Can science and the delicacy of art exist harmoniously?

The theme for the 2026 Met Gala was “Fashion is Art,” bridging the grounds between dressing and living exhibition. During the star-studded Gala, Chinese-American Olympic Skier Eileen Gu unveiled The ‘Airo’ Dress, a new collaboration between Iris van Herpen and A.A. Murakami.

Within the garment, a series of microprocessors coordinated the release of pressurized gas and soap, with the sequence controlled through a dedicated digital interface and calibrated to operate autonomously. 8,000 hand-formed glass bubbles were individually bonded in place using UV lights until the constellation of bubbles was ready to drift in the air.

The creation was immaterial to the body; it dissolved and reformed as Eileen frolicked upon the mossy steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The technical advancement of Iris Van Herpen’s craft reflects a scientific understanding of the body as a field of energy, by expressing it as transient and always in flux.