Bad Bunny Channels ‘The Garden of Time’ Protagonist in an Oversized Beret at the 2024 Met Gala

Bad Bunny, one of this year’s Met Gala co-hosts, chose to indulge the literary angle of the evening’s “Garden of Time” theme. While many attendees are sporting straightforward florals, the Latin legend opted for only a small bundle of fabric blooms to clutch between his leather gloves. The rest of the artist’s custom Maison Margiela look instead paid homage to the protagonist of J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story “The Garden of Time,” after which the gala’s theme is titled.

In Ballard’s story, the courtly Count Axel resides over an Italian villa, on whose grounds grow a collection of so-called “time flowers,” which Axel and his wife pick to turn back time and ward off the army advancing on them. The story—a symbolic portrait of time’s inevitable creep and the ultimate plight of nobility—describes Axel as “a tall, imperious figure in a black velvet jacket, a gold tie-pin glinting below his George V beard, cane held stiffly in a white-gloved hand.”

Although Bad Bunny’s Margiela look takes liberties with Ballard’s description of Axel, it still plays clear homage to the count: Where Axel dons black velvet, the singer wears navy with white stripes. The gold tie-pin is now a pair of diamond-shaped gold sunglasses. Bad Bunny wears black gloves instead of white, and he holds flowers instead of a cane. But his Elizabethan-era grandiose hat is a clear nod to the party’s source material, as well as an announcement: Bad Bunny is a true Renaissance man.

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As one of four co-chairs for tonight’s Met Gala, including Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, and Chris Hemsworth, it’s only right that Bad Bunny is one of the evening’s best-dressed celebrities so far.