Manus × Machina | Sparkles and Shoes

Hello and welcome back to another week! Between a Cirque de Soleil Friday night, New York Fashion Week, and an amazing bridal shower yesterday, I could use about 10 more hours sleep and another full day just to run errands and catch up on life but hey, you only live once! Speaking of NYFW I will share a more on Wednesday lbut backing up a little bit further I want to take you inside the Manus × Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology exhibit I went to at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 2nd.

The Manus × Machina exhibit opened the first week of May, the day after the Met Gala, and though it was supposed to close August 14th it was extended until September 5th so I made it just in time. On Friday leading up to Labor Day weekend I had the day off of work and before I headed to Utah I took my bonus vacation day and packed in as much as possible – I had brunch with a friend, went to a museum, took a Soul Cycle class, and got a hair cut all before leaving for the airport. And as much as a love a good workout class or a nice pampering, my trip to the Met was definitely my favorite. Once you enter the museum, located only a mile from my apartment, the entrance to the two level, dimmly lit exhibit was located at the back of the first floor in the Robert Lehman Wing.

The centerpiece of the exhibit, the one on all the brochures and signs, is a 20 foot long wedding ensemble created by Karl Lagerfeld for House of Chanel, Autumn-Winter 2014/15 haute couture collection. And about five seconds of viewing was all it took to understand why – the beading, the material, the attention to detail – all of it was breath taking. As the centerpiece on the main floor, the upper level of the exhibit, I viewed it along with dozens of others and then headed down the concealed staircase. On the lower level once at the bottom of the stairs if you turn left you were in the Maroquinerie or the leatherwork gallery where my favorite pieces were the the white leather House of Dior jacket and a black Dolce & Gabbana dress.

As you walked around the circular exhibit I passed through the gift shop where most merchandise, including clothes and jewelry, was on sale as it was the final few days. Then I entered the two galleries of pleating where I was bizarrely serenaded by spa music. From the two pleating sections I could have naturally made my way into the lacework section but took detour into the alcove devoted to tailoring and dressmaking where there some really impeccable classic Chanel suits. My favorites were the from the ensemble by Karl Lagerfeld for House of Chanel, Autumn-Winter 2015/16 to a suit by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel from 1963/68 haute couture collection. As I continued my way around I viewed some truly gorgeous pieces in the lace section before I was back to where I started at the entrance to the lower level.

Once back upstairs and past the main bridal dress I could go left to embroidery gallery or right to artificial flowers but I went straight back into the alcove of feathers which had a dozen gorgeous pieces including two I loved by Saint Laurent, but as they were all behind glass none of the pictures came out but i loved when one visitor whispered to her friend that they were, ” a little too project runway for me”. Throughout all of these collections, here are some pieces that stood out:

Perhaps my favorite dress of the entire collection however was not the Chanel wedding dress on all the posters nor the gorgeous Dior and Alexander McQueen shots I shared on Instagram but instead this stunning 1983 Yves Saint Laurent stunner.

There was no flash photography allowed at the exhibit and even though I went at 11am on a workday it was still quite crowded so you can read more about it here and I am sure find photos without other people in them but I hope you got a great sense of the gorgeous fashion! Oh, and I really do not doubt you believe I took these photos but just in case, two selfies from the day!