Cinderella shines on its own at the MET Gala.

Every year, this event is the focus in New York and worldwide. The MET Gala is the night of glamor that is staged at Anna Wintour Costume Center in New York. In this edition, we appreciate it even more because it tells the relationship between tailoring and technology, manual and tools.

Andrew Bolton, the superintendent of the related exhibition, intended to “explore the dichotomy between hand-made haute-couture and machine-made garments”, naming the related exhibition Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.

Since it comes to technology, the light in its most recent development has the right to be among the protagonists. In the video we are going to show, the dress designed by Zac Posen is dotted with optical fibers and, in our opinion, it leaves the classical scheme of “technology + clothing= robot dress”. In this case, in fact, the project choice (play?) is based on a very simple idea: technology to fascinate, astonish and dream. And what better reference than the world of fairy tales and happy endings? Certainly, this is our interpretation as incurable romantics, but you cannot but get carried away by the memory of the Disney movie where the fairy Godmother turned the shabby clothes of the scullery maid into the wonderful princess dress by a wave of a magic wand, which proved the magic spell occurred just through the origination of a light source. 

A strong temptation for those who would like to get noticed in a romantic night or shine on their own among the guests of a nerd party. Then, if you really wanted to overdo, you could choose looks created by laser cutting or thermal shaping, up to 3D printing. In the end, if you think about that, all these innovations are also shared by the world of lighting and architectural design, with products that can be innovative for their shape or function, in accordance with the founding principles of the original design, the one that produces useful but beautiful objects, or beautiful but also useful objects. A lamp that lights up properly, enabling energy saving and lasting over time thanks to the quality of the materials but, at the same time, a lamp that will complete the appearance of the home, office and public spaces. This brings to another topic that attracts designers and producers, the yin and yang that sees an opposition between designers and entrepreneurs: Can creativity be an end in itself and become pure artistic operation or, conversely, can it be the first step towards a new expressive language that will produce profits and visibility?

However, that is another story or better, another fairy tale, which we will tell you in the future.