Manus X Machina
YStyle recaps the #MetGala 2016 red carpet for our best-dressed list.
MANILA, Philippines - It’s easy to see how a #MetGala attendee can miss the proverbial mark when Anna Wintour’s dress code calls for a nebulous “Tech White Tie.” Is it Rogue One, C3PO and R2D2-inspired gowns? Rodarte’s spring/summer 2014 collection comes to mind — mirrored by Claire Danes’ light up gown done by Zac Posen or Karolina Kurkova’s IBM-powered Marchesa gown. Is it an echo of the maximalist trends we’ve been seeing on the runways? An excuse to go all-out silver, much like the top-tier models conscripted under Olivier Rousteing’s #BalmainArmy and every iteration of the Kardashian-West Klan. Is it sci-fi futurism? Is it retro-futurism? Not quite.
Even though I would’ve died to see Jessica Stam’s metallic corset from the 2007 runways (or its more original iteration from Thierry Mugler) or a circuited fantasy from Alexander McQueen’s turn at Givenchy couture from 1999, a closer look at the contents of the exhibition “Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age of Technology” (sponsored by Apple, no less) can tell you it’s not the tech-y LED lit extravaganza we were all expecting from the red carpet. Not exactly, anyway.
The concept of this year’s Metropolitan Costume Institute was a celebration of technique and garment application through the lens of modern technology — most notably seen through the exceedingly couture-like sensibility trickling down to the runways. It’s the notion of hand-made demi-couture for a ready-to-wear market — appliqué techniques to the most infinite of combinations (see: Chanel, Valentino and Prada on one end, Irish van Herpen, Delpozo and Christopher Kane on the other), laser-cutting, machine-led embroidery, digital print making, and the list goes on and on. It’s more the modern permutations of Maison Lesage and the grand tradition of Chanel haute couture, and less Judy Jetson meets Pris from Blade Runner.
Manus x Machina celebrates the design houses that champion these innovations; from Dior’s game-changing “New Look,” to equal parts Chanel haute couture and Paco Rabanne’s iconic Barbarella fashions, Sarah Burton’s continuation of Alexander McQueen’s legacy, to Hussein Chalayan’s transformation dress — it’s an homage to the seamless melding of man and machine that make the fashion you see today.
In the true spirit of this year’s #MetGala, from Brie Larson’s silver-done-right dress by Proenza Schouler, to Alexa Chung’s sci-fi pajamic separates — YStyle does a round-up of our best dressed list.
