The Met Gala makes the first Monday in May the most fashionable day of the year.
It's the event where fashion becomes art and celebrities hit the carpet with never-before-seen looks. This year's theme "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" and the dress code "The Garden of Time" made people curious: how would designers interpret them and turn them into spectacular looks on the red carpet?
What were the most talked about moments of the Met Gala 2024? Which celebrities and designers stole the show? And how did AI influence the conversation? We have you covered.
With Brandwatch Consumer Research, we looked at online conversations during the Met Gala event (5:30pm EST - 8:30pm EST) from public social posts, blogs, forums, and news sites to identify the most talked about moments.
The hype around the Met Gala
The Met Gala is one of the biggest fashion events in the world. Everyone looks forward to seeing who will attend and, perhaps more importantly, what they will wear.
This year's Met Gala sparked many online discussions, with over 488k unique authors generating over 2.21m mentions during the event. This year’s event was slightly more popular in terms of online conversation than last year's Met Gala, which generated 2.1 million mentions.
65% of emotion-categorized mentions around the Met Gala expressed joy. The most frequently used emoji are 😭, ✨, and 💙. The ‘loud crying face’ emoji was used by viewers when they were stunned or amused by an outfit, or they missed the presence of their favorite celebrity. K-pop fans used the sparkle emoji and blue heart to express their love for the band Stray Kids and Blackpink member Jennie Kim, who all attended the Met Gala.
What were the highlights of the Met Gala? Let's take a look at the most talked about hosts, celebrities, and designers.
The hosts
This year's host lineup included some impressive names: Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Zendaya. They all helped Anna Wintour, who has organized the Met Gala since 1995, attract big names and make the event a success.
The hosts generated over 90k online conversations during the red carpet broadcast. People discussed their hosting duties in general but were especially excited about their outfits. And one outshone the other hosts: Zendaya. The actress wore not one, but two outfits at the Met Gala, and nearly 60% of all host-related conversations were about her.
Her first outfit was designed by Maison Margiela, a dark blue mermaid dress with a hummingbird on her shoulder. Her look was completed with dark makeup by celebrity stylist Law Roach. She then changed into a second look for the red carpet, a dramatic black Givenchy dress from 1996.
While the online conversations around the female hosts were mostly positive, the picture was different for the male hosts. They received more negative than positive mentions. For example, people criticized Chris Hemsworth's decision to wear a plain suit. In fact, suits in general were a negative topic in Met Gala conversations this year. Viewers were hoping for more exciting looks from the male attendees.
The most-talked about celebrities
One of the most discussed topics is the guest list. Until close to the event, the people invited and attending is a well-kept secret, adding to the anticipation around the event. And this year was no different. Half of the online conversations around the Met Gala mention celebrities. Who stole the show?
The biggest peak was caused by Ariana Grande. No other celebrity managed to generate so much chatter in one minute. It was the singer's second Met Gala, and this time she not only attended the event but also performed.
The first peak was caused by host Zendaya, who wore her first outfit, and the last peak was caused by singer Lana Del Rey, who wore a dramatic Alexander McQueen gown.
In terms of overall volume in online conversations, there were other winners. Here are the top five most-talked about celebrities:
- Stray Kids – 533k mentions
- Jennie Kim – 236k mentions
- Ariana Grande – 74k mentions
- Lana Del Rey – 30k mentions
- Mona Patel – 23k mentions
K-pop stars Stray Kids and Blackpink's Jennie Kim outpaced all other celebrities when it comes to online chatter. All members of Stray Kids attended the Met Gala for the first time, wearing custom suits by Tommy Hilfiger. It was the second Met Gala for Jennie Kim, who wore a short blue dress by Alaïa. A surprise was Mona Patel. Her stunning gown caused a lot of discussion about who she was. The Indian fashion entrepreneur wore kinetic butterflies with moving wings on her arms.
There were also discussions about celebrities who did not attend the Met Gala. Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Katy Perry were just a few of those speculated about. All couldn't make it or decided to skip. Or didn't they? It didn't take long for AI images to go viral showing celebrities like Katy Perry on the red carpet. The post featuring Katy Perry's fake image was viewed over 13 million times on X and received hundreds of thousands of likes at the time of writing as people were convinced the images were real.
In online conversations, Katy Perry was mentioned over 13k times, and she was actually in the top 15 most mentioned celebrities despite not attending the event.
The singer had to clarify on Instagram that she really wasn't at the Met Gala.
The most popular designers
There’s no Met Gala without the designers. None of the glamor and pomp would be possible without the creativity and imagination of the biggest fashion brands. The Met Gala is one of the biggest opportunities for fashion brands to showcase their unique creations. Who got the most attention this year?
There's a secret ingredient for the top two most mentioned designers: K-pop. If you want a lot of online buzz about your brand, you better work with K-pop stars. Tommy Hilfiger received by far the most online mentions of any designer for dressing all the members of the band Stray Kids for the Met Gala. Stray Kids are one of the biggest stars in the K-pop world right now, and any brand that works with them is going to get a lot of attention.
This is a strategy that brands also use at fashion weeks. Felix of Stray Kids walked the runway for Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week this year and made Louis Vuitton the number one most mentioned brand in fashion week conversations.
Conclusion
The Met Gala attracts a lot of attention and has a huge impact on setting trends and consumer behavior. But it's not just for fashion brands. More and more brands from other industries are recognizing the opportunity to capitalize on the hype before, during, and after the event. The Met Gala is a great opportunity for brands of all sizes and industries to jump on the bandwagon with tailored marketing activities and campaigns.
With social listening platforms like Brandwatch Consumer Research, brands can keep an eye on these types of events and tap into trends as they emerge.
