WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT MET GALA 2024: BACKED BY TIKTOK, WITH ZENDAYA AND MORE CO-CHAIRING ‘GARDEN OF TIME’ THEMED EVENT

Topline

This year’s Met Gala, annually one of the biggest and most star-studded events in fashion, is quickly approaching, with stars like Zendaya and Bad Bunny set to co-chair and TikTok controversially set to sponsor the event.

Key Facts

This year’s Met Gala will commemorate the opening of the “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

The Met Gala, a fundraiser for the Costume Institute, is more commonly known to viewers as a star-studded event where celebrities take to the red carpet in elaborate designer looks—and social media is typically abuzz, judging which celebrities fit the theme the best.

This year, the dress code for attendees is “The Garden of Time,” inspired by the 1962 short story of the same name by author J.G. Ballard.

Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth and Jennifer Lopez will co-chair this year’s Met Gala alongside Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue who has helmed the event since 1995.

The Met Gala will take place on May 6 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and viewers can tune in through a livestream hosted by Vogue and broadcast on its website and social media channels.

Who’s Attending The Met Gala This Year?

Each year, the Met Gala’s celebrity co-chairs are always in attendance, meaning viewers can expect to see Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Hemsworth and Lopez among the attendees. PageSix reported, citing anonymous sources, that celebrities among the invitees include “Killers of the Flower Moon” star and recent Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, recent “The Bear” Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri, and Rihanna—a frequent Met Gala guest who is considered to have worn some of the event’s most iconic looks. Other invitees, according to PageSix, include Gisele Bündchen, Kendall Jenner, Olivia Rodrigo, Uma Thurman and Cara Delevigne.

Surprising Fact

TikTok is a sponsor of the event and its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will serve as an honorary co-chair despite the app facing legislative challenges in the United States. According to a Met Gala press release, the “exhibition and benefit are made possible by TikTok.” TikTok has long been scrutinized by American lawmakers for its ownership by Chinese company ByteDance, and the House of Representatives passed a bill last month that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or else face a nationwide ban. Chew was previously grilled by members of Congress in a March 2023 testimony over the app’s ties to China—though he denied the company is linked to the Chinese Communist Party—and again in January 2024 alongside other tech CEOs about child safety. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., slammed Chew’s involvement as “disturbing.”

Tangent

The “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibit will feature 250 objects spanning four centuries from the Costume Institute's archive, which the museum said were chosen because of “iconography related to nature.” Andrew Bolton, the curator of the exhibit, told the Associated Press the display will organize the items on display by the themes of earth, air and water, as well as around the senses. Bolton told the AP some garments will be accompanied by scent, meaning “the scent of the person who wore it, the natural body odors that they emitted, what they smoked, what they ate, where they lived” will be part of the exhibit. Though exhibit attendees will not be allowed to touch garments, some textures have been reproduced as touchable wallpapers through 3D printing, Bolton said. The museum also said artificial intelligence, alongside other technologies like X-rays and animation, will be used to display some of the objects.

Big Number

$50,000. That’s how much a single ticket to attend the Met Gala cost last year, with entire tables costing as much as $300,000—though designers reportedly often purchase tickets for the celebrities they are styling.

Key Background

The first Met Gala was held in 1948 as the Costume Institute Benefit, a midnight dinner party, though it did not begin to transform into its modern format until then-Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland joined as a consultant in the 1970s. Themes of recent Met Galas include “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” in 2023 and “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” in 2022.

What To Watch For

Whether any celebrities confirm they will attend the Met Gala in the coming weeks. Last year, several celebrities confirmed on social media or in interviews that they would attend, but some kept their attendance a secret until they arrived—including Rihanna, who was one of the final celebrities of the night to hit the red carpet.