The Met's Manus x Machina examines fashion and technology

After the less than flattering and not-so-on-theme looks at last week's Met Gala, one was left to only hope for better from the exhibit. It seems as though not a lot of people put thought into what Manus x Machina meant. Many thought it would be a take on futuristic style fashions, however this was not the Judy Jetson couture exhibit that a lot of people were expecting.

Most of the outfit choices at the Met Gala didn't give you a good concept of what would be going on with this exhibit either. Rather than being a take on futuristic fashions, the collection juxtaposed high-fashion designs done with machine techniques against techniques done by hand like old fashion embroidery. It also explored ways technologically is changing the way fashion is made, such as designs made with 3-D printing, or designs sketched digitally.

Manus x Machina features over 170 examples of haute couture and avant grade ready-to-wear dating from the early 1900s to the present. The center piece when you first walk in the exhibit is a white wedding gown that Karl Lagerfeld did for Chanel that has a train that could rival Princess Diana's at her wedding to Prince Charles.

Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology juxtaposes the handmade against the machine made

From there, the viewer is taken through a world of fashion, with the first floor examining workshops of embroidery, leatherwork, and artificial flowers.

The curated exhibit includes dresses from designers like Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Raf Simons for Dior, Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen, and Hussein Chalayan just to name a few. For starters, the exhibit was so grand, the Met's Costume Institute wasn't enough to house it. Instead, it is exhibited in the museum's Robert Lehman Wing, a more spacious two level space with nooks and crannies as far as the eye can see.

Curator Andrew Bolton's choices of dresses that were done by hand did seem a bit out of place, but then he presented us with dresses like Chalayan's remote control dress which was as technological as they come. The dress, as its given name states, has to be operated by a remote control.

“Traditionally, the distinction between the haute couture and prêt-à-porter was based on the handmade and the machine-made, but recently this distinction has become increasingly blurred as both disciplines have embraced the practices and techniques of the other,” said Bolton. “*Manus x Machina* challenges the conventions of the hand/machine dichotomy and proposes a newparadigm germane to our age of technology.”

Upon further explanation, Bolton's choice to include garments made solely by hand make more sense. In the year 2016, designers are trying to reconcile the handmade and the machine made in the creation of haute couture and avant garde ready-to-wear. Centuries ago, the thought of doing a high-fashion garment by anything but the work of your own hands would have been viewed as sacrilege.

Now, in 2016, we see fashion and even the exclusive circles of couture beginning to adapt and evolve to the technological era.

“Fashion and technology are inextricably connected, more so now than ever before,” said Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Met. “It is therefore timely to examine the roles that the handmade and the machine-made have played in the creative process. This exhibition proposes a new view in which the hand and the machine, often presented as oppositional, are mutual and equal protagonists.”

The Met's Manus x Machina: Fashion in Age of Technology runs through August 14. The exhibition is made possible Apple, with additional support provided by Conde Nast.