We are just one month away from fashion’s biggest night: The Met Gala. Just like every year prior, expect to see celebrities bring their fashion A games to the red carpet at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
While everyone who attends always looks incredible, nailing the theme can sometimes prove tricky. That’s why for this year’s Met, we’re breaking down both the exhibit and the dress code theme. We’re also showing how three of our predicted Spring/Summer trends will likely make an appearance on the red carpet. And we show how retailers can capitalize on them now.
We predicted some of the Oscars’ biggest trends, and we have a feeling our experts have accurate fashion and beauty predictions for the 2024 Met Gala as well.
Read on to get the full scoop, in preparation for fashion’s biggest night.
What’s the exhibit and 2024 Met Gala theme?
The 2024 Met Gala theme celebrates its Costume Institute exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” and the official dress code theme is “The Garden of Time.”
The exhibit will display 250 rare items drawn from the museum’s permanent collection. Its title of “Sleeping Beauties” is as such, because each piece of clothing has been stored away and is so fragile that it can’t ever be worn again. The exhibit gives a chance for these items—dating back to 17th-century English Elizabethan-era bodices to more modern pieces—to experience the spotlight again.
When it comes to the 2024 Met Gala’s theme-inspired dress code, it references “The Garden of Time.” This is a dystopian short story, in which a count and countess must pluck all the flowers from their beautiful garden, in order to stave off a mob of people who eventually arrive at the ruins of their fully-plucked flower beds.
Both the themes within the story and the exhibition can be boiled down to one key concept: fantastical and fleeting beauty.
While the 2024 Met Gala theme sounds fairly abstract–and makes room for a lot of personal interpretation–we think a few key trends across fashion and beauty will definitely be applied to it.
What fashion and beauty trends will we see in the 2024 Met Gala theme?
Of course, expect to see a lot of florals at this Spring’s gala. (Florals for Spring? Groundbreaking, right?) But other seasonal trends will be on display as well.
Here’s how we expect them to show up . . .
Botanica: Brooding botanicals will be everywhere
First thing’s first. Let’s dig into that concept of florals.
When we published our Spring/Summer 2024 Trends Report in January, Lily AI predicted that moody botanicals will be big this year. The trend we’re calling “Botanica” features tropical botanicals in bold, saturated colors.
These trendy florals are shades darker than traditional Spring colors, including brown, burnt-orange, cream, olive, pink, teal, dark colors, jewel tones, dark and light neutrals.
Some of the items on display in the exhibit will feature this exact approach to dark and moody florals. For example, this dark evening coat made by Charles Frederick Worth in 1889, will be displayed. Its vibrant tulips stand out against its deep black background, practically screaming “botanica” long before the word came into existence.
With this in mind, we expect to see several celebs sporting dark florals while walking up the famous Metropolitan Museum steps. In fact, it will likely be the biggest trend of the night, as it lends itself so well to both the exhibition and dress code.
Hellenistic Revival: Greek ruins with a fashionable twist
Time comes for all of us, as it did for the count and countess in “Garden of Time” short story. It most certainly did for the ancient Greeks, as well.
But time also comes back around! We’ve seen this concept play out in Grecian-inspired trends, which have taken off in both home and beauty this year!
While our Spring/Summer 2024 Trends report talks about Hellenistic Revival as a home decorating trend, we have observed Hellenistic looks uptick in fashion too. For example, classically Greek-inspired garments are gaining popularity, with #goddessAesthetic having 9.3 million views on TikTok.
In fact, promotions for the Sleeping Beauties exhibition make reference to a very particular ancient goddess. Dior’s Venus gown, which is named after the Roman rebranding of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, will be on display in the show. It’s also been used in promotional photos for the exhibit. Additionally, we currently see this trend on display at the Met’s “Women Dressing Women” exhibit. Its Delphos dress references the Greek Charioteer of Delphi.
While ancient clothing will not be on display at the Met, we still expect to see a celebrity or two wear clothing inspired by civilizations which have fallen to time. Marble-colored gowns, such as the aforementioned Dior Venus, may make an appearance. Otherworldly elements, such as seashells like those in Alexander McQueen’s column-silhouette Voss dress, may also be on display or worn by your favorite celebrity.
Fairycore: Fantastical beauty looks to behold
Ethereal, otherworldly makeup and beauty looks are to be expected, especially as “The Garden of Time” is a fantasy-esque story. These looks have been evolving over the last few years, gaining traction from the hit show Euphoria and making appearances on the 2024 Oscars red carpet, as Cynthia Erivo channeled her Wicked character.
In fact, #fairyCore has a whopping 5 billion views on TikTok alone.
With the 2924 Met Gala theme at play, we expect to see glam and edgy fairycore beauty everywhere. Popular colors associated with the trend include green, olive, pink, purple, and iridescent, holographic lavender. Its finishes are matte, glittery, glossy, metallic, and shimmery.
Fantastical makeup will perfectly complement otherworldly elements in reference to “The Garden of Time” which may include ticking clocks, crystal flowers, and tangled thorns, all of which are made mention in the short story.
Capitalize on Trends You’ll See at The Met Gala
Surely, many of the Met’s beautiful looks will include other Spring/Summer trends as well. We’re confident in our forecast, as Lily AI’s algorithms are strengthened by a team of retail experts across fashion, home, and beauty who predict the next consumer fads for retailers to latch on to. This expertise ensures that retailers’ products are always up-to-date with the latest macro- and micro-trends, so consumers can find them with ease.
Lily AI is the most thorough, effective, and efficient way for retailers to capitalize on trends like those we’ll see popularized, by the 2024 Met Gala theme, as our proprietary, cutting-edge solution bridges the retailer-consumer gap.
