It’s time for Met Gala, the most anticipated event in the world of fashion that marks the inauguration of the exhibition organized by the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York every spring.
Time is the theme that the curator of the exhibition Andrew Bolton – inspired by the idea of durée by the French philosopher Henri Bergson and by the writings of Virginia Woolf – has chosen for the performance of 2020, the year in which the Metropolitan celebrates its 150th anniversary.
«About Time: Fashion and Duration» will retrace more than a century and a half of fashion history, from 1870 to today, exploring the concept of time and the way in which garments create temporal associations that combine past, present and future.
The theme of the exhibition was presented on the occasion of the Paris Fashion Week, where Bolton recalled that «fashion is indelibly linked to time, not only reflects and represents the spirit of the time, but changes and develops with it, acting as particularly sensitive and precise watch ».
The exhibition itself will have the appearance of a watch with two adjacent galleries, like two dials, built on the principle of sixty minutes of fashion, where for each minute two associated clothing will be presented based on the shape, motif, material, model, technique or decoration, for a total of 120 items.
As per tradition, the exhibition will be inaugurated on the first Monday of May with the Met Gala where celebrities from all over the world will parade with clothes and costumes inspired by the theme of the exhibition. Last year the title to follow was “Camp: Notes on Fashion” or rather creativity, excess and parody. Among the most memorable looks were Katy Perry, dressed as a chandelier, and that of Lady Gaga who transformed her red carpet show into a real show with several dress changes.
The gala began as the main fundraising event for the Costume Institute and since 1995 it has been organized by Vogue America director Anna Wintour. This year, Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquière and actors Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emma Stone and Meryl Streep will also present the event.
