Since I was little, I have always been fascinated by clothes. I liked the way that what I wore could speak and question and have a conversation when appropriate even without words. I liked matching and clashing colors and textures and I liked how I moved differently when I wore dresses. When I grew up I was told that my fixation was frivolous, there were better more useful ways to spend my time. Still, I am fascinated by how the ways in which we dress convey ideas about ourselves and our society.
Recently, I was wasting time lurking on the Met’s YouTube channel and came across a video called “Manus x Machina (Hand and Machine).”
For context, Andrew Bolton, Head Curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one of the most fascinating fashion experts in curation, envisioned the exhibition as a conversation between fashion and technology.
The layout follows Diderot’s classifications of dressmaking tools and techniques as they were outlined in his 1751 Encyclopedia: embroidery, featherwork, artificial flowers, lacework, leatherwork, pleating, tailoring, and dressmaking.
At the heart of the exhibit is a gown titled “Wedding Ensemble” by Karl Lagerfeld for the House of Chanel. Made of a creamy white scuba knit fabric, the bodice is left relatively plain to highlight the twenty-foot long hand-painted gold foliage train. In accordance with the theme of the exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld used a pixelated version of his original sketch to use as a pattern for the train. Using computer technology, the design was then printed onto the train of the dress and painted in by hand. As the most visually and spatially dominant display in the exhibition, the Wedding Ensemble captivates and captures the attention of its viewers, inviting them to reconsider the ever evolving relationship between human craftsmanship and technological innovation in the context of fashion.
Andrew Bolton’s curation is brilliant for the way in which it addresses modern anxieties around technology and innovation. Evidently couture has endured the cycles of technological growth and development throughout the last century. Despite the advent of the sewing machine (used to make a Paul Poiret coat in 1919) and machine-made lace (Coco Chanel, in the late ’30s) the symbioses of hand and machine prevailed; modern technological collaboration continues to visibly revolutionize the fashion industry.
The relationship between fashion and technology is fast developing but in many ways inevitable. To the extent, that the concepts outlined in the paper on Man Computer Symbiosis are poised to come to fruition, fashion will be integral in incorporating technology into our everyday lives.
Wearable technology is one example of this type of integration.
Companies like Apple and Nike have already begun to capitalize on this intersection of fashion and tech (Apple was actually one of the sponsors of Manus x Machina).
The Apple Watch is probably the most recognizable form of wearable technology that we have today but we already get the sense that the Apple Watch isn’t just a gadget. With different metal finishes and interchangeable wrist straps in an array of colors, users have choices in the aesthetic customization of their tech. It’s more than a little computer on someone’s wrist it’s a fashion statement.
Along the line of customization, technological innovations, and in particular 3-D printing, may radically change the garment making industry. Unlike the vast majority of other demand dependent economic sectors, fashion is uniquely indifferent to consumer taste. In any given cycle (Fall/Winter, Spring/Summer) a handful of top designers and fashion houses create and display their collections on runways which get bought up by high-end stores before trickling down to the average consumer as a ready-to-wear garment. (If you’re curious, Meryl Streep has a great line about this process in the Devil Wear’s Prada).
As 3-D printing technology becomes more diversified and widely amiable, there is the possibility that it could revolutionize this cycle. Obviously, high fashion is an incredibly hierarchical oftentimes problematic industry. “Haute couture” is the most prestigious category of high fashion and is used to describe garments made exclusively by hand from start to finish. Though prohibitively expensive, couture pieces are valued for their unique attention to detail. Unlike ready-to-wear, couture is designed exclusively for the individual. Imagine in the future, though, that 3-D printing can offer the same level of specification and craftsmanship as a couture fashion house. High fashion would be instantly democratized.
I know that fashion has a reputation for being frivolous or superficial but I fundamentally believe that fashion as an art, as a mode of expression is inextricably linked to the cultivation of the soul. In terms of technology and society, fashion is a reflection of our hopes and anxieties as well as a catalyst for transformation and progress. Fashion is dissolving the boundaries between man and computer, deconstructing the distinction between clothing and art, and pushing artistic expression towards democratization. Even if it is frivolous, I still think that’s pretty cool.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPWp9nkLhmA&t=18s
References (also contains pictures!!)
One Comment
Interesting post…
Fashion and technology have a very long history together. The Jacquard loom was one of the first programmable machines that was widely used. The “software” of the loom was controlled by punchcards, that are the precursors of the cards that were used in the early days of computing. Using these looms, intricate patterns could be woven into fabrics using the power loom, where before such patterns could only be produced by the hands of craftsmen. There is a pretty direct line from these looms to tabulation machines to early computers.
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