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 today 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 (as its title suggests) in a garden filled with translucent, time-manipulating flowers.

Ballard, who is closely associated with New Wave science fiction, often set his searingly relevant dystopian stories in eras of ecological apocalypse or rising dissenting technologies.

Florals are sure to abound on this year’s red carpet thanks to the theme “The Garden of Time,” but the novel it takes inspiration from has darker undertones. (Pictured above: Rihanna at the 2023 Met Gala.)

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“It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion,” Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s Wendy Yu Curator in Charge, told Vogue of the exhibition. “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 Shou Zi Chew.