THE ALT MET GALA - Gateshead, 7 May 2026 Tickets

Description

In the same week as the Met Gala at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Green Heart Collective presents an Alt Met Gala featuring unique upcycled outfits made from textile waste by local creatives.

Date: 7pm on Thursday 7 May 2026

Location: The Tynesider, 195 High Street, Gateshead, NE8 1AS

If you love fashion and creativity, you can come along as a guest for the evening, enjoy the runway and vote for your favourites. 

If you are a creative, you can enter the transformation challenge to create an outfit fit for the Met Gala red carpet using nothing new.

Dan Stones, BBC Sewing Bee contestant 2025, will be the main judge for the competition.

GUEST TICKET £20/£17.50 concessions *

Includes a glass of fizz & canapes, runway show, disco & one voting form

Dress Code: black & white

Concessions: Universal Credit and full time students

Age: 16+

TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE TICKET £20/£17.50 concessions *

Includes a glass of fizz & canapes, photo shoot, runway walk, a chance to win great prizes & a spot in the Late Shows exhibition at Green Heart. The main prize is a 90 minute one to one session with Sewing Bee’s Dan Stones at Green Heart creating a transformation of your choice.

Your challenge is to create a Met Gala outfit for yourself or a model of your choice without buying anything new. You can source your materials from your own wardrobe, charity shops etc.

Theme: Upcycled Fashion is Art

By purchasing this ticket, you are agreeing to the rules set out below. If you are bringing someone else to model your creation, you will need to purchase a model ticket below.

MODEL TICKET £10/£7.50 concessions

RULES OF ENTRY

• The costume has to fit the theme (see FAQs below for inspiration) and be all your own work
• You will need to submit the title for your design and brief description for the event programme by the end of April.
• This is a transformation challenge so if you buy a preloved item, it cannot be worn in its entirety but has to transformed into a new garment
• You must buy nothing new
• The outfit needs to be worn and modelled by yourself or a model of your own at the Alt Met Gala on Thursday 7 May in Gateshead
• Your entry must be left on the night or dropped off the next day for the Alt Met Gala Exhibition at the Late Shows at Green Heart on Saturday 9 May
• The judge’s decision is final
• All photographs can be used freely by Green Heart 
  

FAQs

Why is there a dress code for guests?

We do not expect guests to come in red carpet outfits. The focus for the evening will be on the transformation challenge entries. Wearing anything black and white will create a great backdrop for the runway walk.

What is the Met Gala?

The Met Gala traditionally takes place on the first Monday in May and is a haute couture fundraising event hosted by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It attracts celebrities and artists who dress to a different theme each year.

Why put on an Alt Met Gala?

It is possible to love fashion and care for the planet. This transformation challenge proves that great art and style does not need to be created from new materials. There’s a beauty in creating something beautiful from unwanted and discarded materials.

What is the main prize?

A 90 minute one to one session with Sewing Bee’s Dan Stones at Green Heart creating a transformation of your choice. You can come with an idea and garments to transform or find something in the Green Heart shop. All equipment and haberdashery will be provided.

What is the theme ‘Upcycled Fashion is Art’ all about?

Vogue Magazine sums it up as "Costume Art, the spring 2026 exhibition at the Costume Institute, addresses “the centrality of the dressed body in the museum’s vast collection,” per curator Andrew Bolton, by pairing paintings, sculptures and other objects spanning the 5,000 years of art represented in The Met, alongside historical and contemporary garments from the Costume Institute. Bolton has organised the exhibition around a series of thematic body types loosely divided into three categories. These include bodies omnipresent in art, like the classical body and the nude body; other kinds of bodies that are more often overlooked, like ageing bodies and pregnant bodies; and still more that are universal, like the anatomical body." Extract from https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/met-gala

Who is Dan Stones?

Dan Stones was a contestant on the last series of the popular BBC1 show ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’. Dan makes costumes for his fire eating act and fellow circus performers. He entered the Sewing Bee on a whim and was amazed when he impressed judges with some of his creations. Dan has a heart for upcycling and tries to source secondhand fabrics for his projects where possible.

Details

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