Model Liu Wen appeared in Zac Posen at this year's Met Gala. (Weibo/吉良先生) This year’s Met Gala may have only ended a few weeks ago—and news of Solange Knowles’ post-event scuffle with Jay-Z is only starting to subside—but the Costume Institute is already busy preparing next year’s top Manhattan social event and annual fashion exhibition. In an especially exciting piece of news for the Chinese fashion industry, the Institute has already decided that China will be the theme for the 2015 ball. According to a blurb in Women’s Wear Daily published today, next year’s spring fashion exhibition “is said to be all about China.” Details beyond that point are sparse, but the announcement isn’t surprising given Chinese consumers’ important role in the global fashion market. Since it’s in such an early planning stage, sponsors and designers haven’t been chosen yet. As Chinese designers rise internationally with presentations at the world’s top fashion weeks, the 2015 event will provide the lucky label(s) chosen with another major publicity boost. It is also likely to give a massive amount of mainstream recognition to Chinese designers and propel more top global department stores to stock their designs. The Met Gala already has a strong annual China presence. This year, Hong Kong department store Lane Crawford invited Chinese designer Min Liu of popular fashion label Ms Min to the event. Meanwhile, several designers opted to outfit Chinese models in gowns for the red carpet: Ming Xi appeared in Michael Kors, Liu Wen showed up in Zac Posen, and Fei Fei Sun graced the red carpet in Tory Burch. Last year, actresses Zhang Ziyi and Carina Lau as well as Vogue China Editor-In-Chief Angelica Cheung attended the event. It's safe to say that this presence is likely to be amped up considerably as many more Chinese celebrities, models, and designers attend next year.
