Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Apple would sponsor its annual 2016 Gala and Costume Institute exhibition, with Apple Design Chief Jony Ive serving as co-chair of the event.
The Gala, which takes place next year, is themed "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology," and while few details are available this early on, The Wall Street Journal has now shared a bit more information on what we can expect from the event following an interview with Jony Ive, Anna Wintour, and Costume Institute Curator Andrew Bolton.
"Manus x Machina" is a theme that aims to combine handmade crafting techniques like lacework with automation like 3D printing to "explore the full spectrum of processes by which clothing is designed and made." A theme that covers the intersection of technology and fashion is a good fit for Apple, as the company debuted its first fashion item, the Apple Watch, earlier this year.
"As products become more personal, something that is worn on the wrist put us in the space of fashion," said Mr. Ive. He and Ms. Wintour were wearing versions of the Apple Watch Hermès, introduced this month.
"These are issues close to our hearts," said Mr. Ive of the intertwining of fashion and technology. "Our understanding will temper and define future products we're working on. We're only starting."
At the Met Costume Institute exhibition, haute-couture garments will be paired with ready-to-wear versions to show "the equal contributions of automation and craftsmanship." Three dozen designers and 100 items of clothing will be featured, dating from the 1880s to now, and there will be rooms dedicated to embroidery, knitting, lacework, leatherwork, ultrasonic welding, thermo shaping, laser cutting, and 3D printing.
The annual Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Gala will be held on May 2, 2016. It's a fund raising event that benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Held in New York City, the Met Gala always attracts hundreds of well-known celebrity attendees.
Top Rated Comments
I think this is one of the many flaws in the thinking behind it. It comes across as simply inferior to a handsome mechanical watch face. It's the ultimate expression of skeumorphism, in a company that has eschewed the very thing.
The only watch that would tempt me is a hybrid mechanical watch with a digital overlay when needed. As it stands, the Apple Watch is rather like the Microsoft Surface: a jack of all trades and master of none. Just as the Surface is poor at being a laptop due to the flimsy keyboard, and poor at being a tablet due to the wrong shape and lack of software optimisation, so the Apple Watch is worse than a traditional watch at telling the time due to the screen being off, and poor at being a mini-computer due to the lack of power.