Every now and then you need to stop and smell the roses- or pause and contemplate art. I did just that over TWO days at The Met in NYC. As a new New Yorker, I get free admission for a year with my New York ID and I plan to take full advantage! So for my first trips, I bee-lined to the Manus X Machina exhibit which closed Labor Day weekend 2016.
From the press release:
“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.”
Some of the pieces made my head explode. Here are a select few of the highlights.
First, the PLEATING. Oh my gosh so amazing to think of the pleating. These caught my eye:
Pleated cape
PLEATS
Not necessarily for wearable purposes, but rather for the sculptural effects. And when I see pleats like that, I go back to my previous exploration with folded flower and origami. It makes my brain buzz!
Another thing that I loved was the honoring of handmade– specifically in beadwork and embroidery!
YO-YO’s
This coat is made from silk yo-yo’s embellished with swarovski beads.
And feast your eyes on this ribbon work:
It makes me want to stitch all the things.
The section on non-traditional materials and machine-made really got me excited. Again, not to WEAR but for HOW they were fabricated. Take these garments that were cast from resin that had iron in it– and were sculpted by MAGNETS. Seriously, who THOUGHT of that???
The texture was amazing…. if a little stiff and crunch to touch.
And then there were the 3-D printed pieces. Alien and beautiful all at the same time. Here is my favorite:
SERIOUSLY
I made you a little video of some more of my favorite pics, with my thoughts on how I’m inspired by what I see in museums. It’s only 4 minutes so I hope you’ll give it a listen.
And since the exhibit is closed, the closest you might get is this book on Amazon. (affiliate link.)
I do hope you’ll take a moment to leave a comment on what YOU thought about these pieces. Love them? Hate them? Inspired?? I’d love to hear from YOU!
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It is so much fun to vicariously discover NYC through your eyes! The variations made my head explode, too! Magnets?? And the ribbon work was exquisite.
WOW what a great overview of the exhibit! Definaltey puts a burr in my but to get down there myself!
As a side note the Met is ‘suggested donation’ admission and for us non-New York ID caring folks, you can pay a quarter and still get in – I learned this as a broke student who would have to go every week to the Met for the Costume Exhibits and other Art exhibits as part of my classwork.
-thanks again!!
Fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
OMG, I love this. Yes, most I probably wouldn’t wear but the lines and shapes are awesome. I really liked the two pleated dresses ( grey and a Coral, I think). Now I would wear that!
Gorgeous pieces all! Thanks for sharing the experience!