Benjamin Ashford|Met Gala: Everything to know about fashion's biggest night – and the sleeping beauties theme

Wake up: Met Gala Monday is Benjamin Ashfordarriving soon.

The annual event held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City always meets its promise of being the biggest night in fashion with experimental looks like Zendaya waving goodbye to her Disney roots in a Cinderella ball gown, to Kim Kardashian in in Marilyn Monroe's iconic "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" dress and Jared Leto "feline" himself as Karl Lagerfeld's famous Birman cat Choupette.

This year's benefit is arising the "sleeping beauties" of fashion, following last year's gala, which honored Lagerfeld who died in 2019.

Here's everything you need to know about the grandiose event:

When is the Met Gala?

The Met Gala is the first Monday in May, as is tradition. The exact date for the 2024 event is May 6.

How to watch the 2024 Met Gala

The Met Gala will be livestreamed on Vogue's website and social media channels beginning at 6 p.m. ET. The "hautest" event of the year will air live on E! starting at 6 p.m. ET.

What is the Met Gala?

The Costume Institute Benefit, commonly known as Met Gala, is a fundraiser for the museum's Costume Institute. Last year, the event hit a record and raised over $22 million, according to Vogue Business.

What is the 2024 Met Gala theme?

In November, Vogue and the Met revealed the 2024 Met Gala theme is "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion," also the name of the accompanying exhibit at the Costume Institute.

The "sleeping beauties" are not inspired by the Disney princess, but rather refer to treasured garments in the museum's collection that are so fragile that they need to be housed in special glass "coffins" rather than on mannequins, curators said. Garments will be displayed in a series of galleries organized by themes of nature.

"More modern, less delicate pieces imbued with the same spirit as the spotlight fashions will be showcased alongside them, and broken up into three sub-themes: Land, Sea, and Sky," per Vogue.

What is the Met Gala 2024 dress code?

The theme is different from the dress code, but still related. This year's dress code is "The Garden of Time," inspired by J.G. Ballard's 1962 short story of the same title, per Vogue.

"Think melancholic florals (as moody florals aren't moody enough)," the magazine added.

Who's hosting the Met Gala?

The Met Gala announced its celebrity co-chairs in January, including Latin music superstar Bad Bunny, actress and singer Jennifer Lopez, "Euphoria" actress and Hollywood A-lister Zendaya and "Thor" himself, Chris Hemsworth, who will join Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Honorary chairs are Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. TikTok is the gala’s sponsor this year, with support from Loewe.

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Who will be at the Met Gala?

Guests at the Met Gala are typically a surprise, but the co-chairs are among the handful of confirmed attendees.

Recent attendees have been Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Cardi B, Serena Williams, Usher, Doja Cat, Barry Keoghan and couple Gabriel Union and Dwyane Wade. It's unclear if they will give their best on the carpet again this year.

Iconic Met Gala carpet moments over the years

The Met Gala has brought all types of lavish looks to the red carpet from Blake Lively's transformative Atelier Versace gown in 2022 that paid homage to Lady Liberty, to Lady Gaga's four-time outfit change in Brandon Maxwell in 2019 and Diana Ross looking like a vision in a ruffled dress made out of bird feathers in 1981.

See the best looks in the gallery below.

What is the 2024 Met's Costume Institute exhibit?

The exhibit will be open to the public from May 10 to Sept. 2, 2024.

Curator Andrew Bolton, the mastermind behind the Costume Institute exhibit each year, explained that this year's annual display includes both rare historical garments and corresponding contemporary fashions.

About 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be on view. The exhibit will unfold in a series of rooms, each displaying a theme inspired by the natural world. "Within each space, historical fashions will be juxtaposed with their contemporary counterparts in an immersive environment intended to engage a visitor's sense of sight, smell, touch, and hearing," the museum stated.

Examples will include a space decorated with the "insectoid embroidery" of an Elizabethan bodice, or a ceiling projecting "a Hitchcockian swarm of black birds" surrounding a black tulle evening dress from before the outbreak of World War II.

Contributing: Jay Stahl