Met Gala to have 'Sleeping Beauties' theme in 2024

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The Met Gala will have a "Sleeping Beauties" theme in 2024.

"Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" was announced Wednesday as the theme for next year's gala and spring exhibit at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibit will feature 250 items from the Costume Institute's permanent collection, which will be displayed in an entirely new way.

"This innovative show will push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience many facets of a work, to learn more about its history, and, ultimately, to gain a deeper appreciation of its beauty," Met CEO Max Hollein said in a press release.

The pieces span 400 years of history and include designs by Phillip Lim, Stella McCartney, Connor Ives, Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior and Hubert Givenchy.

The items on display are "sleeping beauties" in that they are too fragile to ever be worn again, but will be transformed through illusion techniques, video animation, light projection, soundscaping, AI, CGI and other methods.

"Using the natural world as a uniting visual metaphor for the transience of fashion, the show will explore cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal, breathing new life into these storied objects through creative and immersive activations to convey the smells, sounds, textures, and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body," the press release reads.

The Met Gala will take place May 6, while the "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" exhibit will run May 10-Sept. 2.

This year's theme was "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty," honoring late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.