A HOST of Irish stars turned out in style for the annual Met Gala ball which took place in New York yesterday.
Held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to raise money for its Costume Institute, the theme of the 2024 event was Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, which is the title of the Institute’s annual fashion exhibition which opens this week.
Saltburn star Barry Keoghan led on the style stakes, arriving in a full velvet suit and hat, with girlfriend, the US singer Sabrina Carpenter.
Dubliner Andrew Scott, who starred in All of Us Strangers, also came to make a statement in a sleeveless suit complemented by gold jewellery.
Actor Eve Hewson, of Bad Sisters fame, looked stunning in a pale chiffon dress by Irish designer Simone Rocha.
Irish designer Sean McGirr, who is the creative director of Alexander McQueen, also looked sharp arriving with the US singer Lana Del Rey in a fully black ensemble, while actor Jamie Dornan cut a softer silhouette in a formal three-piece suit made from a light wool material.
Derry-born designer Jonathan Anderson, who is the creative director of Loewe and was an honorary chair at this year's Gala – was clearly feeling patriotic, wearing sparkling emerald shoes and a shamrock brooch.
From May 10, the Costume Institute’s exhibition will be open to the public, featuring 250 items from its permanent collection.
“The Met's innovative spring 2024 Costume Institute exhibition will push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience the multisensory facets of a garment, many of which get lost when entering a museum collection as an object,” Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO, said.
“Sleeping Beauties will heighten our engagement with these masterpieces of fashion by evoking how they feel, move, sound, smell and interact when being worn, ultimately offering a deeper appreciation of the integrity, beauty and artistic brilliance of the works on display.”
Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge at The Costume Institute, added: “When an item of clothing enters our collection, its status is changed irrevocably.
"What was once a vital part of a person’s lived experience is now a motionless ‘artwork’ that can no longer be worn or heard, touched, or smelled."
He added: “The exhibition endeavours to reanimate these artworks by reawakening their sensory capacities through a diverse range of technologies, affording visitors sensorial ‘access’ to rare historical garments and rarefied contemporary fashions.
“By appealing to the widest possible range of human senses, the show aims to reconnect with the works on display as they were originally intended—with vibrancy, with dynamism, and ultimately with life," he explaied.
“The Met's innovative spring 2024 Costume Institute exhibition will push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience the multisensory facets of a garment, many of which get lost when entering a museum collection as an object.
"Sleeping Beauties will heighten our engagement with these masterpieces of fashion by evoking how they feel, move, sound, smell and interact when being worn, ultimately offering a deeper appreciation of the integrity, beauty and artistic brilliance of the works on display.”