The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Gala and also known as the Met Ball, is an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It marks the grand opening of the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibit. Each year's event celebrates the theme of that year's Costume Institute exhibition, and the exhibition sets the tone for the formal dress of the night, since guests are expected to choose their fashion to match the theme of the exhibit. Each year the event also has honorary celebrity event day chairpersons.
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The Costume Institute Gala is a major fundraising benefit that serves as an opening celebration for the Institute's annual fashion exhibit. Following the event, the exhibition runs for several months. The Gala is widely regarded as one of the most exclusive social events in New York and one of the biggest fundraising nights in the city. It is one of the most notable sources of funding for the Institute. The affair, attended by personalities from the arts, fashion, high-society, film and music, has been held at the Met since 1946 and is considered to be the fashion industry's premier annual red carpet event. Its red carpet fashions are widely photographed, reviewed, critiqued and emulated.********************************************
Obviously this event is a big deal and generates a lot of donations to help run the Met's Costume Institute. It takes an insanely huge amount of revenue to bring us exhibits and do all the things. It has been slammed as a celebrity prom (whats wrong with that?) and there are always those who complain that the money used for $2000.00 manicures could be used to solve world hunger. Well, lets get real: it keeps your creatives and our suppliers fed instead. That is a big deal to those of us who like to eat as well. And then we trickle this money into all the other businesses of our choosing.
This. Is. A. Good. Thing.
We have all seen the celebrities on the red carpet at this event. If you didn't know better, you would assume that these are the only attendees...........but there is a whole event packed with plenty of people who paid big bucks to attend and who are wearing amazing pieces. They may not get all the attention, but they pay the admission price and they pay dearly to support the Museum and to stand out in the crowd. I was happy to help out this season................
Chris March designed a lovely ensemble for one of these generous ladies. She was very particular about the gown, the design, the fabric, the theme.............she was very hands on and had a great sense of humor. She loves dressing up and understands what it takes to make a project like this work. I made the mockup and carried out the design. We "made" the fabric. I sewed yards and yards of leather trim onto bias cut skirt pieces. I had a lot of fun with this!
And after the skirt was done, I covered a bustier to match the skirt. That part wasn't as much fun because my machine started rebelling. But the machine and I worked it out. We're good like that.
This is what the skirt originally looked like when it was done. It fit her perfectly and she was thrilled, but after much discussion and contemplation, she had us cut out the back train. She wasn't going to have a crew available to help her maneuver the crowd. After having plenty of trains trampled in crowds myself over the years, I couldn't argue with her concern. I get it. So we took out some volume. It was still a pretty voluminous skirt and Chris took the opportunity to take the trim off of the discarded train and add more to the gown.............
Look how pretty this fabric is up close: very Manus x Machina if I do say so myself.
Chris made a spectacular neckpiece for her.
She looked like a Movie Star, had a great time, was theme appropriate, was sooooooooo pretty, looked like royalty, didn't get trampled, and everyone asked her where she got her garb.
*WIN*
