Arguably fashion’s biggest night of the year, when the news broke that this year’s Met Gala would be postponed due to COVID-19, many fashion lovers were left disappointed. But this hasn’t stopped an online community from creating their own digital version of the annual event. Taking place on May 4 (the original date of the IRL Met Gala), members of the High Fashion Twitter community will come together for a virtual Met Ball.

“Although this year’s official Met Gala has been indefinitely postponed, the HFTwit Met staff would like to announce that the High Fashion Twitter Met Gala will still be happening on the first Monday in May!” a post reads on the official High Fashion Twitter Met Gala page. “Given the anxiety and stress that the COVID-19 outbreak is causing, we believe that continuing to move ahead with the HFTwit Met Gala is the right choice. Hopefully, this event will serve as a little spot of joy and unity for this amazing community.”

The High Fashion Twitter community, or hf twitter as it is most commonly known, is a unique online subculture united by their love of fashion. Often using the social media app as a platform to critique the industry, the Met Gala is a time when the community comes together to give its unfiltered online commentary of the night’s proceedings, notably discussing the looks which make their way down the infamous red carpet.

This time around, however, as there will be no looks to comment on, the community has instead opted to create a series of challenges. Virtual attendees will be able to share pictures of themselves in the outfits they would have worn to this year’s event, in-keeping with the theme of course, and compete in a wardrobe styling challenge, a brand challenge, and an illustration showcase.  

With some of fashion’s most notable writers following the Twitter page, along with esteemed members of hf twitter, the group hopes to create “an online space where fantasy reigns supreme and impracticality does not exist,” a post states on its official Twitter page. “The High Fashion Twitter Met seeks to allow fashion enthusiasts from around the world to share and express their unique creative visions without real world inhibitions.”  

Look back on pictures from last year’s Met Gala in the gallery above.