Global superstars set to co-chair the 2024 Met Gala, with this year’s theme announced as ‘The Garden of Time’

Zendaya at the 2018 Met Gala. Picture: Instagram

Zendaya at the 2018 Met Gala. Picture: Instagram

Published Feb 19, 2024

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The theme for fashion’s biggest night of the year has finally been released, with four superstars also set to be the 2024 Met Gala co-chairs.

The event, which is also known as the Met Ball, will take place on the first Monday in May.

And this year, Vogue magazine’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, who oversees the annual fundraising gala, will be joined by Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth as the gala’s co-chairs.

The announcement was made on Thursday, as excitement continues to mount as the star-studded crowd are once again expected to ascend the grand steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on May 6.

Bad Bunny at the 2023 Met Gala. Picture: Instagram

In addition, this year’s honorary chairs are Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

The social media platform is also set to be the gala’s sponsor, with support from the Spanish luxury fashion house.

Organisers have also announced that the theme for this year’s Met Ball will be “The Garden of Time”, which is inspired by British author JG Ballard’s 1962 short story which is set in a garden filled with translucent, time-manipulating flowers.

Fashion lovers are now eagerly waiting to see how the invited A-list guests will lend their own unique and creative fashion interpretations to this theme at the splashy benefit.

The gala is a fund-raiser for the Costume Institute and it brings in the bulk of its annual budget.

To date, the renowned benefit has raised more than $223.5 million, with the carpet beforehand being one of the biggest pop culture spectacles of the year.

Meanwhile, Zendaya’s status as a Met Gala co-chair is set to be enhanced as her star continues to rise.

This will be her first time in years making an appearance at the Met Ball, after being a guest several times before.

The actress is currently one of the biggest style icons of her generation as each of her looks continue to make headlines.

This includes for the worldwide première of her upcoming movie, “Dune: Part Two”.

Zendaya at the London premiere of ‘Dune: Part 2’. Picture: Instagram

She set off a media storm and continued to trend on social media this week, when she went full fashion robot at the London premiere of the much-anticipated flick.

The 27-year-old, who plays the love interest and partner in the galaxies to Paul Atreides alongside Timothée Chalamet seems to remain in character for the movie’s premiere.

She donned the iconic metal robot suit from Thierry Mugler’s fall 1995 couture collection for the red carpet.

This bold look sent her fans into a frenzy with the archival fashion throwback, which featured clear panels around the chest, abs, behind, legs and arms.

Meanwhile, Hemsworth will, as a fellow Met Gala co-host, make his very first appearance at the prestigious event.

But Lopez is no stranger to the Met Ball as she has been on the guest list 13 times before.

It will also be renowned musician Bad Bunny’s third year at the gala.

Meanwhile, this year’s theme is also set to accompany The Costume Institute’s exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which will run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 10 to September 2.

The showcase includes around 250 items and garments from the Met’s extensive archive, many of which are too fragile to be staged on mannequins.

The most delicate historical pieces that form part of the exhibition will instead appear flat in suspended glass coffins.

British museum curator and the current head curator of the Anna Wintour Costume Centre at the museum told Vogue that this exhibition was a distinctive celebration of fashion, nature and culture.

“It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion,” he was quoted by the publication as saying.

“One thing I hope this show will activate is that sensorial appreciation of fashion.”