About Time: Fashion & Duration Is The New Theme For The Met Gala In 2020

The Costume Institute announced a history lover’s dream for a theme: About Time: Fashion and Duration which will trace more than a century and a half of fashion along a “disruptive timeline.” Featuring over 160 examples of women’s fashion dating as far back as 1870, the show will both a timeline and a counter timeline of fashion history. The timeline pieces will mostly be in black, and presented chronologically, while the counter pieces will predominantly be in white. These pieces may either pre- or post-date the chronological pieces they are paired with, but will share some sort of connection. The whole exhibit will end with a section looking towards the future, which will include discussions about sustainability.

From a linear timeline display of black looks to counter chronologies and top designers of the era, the exhibition will be a flashback of fashion’s best and a fast-forward to where the industry is going.

Virginia Woolf will be a “ghost narrator” of the exhibit, and the whole thing draws from philosopher Henri Bergson’s concept of la durée — time that flows, accumulates, and is indivisible. Essentially, it explores how we use fashion to make associations with time, past, present, and future. Considering the whole thing is tied to The Met’s 150th anniversary, this is sure to be a trippy experience.

The Met Gala will take place on May 4, 2020, the first Monday of the month. The gala will be co-chaired by creative director of luxury brand Louis Vuitton Nicolas Ghesquière, music composer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, actresses Meryl Streep and Emma Stone, and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour.