Manus x Machina Curator Takes Responsibility

MANUS X MACHINA CURATOR
TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR
CONFUSED MET GALA RED
CARPET
11:31 AM PDT 6/22/2016 by Booth Moore
From left: Susan Casden, Andrew Bolton and Tatiana Sorokko
Donato Sardella/WireImage
"Having technology in the title, people may have felt it was going to be about harder technology,
that they should dress like machines," says Andrew Bolton.
B
etween Kanye’s cyborg-like contact lenses, Beyonce’s condom couture, and Lady Gaga’s
Mad Max-inspired Versace bodysuit, there seemed to be some confusion about the
dress code for this year’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala on May 2
celebrating the exhibition, "Manus x Machina: Fashion In the Age of Technology."
"That was probably my fault," said curator Andrew Bolton at the Friends of the Costume Institute
dinner hosted by L.A. couture queen Susan Casden on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. "The title
refers to handmade and machine-made fashion … Having technology in the title, people may have
felt it was going to be about harder technology, that they should dress like machines."
The exhibition, which runs through Aug. 14, is not about sci-fi, robots or Mad Max, Bolton explained
to the group of fashion-loving museum donors, including Angelique Soave, NJ Goldston, Kendall
Conrad and Tatiana Sorokko. "It’s not about technology per se … it’s about slowing down fashion
and exposing the technique not visible to the naked eye."
Structured around the metiers, or specialized trades of dressmaking, outlined in the Encyclopedie —
one of the most provocative publications of the French Enlightenment that placed the crafts of
fashion on the same sphere as other arts and sciences — the stunning exhibition features 170
examples of haute couture and ready-to-wear pieces from the early 20th century to present,
chosen to showcase the craftsmanship of embroidery, feather work, flower making, pleating, lace
and leatherwork, juxtaposing examples made by hand with those made by machine. The eyepopping results are sometimes indistinguishable.
In his first exhibition as curator in charge of the Costume Institute, Bolton aimed to show "how the
gap between hand and machine has diminished," he said, pointing to the exhibition’s 3D-printed
Chanel suits as an example, in which the shell of the suit is made by machine, and the
embellishments by hand. "It will be interesting to see in future if Chanel adds a 3D print shop to its
metier of artisans" in the same way that it has added lace, button and embroidery makers, he said.
Casden, a top couture client at Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci (she was wearing a saffronyellow hand-embroidered dress from Alessandro Michele's Cruise collection) has been hosting the
Friends of the Costume Institute dinners in L.A. for nine years. Tuesday’s event was held at Spago
and sponsored by Cartier.
PARTY PEOPLE: Sarah Jane Wilde and Libertine designer Johnson Hartig (Photo: Getty Images)
Jewelry designer Sarah Jane Wilde was
of 40 or so guests. Wilde designs jewelry
for Thom Browne runway shows and was carrying one of Browne’s new Hector dachshund-shaped
doggie bags. (Bolton and Browne are a longtime couple.) Wilde’s s
shared
collection will soon
be landing in Maxfield L.A., including pieces she custom designed for David Bowie before he died. "I
starred in one of his videos, you know," said the former model. "I was naked and Matthew Rolston
directed."" (Bowie aske her to design pieces inspired by the occult and Aleister Crowley — but in a
positive way, Wilde said.)
Social scenester Bridget Gless Keller chose a vintage hand-pleated gown by Mariano Fortuny,
famous in the 1920s
1920 and
his Delphos gowns, several of which are featured in the exhibition’s
pleating section. She scored the piece for $300 at the Colleagues resale room in Santa Monica,
which has to be one of L.A.’s best-kept shopping secrets.
Bolton shared that it’s women like Keller and others in the room who he’s most inspired by, rather
than celebrities on the red carpet. "I don’t find the connection between fashion and celebrity that
interesting," he said. "I’m more interested in the women who buy dresses and style themselves."
WELL-DRESSED GUESTS: Bridget Gless Keller, left, and Anne Crawford (Photo: Getty Images)