Met Gala 2020 theme announced: It's "About Time"
Next year, the famed Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City celebrates its 150th anniversary. The milestone will be marked by new exhibits, public events and of course the highly anticipated Met Gala. To give those on the invite-only guest list time to prepare for the May fundraiser, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has just announced the theme for the 2020 event and exhibit: "About Time: Fashion and Duration."
The exhibition will take attendees back in time, familiarizing them with the styles of the 1870s and taking them on a fashion journey through the 19th and 20th centuries to the present. The Met says the theme was influenced by French philosopher Henri Bergson's concept of "la durée" — time that flows, accumulates, and is indivisible — and the 160-piece collection will be a comprehensive guide to understanding how fashion and time are coupled, with Virginia Woolf serving as the "ghost narrator."
"Fashion is indelibly connected to time. It not only reflects and represents the spirit of the times, but it also changes and develops with the times, serving as an especially sensitive and accurate timepiece," Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, said in a press release.
The temporal theme for fashion's biggest night is sure to bring out unusual and creative costume ideas, as have years past. This year's theme, "Camp: Notes on Fashion," saw the fashionable flood the red carpet in an array of eccentric shapes and bold colors.
In contrast to 2019's "Camp" theme, organizers say next year's exhibit will be comprised of more somber ensembles, with a focus on black outfits that will reflect the evolution of modernity, with white ensembles interspersed to express the "fleeting rhythm of fashion." For instance, a black silk faille princess-line dress from the late 1870's will be paired with an Alexander McQueen "Bumster" skirt from 1995.
"This exhibition will consider the ephemeral nature of fashion, employing flashbacks and fast-forwards to reveal how it can be both linear and cyclical," Max Hollein, director of The Met, said in a press release. "As such, the show will present a nuanced continuum of fashion over the Museum's 150-year history."
The exhibition will also feature a section on the future of fashion.
The 2020 Met Gala co-chairs will be Nicolas Ghesquière, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton women's wear, "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, actresses Emma Stone and Meryl Streep, and Met Gala staple Anna Wintour.
The renowned benefit will take place May 4, 2020, with the exhibit open to the public from May 7 until September 7, 2020.