MET Gala 2016: Fashion and Technology Come Together

Like boyfriend jeans and stilettos, tutu skirts and biker jackets… Heck, Nutella and pasta! (Yes, this IS delicious) fashion and technology were bound to fuse. The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that the 2016 theme will be «Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” a fund raising event that has taken place since 1964.

This year´s hosts will be Idris Elba, Jonathan Ive, Taylor Swift and Anna Wintour. The honorary co-chairs for the occasion are Nicolas Ghesquière, Karl Lagerfeld and Miuccia Prada. The exhibit sponsored by Apple will be on view from may 5^th through august 14^th.  I can already picture Lady Gaga dressed for the occasion.

A quote from the Met’s CEO contextualizes the theme: “Fashion and technology are inextricably connected, more so now than ever before. It is therefore timely to examine the roles that the handmade and the machine-made have played in the creative process. Often presented as oppositional, this exhibition proposes a new view in which the hand and the machine are mutual and equal protagonists.”

Technology has changed this industry radically, not only in the dressmaking process but also in it´s accessibility to anyone who owns a phone, laptop or any electronic device connected to the Internet. Social media has taken fashion from being a closed off experience, discussed in the halls of the elite, to the worldwide stage of bloggers.

Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler, Pinterest and Twitter have enabled businesses to develop a more personal relationship with it´s followers, and I refer to them as followers because I find consumers a limited term. We are constantly connected and participating, which means brands have learnt to listen and thrive on a huge amount of honest feedback that is crucial, not only for the fashion industry, but for any industry.

There is no doubt that the roles have changed, and have not yet been defined which makes me wonder Do we shape what is offered to us or is this demand dictated by the fashion gurus?  These two assumptions might be compatible as hand-made and machine-made are. Social media has opened an enormous window of possibilities for brands and followers, growing at a ridiculous fast pace.

Newesletters keep us up to date with absolutely everything happening – from Raff Simmons leaving Dior to the upcoming opening of your favorite store. Snapchats, tweets and Instagram posts have us aware of every single trend that is out there, allowing us to recreate the same looks, with in days, even minutes, thanks to fast fashion.

It seems like this theme has a lot to cover, it may even seems like the incomprehensibility of the black hole. What does the future of fashion look like? What unexpected turns will it take? And most important of all, how will technology continue to transform the future of fashion?