuit, with guests likely to include personalities such as Rihanna, the Kardashian / Jenner sisters, Naomi Campbell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyonce and Lady Gaga.

Each year, guests are invited to interpret the exhibition’s theme. The overriding theme of nature will likely run through to VIPs' looks, with florals, leaves and natural elements undoubtedly making their way on to garments.

However, the idea of reawakening sleeping beauties could also see some archival looks returning to the red carpet, as designers and celebrities may opt to give new life to iconic dresses that have been “sleeping” for a while.

Designers such as McQueen, Dior and Schiaparelli will undoubtedly be a go-to for some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities, both thanks to their participation in the exhibition itself and their continuing inspiration taken from nature. Brands such as Versace and Valentino, who are notoriously some of the most popular dressers for the event, are likely to be making an early start on custom-made creations for guests.

The 2024 Met Gala will take place on May 6, 2024. Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, will open to the public on May 10, 2024.

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The Bio

Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity

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The biog

Name: Abeer Al Bah

Born: 1972

Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992

Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old

Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school

 

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World Cut Steakhouse, Habtoor Palace Hotel, Dubai. On Thursday evening, head chef Diego Solis will be serving a high-end sounding four-course meal that features chestnut veloute with smoked duck breast, turkey roulade accompanied by winter vegetables and foie gras and pecan pie, cranberry compote and popcorn ice cream.

Jones the Grocer, various locations across the UAE. Jones’s take-home holiday menu delivers on the favourites: whole roast turkeys, an array of accompaniments (duck fat roast potatoes, sausages wrapped in beef bacon, honey-glazed parsnips and carrots) and more, as  well as festive food platters, canapes and both apple and pumpkin pies.

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, The Address Hotel, Dubai. This New Orleans-style restaurant is keen to take the stress out of entertaining, so until December 25 you can order a full seasonal meal from its Takeaway Turkey Feast menu, which features turkey, homemade gravy and a selection of sides – think green beans with almond flakes, roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole and bread stuffing – to pick up and eat at home.

The Mattar Farm Kitchen, Dubai. From now until Christmas, Hattem Mattar and his team will be producing game- changing smoked turkeys that you can enjoy at home over the festive period.

Nolu’s, The Galleria Mall, Maryah Island Abu Dhabi. With much of the menu focused on a California inspired “farm to table” approach (with Afghani influence), it only seems right that Nolu’s will be serving their take on the Thanksgiving spread, with a brunch at the Downtown location from 12pm to 4pm on Friday.

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The flights 

Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Mykonos, with a flight change to its partner airline Olympic Air in Athens. Return flights cost from Dh4,105 per person, including taxes. 

Where to stay 

The modern-art-filled Ambassador hotel (myconianambassador.gr) is 15 minutes outside Mykonos Town on a hillside 500 metres from the Platis Gialos Beach, with a bus into town every 30 minutes (a taxi costs €15 [Dh66]). The Nammos and Scorpios beach clubs are a 10- to 20-minute walk (or water-taxi ride) away. All 70 rooms have a large balcony, many with a Jacuzzi, and of the 15 suites, five have a plunge pool. There’s also a private eight-bedroom villa. Double rooms cost from €240 (Dh1,063) including breakfast, out of season, and from €595 (Dh2,636) in July/August.

If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

 

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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

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The bio:

Favourite film:

Declan: It was The Commitments but now it’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Heidi: The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Favourite holiday destination:

Declan: Las Vegas but I also love getting home to Ireland and seeing everyone back home.

Heidi: Australia but my dream destination would be to go to Cuba.

Favourite pastime:

Declan: I love brunching and socializing. Just basically having the craic.

Heidi: Paddleboarding and swimming.

Personal motto:

Declan: Take chances.

Heidi: Live, love, laugh and have no regrets.

 

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