By: Katrina Gross ~Staff Writer~
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) fashion exhibition changes each year and kicks off with the annual MET Gala ball. Organizers of this year’s event recently chose the theme Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. This event is known throughout the nation as one of the most celebrity-filled events of the year that isn’t actually directly involved with the entertainment industry.
Each year, potential attendees to the ball wait in anticipation for what unique theme will be chosen, with themes generally being related to current trends. Past themes have included Punk (2013), Rock Style (1999), Superheroes (2008) and American Women of Style (1975), among countless others. The Gala serves as a primary fundraiser and the opening night for the MET fashion exhibit. The MET Gala ball began in 1970 with the theme Fashion Plate. The evening consists of a cocktail hour followed by a formal dinner.
This year’s theme follows suit in its relation to current trends like many past themes have, with organizers of the event choosing the theme of the MET fashion exhibit and Gala ball. It is said to focus on the dichotomy between handmade haute couture pieces and machine-made fashion. This year’s MET Gala ball show will feature more than 100 pieces of haute couture and ready-to-wear fashion, including several handmade couture pieces featuring techniques such as embroidery, lacework and pleating. These handmade pieces will be shown in comparison to machinemade designs showcasing new technologies in fashion such as laser cutting, circular knitting and thermo shaping in garments.
The exhibition will also feature a few of these machine-made processes show casing things such as 3-D printing in workshops where attendees will be able to see the process of machine-made fashion in work. Every year the Gala is hosted by a few different celebrity chairs of the MET. This year’s hosts include cochairs Idris Elba, Jonathan Ive, Taylor Swift and Anna Wintor with Nicolas Ghesquière, Karl Lagerfeld and Miuccia Prada serving as honorary chairs. The Gala ball and accompanying exhibition will be sponsored by Apple and will take place on May 2, 2016.