Editor’s Note
On May 6th, The First Monday in May, a documentary about the creation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s most attended fashion exhibition in history, “China: Through The Looking Glass” premiered at Montreal’s Du Parc Cinema and we had the pleasure to attend. The film is a behind the scenes of putting together Chinese meets western inspired designer pieces. The exhibition was pulled off by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton, which is refered to as the new Grace Coddington by some. The movie, directed by andrew Rossi, takes a slow start with heavier technical information for the first 15 minutes, then gets magical as the Costume Institute opens its doors, or shall I say its closets, to unveil some of the world’s grandest master pieces and as John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Baz Luhrmann, Anna Wintour and Kar-Wai Wong weigh in on major industry hot topics. You even get to see Wintour’s cozy meeting with André Leon Talley and other attendees in a living room (she was wearing jeans!!). The magic takes a culminating point as we see exclusive takes from the 2015 MET Ball with Rihanna performing after her omelette dress red carpet entrance (which took 3 years to make) by Chinese designer Guo Pei (a name to remember) and many other celebrities posing, mingling and then dancing to Rihanna’s jam. The artist expressed fashion’s ability to gather different cultures and people under one roof for THE big fashion event of the year, considering or not fashion week, I leave it to you to decide.
The film questioned fashion’s legitimacy as art stating that not all fashion is art, some of it being purely commercial to which I agree, commercial is when there is no, to minimal, risk, whereas art is when you would wear it on the street and all heads, no exception, turn and either comment or serve you that aw expression. Wintour was also asked about the movie Devil Wears Prada, written by a former assistant inspired by Anna herself to which Vogue’s editor calmly replied: If it brings more interest and attention to the fashion industry, then why not. She was also asked about her dragon lady reputation to which she explained being a result of her very decisive personality. Anna’s power comes, not only from her editor position at Vogue, but from her involvements in different projects and ability to bring together different cultures. See Nicole’s favorite 2016 MET Gala looks.
2016 Edition – Technology Meets The MET
Another year, another theme that takes the Met Gala and reveals the wildest of looks. This years theme for the Costume Institute Ball was “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.,” Meaning a sea of metal and sequin gowns that flooded the red carpet, not so original. Joan Smalls and Kendall Jenner both were adorned in jewelled frocks – of course stunningly beautiful, but nothing new, especially considering this year’s theme.
The real stars that took the red carpet that stayed true to the techy theme were Claire Danes in her couture, L.E.D. Zac Posen gown, Karolina Kurkova in a Marchesa x IBM in a floral “Cognitive Dress,” and Poppy Delevingne in another stunning Marchesa number.
Claires Danes L.E.D. princess dress literally lit up the Met Gala and turned heads on the red carpet. If this isn’t reminiscent of Cinderella of the future then I don’t know what is.
Karolina Kurkova was another celebrity who wore a tech dress, with 150 L.E.D. lights attached. The lights were designed to recognize five key emotions including joy, passion, excitement, encouragement and curiosity, which were reactions chosen by the designers. The emotions were then expressed through psychologically coinciding colors using IBM’s Cognitive Color Tool.
Last but not least, Poppy Delevingne, Cara’s sister in case you were wondering, wore a gothic – floor length, flapper inspired metal dress by Marchesa. This dress is jaw dropping – a walking piece of art. Bravo!
The Met Gala never seems to disappoint with the constant changing theme and the endless amount of celebrities that attend each year. This year was no different than any other and brought out moving pieces of art.