Known as the “the party of the year”, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Benefit red carpet excites and inspires emerging designers the world over, and 2016 was definitely no exception. Using the theme of the exhibit as inspiration for their red carpet looks, we saw an incredible array of technologically driven high fashion worn by our favourite celebrities.
Entitled “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” the Costume Institute’s exhibit explores the relationship between clothes created by hand (manus) versus those created by machine. This lead to a flurry of metallic accents and sleek, slick backed hairstyles on the carpet. We saw Zayn Malik sporting bionic arms over his Versace suit, and Katy Perry wearing a Tamagotchi around her neck (remember those?).
The colour pallet of the night screamed futuristic, with many of the celebs wearing a variety of metallic hues. This was off-set by the strong showing of white gowns, seen on Anna Wintour (the Costume Institute chairperson), and Kate Hudson. The predominant pattern was circuitry, and silhouettes hinted at retro-futurism with corsets and capes making notable appearances.
Balmain was clearly the designer of choice, with their penchant for circuit board imagery and structural armour overtones. Among other celebs, they dresses most of the Kardashian’s, Cindy Crawford and Jourdan Dunn. Other designers that shone last night included Givenchy (who created Beyonce’s latex number), Calvin Klein who dressed Margot Robbie & Emma Watson, and Proenza Schoeler who created Brie Larson’s ankle length tiered gown
Some of our favourite looks of the night incorporated both a hand crafted and machinery driven feel. These included Kate Hudson’s Atelier Versace gown that was pieced together, Rita Ora’s Vera Wang cascading feater gown, and Nicole Kidman’s Alexander McQueen piece showing the phasing of the moon.
We also have to mention Claire Danes who wore a Cinderella style gown by Zac Posen. She showed of the dress in the dark – and it glowed by thousands of tiny fluorescent lights under the surface of the dress.
