Fashion’s biggest night of the year is just around the corner, and the Met Gala red carpet theme has finally been announced — along with superstars Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth as this year’s co-chairs. Organizers announced last week that the official dress code for the event, which will take place on May 6, is “The Garden of Time.” The theme takes its title from a 1962 short story written by British author J. G. Ballard, set in a garden filled with translucent, time-manipulating flowers. Ballard, who is closely associated with New Wave science fiction, often set his dystopian stories in eras of ecological apocalypse or rising dissenting technologies. The Ballardian theme accompanies The Costume Institute’s exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which will run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 10 through Sept. 2. The showcase includes approximately 250 items and garments from the Met’s extensive archive, many of which are too fragile to be staged on mannequins. The most delicate historical pieces will instead appear flat in suspended glass coffins — like Princess Aurora in the fairytale “Sleeping Beauty,” if you will. “It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion,” said Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s Wendy Yu Curator in Charge. “One thing I hope this show will activate is that sensorial appreciation of fashion.” The year’s co-chairs — alongside Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour — include Met Gala mainstays and debuts. Hemsworth will make his first appearance at the event, while Zendaya will return for the first time in several years. Honorary chairs include Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and TikTok CEO Chew Shouzi. The complex, conceptual nature of this year’s dress code stands in contrast to last year’s commemorative nod to Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy. The Met Gala theme often vacillates between straightforward retrospectives and more artful, subjective prompts. One such fan favorite was the 2018 theme of “Heavenly Bodies,” which encouraged guests to dive deep into the rich, imagistic history of Catholicism. This year, guests will have plenty of vivid reference points to interpret. In Ballard’s story, Count Axel and his wife are trapped in their walled garden as an angry mob amasses outside their gates. As its time-reversing blooms dwindle, both are aware of the fate that awaits them.(SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關詞匯 【半透明的】bàntòumíng de translucent transmitting and diffusing light so that objects beyond cannot be seen clearly 【減少】jiǎnshǎo dwindle become smaller in size or amount, or fewer in number 一年一度最盛大的時尚之夜即將到來，大都會博物館慈善晚會（Met Gala）的紅毯秀主題也終于揭曉 —— 超級巨星贊達亞、詹妮弗?洛佩茲、Bad Bunny 和克里斯?海姆斯沃斯將擔任今年的聯席主席。 主辦方上周宣布，將于 5月6日舉行的盛典以“時光花園”為著裝主題。該主題源于英國作家巴拉德1962 年創作的短篇小說，故事發生的場景是一個花園，這里開滿半透明的花朵、花朵的魔力能逆轉時光。 巴拉德是“新浪潮”科幻小說的領軍人物，他的反烏托邦故事具有現實意義，常常發生在生態災難降臨后或是反人類技術興起的時代。 巴拉德式的主題與服裝學院的展覽 《沉睡美人：時尚覺醒》相得益彰：展覽將于 5月10日至9月2日在大都會藝術博物館舉行，其中展示的約 250件服裝和物品來自大都會博物館的大量藏品，許多過于脆弱，無法在塑料模特身上展示。最最精致的歷史珍藏將平躺在懸浮的玻璃棺材中，就像童話故事《睡美人》中的奧羅拉公主。 服裝學院的Wendy Yu主策展人安德魯?博爾頓說：“展覽在很大程度上是對自然和時尚情感詩學的一首頌歌。希望這次展覽能激活人們對時尚的感性認識。” 與Vogue雜志主編安娜?溫圖爾一起擔任今年聯席主席的既有Met Gala的常客也有首次亮相的新人。海姆斯沃斯將首次出席盛會，而贊達亞則是數年后首次回歸。榮譽主席包括Loewe創意總監喬納森?安德森和TikTok首席執行官周受資。 今年的著裝主題兼具復雜性和概念性，和去年的“向卡爾?拉格斐的遺產致敬”形成了鮮明對比。Met Gala的主題經常在直白的回顧經典和更具藝術性、主觀性的命題之間徘徊。2018 年的主題“天體”就是粉絲們的最愛之一，鼓勵嘉賓深入挖掘天主教豐富而充滿想象力的歷史。 今年，嘉賓們可以參考大量生動的細節來詮釋主題。在巴拉德的故事中，阿克塞爾伯爵和妻子被困在自家花園的圍墻里，門外聚集了一群憤怒的暴徒。隨著花園中能逆轉時間的花朵日漸枯萎，兩人意識到了等待他們的不測命運。 (Translated by Debra) | 