This year's dress code for the Met Gala is based on The Garden of Time, a 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard...Actually, a bunch of airhead celebrities and trust-funders basing their masque on a J.G. Ballard story is a J.G. Ballard story. Personally I'd rather see them go with "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan", but I'm not known for subtlety.
The story is about the good-looking, sophisticated Count Axel and his wife, who live in a beautiful villa full of rare books, fine paintings, busts and vases. They live a decadent life on their beautiful estate, which includes an exquisite pool and garden. But outside the walls, the landscape is empty as far as the eye can see – until an unruly rabble appears in the distance. Each time Count Axel cuts a flower from his garden, however, time spools back, and the brutish mass recedes behind the hills.... nope, can't think of a sarky remark that enhances that.
To keep the crowd at bay, the husband tries to turn back time by breaking off flower after flower, until there are no more blooms left. The mob arrives and ransacks the estate, and the two aristocrats turn to stone.*Again, some jokes tell themselves.
The vivid, thought-provoking short story is often seen to act as a metaphor for the evolution of human history and the endless cycle of creation and destruction...Perhaps, but this year's Met Gala using the story as a theme is a metaphor for something else, I think you'll find.
Other articles on the ball, like, undoubtedly, the guests, very much focus on the flowers thang.
[* This quote is from NYT rather than Harper's Bazaar.]