Who is going to the 2024 Met Gala and who will skip the event?

Tim Gunn confirmed he was banned from the fundraiser in 2016

Awards season may be over, and fashion month long gone, but the most anticipated red carpet runway rollout has yet to come – the Met Gala.

Every year, on the first Monday in May, the Upper East Side is stormed with a slew of A-listers, Hollywood darlings, music idols, and elite designers ready to ascend the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in support of its coveted costume institution. This year, the “biggest night in fashion” will honour the opening of the new Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion exhibit, a mixed media installation featuring 250 archive pieces from the costume institution’s permanent collection.

Despite the thread of predictions online, the term “sleeping beauties” isn’t referencing Disney fantasy or designer jammies. The “sleeping beauties” of the exhibit are 50 garments, so delicate and latent, they can never be worn again – a few fragile and fragmented, far from their original form. Textiles will be grouped under three “zones” or sections – land, sea, and sky – to intentionally configure views of the natural world in tandem with their epitomisation by industry leaders.

As set by the governor of the gala, Anna Wintour, this year’s dress code is “The Garden of Time.” Inspired by the 1962 JG Ballard short story, guests are expected to illustrate fleeting beauty like Count Axel’s dwindling garden. The Elizabethan era is likely to be tapped, mimicking the concept of preservation, as well as organic elements, like floral embellishments.

While a place setting for the night requires a hefty donation fee, the parameter that proves to be most difficult to tackle is getting past Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief, the figure who has final say on the guest list. Of course, we can’t expect to see every celebrity who’s ever attended the gala year after year, even if they’ve been requested by Anna Wintour. But there are a few that are more than likely to be there on 6 May.

The 2024 Met Gala co-chairs – Chris Hemsworth, Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, and Bad Bunny – are guaranteed along with the event’s hosts and sponsors: Loewe’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson and TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew.

According to a 13 April Page Six report, Lily Gladstone and Ayo Edebiri are two newcomers to the Met Gala invite list this year. Additionally, a source speaking to the outlet said Gisele Bündchen, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Kendall Jenner, Uma Thurman, Cara Delevingne, Sarah Paulson, and Olivia Rodrigo will be gracing the Met steps too. Barry Keoghan is said to have gotten an invite for the second year in a row.

With these select individuals, we can assume Vogue’s two red carpet hosts, La La Anthony and Emma Chamberlain, will be back again too. Chamberlain impressed her first year, following the theme of Gilded Glamour, when a clip of her interviewing Jack Harlow went viral. Before exiting the carpet, Harlow casually slipped Chamberlain a, “Love you, bye,” before the coffee company creator burst into a belly laugh, cameras cutting as she looked back in shock.

Though it’s not been confirmed yet, the Kardashians and Jenners, Kim, Kylie, and Kris will most likely be in attendance as they’re known to elicit buzzy red-carpet moments. Additionally, designers such as Stella McCartney, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, and Tom Ford. Usually, we can expect Givenchy’s former creative director, Matthew Williams, who showed up with Gigi Hadid last year, but since his recent departure from the French fashion house, we may see Clare Waight Keller in his place. Donatella Versace and Marc Jacobs have been photographed on the steps in previous years, which means they could make a return, Donatella more likely than not.

Amid the wonted, there are a handful of celebrities who have made public declarations that they will never attend the Met Gala ever again or have been ousted by Wintour.

“I’m never going again. It was so un-fun. It was boiling. It was too crowded. I did not enjoy it at all,” Gwyneth Paltrow told USA Today in 2013. Yet, the Goop creator found her way back in 2017 and 2019.

Zayn Malik attended the event in 2016 but hasn’t been back since, while Amy Schumer notably told Howard Stern that going to the Met Gala was “punishment”.

“It’s people doing an impression of having a conversation. I don’t like the farce. I have no interest in fashion,” she said in 2016.

Tina Fey has previously said she would never want to go back to the fundraiser after describing it as a “jerk parade”.

In 2016, Tim Gunn, the 70-year-old former Parsons School of Design professor and TV personality, confirmed he’d been banned from the Met Gala.

“I was asked what is the most unforgettable thing I’ve ever seen in fashion,” he told E! News. “And I said: ‘It’s easy. It was watching Anna Wintour being carried down five flights of stairs by two bodyguards — two big hulking men — from a fashion show.’”

Lena Dunham, Demi Lovato, Jameela Jamil, are all said to be banned too after publicly bashing their experiences.

The 2024 Met Gala will take place on Monday 6 May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.