The most glamorous event on the fashion calendar, the Met Gala, took place on Monday, May 6, and fashion honored the natural world. The Costume Institute's Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion show was honored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual celebration, but "The Garden of Time" was the required attire. J.G. Ballard's eponymous short story was mentioned, and attendees were encouraged to embrace the ethereal atmosphere. As predicted, a lot of people wore imaginative clothing inspired by nature, which led to a thousand memes asking, "Florals for spring? Groundbreaking."
A hint of Ballard's 1962 story might be seen in the futuristic designs, which promoted the natural environment in more subtle ways—that is, through emerging technologies and sustainable practices. The latter was a literary device used by the English novelist, who wrote about dystopia and science fiction decades before we had ever seen an episode of Black Mirror, reported Marie Claire UK.
Anna Wintour, the chief editor of Vogue and producer of the Met Gala, gave guests the menacing order to exhibit "fleeting beauty." Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Charlie XCX, and Amanda Seyfried experimented more with the clothing code, referencing the lesson from Ballard's science fiction tale—that everyone's time eventually runs out. Transient beauty, yes.
The Garden of Time, which Jack Edwards refers to as "the internet's libraria" on TikTok, centers on Count Axel and his wife, who reside in a lavish mansion filled to the gills with antiquarian books and rare volumes. But an invading mob is destroying their opulent domesticity. The Count trims a "time flower" from his garden to ward off the rabble, but ultimately the couple runs out of these "time flowers," forcing the crowd to disperse.
The short story "represents this human cycle of creation and destruction," according to Edwards' idea. When viewed via this literary prism, the Met Gala dress code appears to be an unexpected decision, considering the industry's long-standing appreciation of nature and concurrent role in its devastation. Ballard was a futurist at heart, even if he is most often linked to a dystopian vision. Decades before the climate crisis became a common topic of discussion, his stories addressed it.
Although the Met Gala has never been accessible to the general public, events at the top of the fashion world surely have an effect on the sector as a whole. According to the Global Fashion Agenda, "the Met Gala acts as a bellwether for the broader industry, signaling that the popularity of vintage and pre-owned goods is only going to rise."
Here, we explore The Garden of Time's more creative interpretations and honor the industry futurists who are paving the road for slower, more sustainable fashion—even though many attendees catered to the dress code's apparent allusion to horticulture./BGNES