The Met Gala’s Mysterious Dress Code: “The Garden of Time”
In a surprising Instagram post on Feb. 15, Vogue announced the theme for this year’s highly anticipated Met Gala: “The Garden of Time.” The cryptic message left many wondering what exactly this theme entailed.
An article published on the Vogue website later that day shed some light on the theme, revealing that “The Garden of Time” was actually the title of a short story by J.G. Ballard, a British author known for his dystopian works of fiction.
The story, which appeared in the February 1962 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, follows the last days of Count Axel and his wife, the Countess, as they face a looming threat to their peaceful existence in a Palladian villa surrounded by a garden.
As an army approaches, Count Axel attempts to turn back time by plucking blooms from the garden’s time flowers. However, his efforts are in vain, and the villa is ultimately overrun, leaving the count and countess as statues gazing out over the ruins.
The choice of “The Garden of Time” as the Met Gala theme is both fitting and ironic, given the current social climate of anger towards elites. The story’s themes of aristocracy and downfall mirror the extravagant nature of the event.
Interestingly, designer Thom Browne drew inspiration from the same Ballard story for his 2021 fashion collection, featuring understated and classic designs with models sporting clay-like makeup, blurring the line between statue and human.
While the story may seem to sympathize with the count and countess, Ballard himself denied any nostalgia for a bygone era in a 1975 interview, praising the social changes of the ’60s as a positive development.
As the fashion world eagerly awaits the Met Gala, guests and hosts alike will undoubtedly be challenged to interpret and embody the enigmatic theme of “The Garden of Time” in their attire and presence at the event.
