The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is currently hosting the special exhibition "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology." The exhibit features over 170 pieces of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear from the early 1900s to the present. The opening ceremony, the Met Gala, on May 2nd, attracted big names like Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Jonathan Ive, and Anna Wintour, making for a rousing success.

The exhibition explores the 19th century, the beginning of haute couture history. The 19th century marked the beginning of industrialization and mass production, with the invention of the sewing machine and the emergence of a line between clothing made by "manus" and "machina" (Latin for "hand" and "machine"). Fashion and technological advances are inextricably linked, and their connection is stronger today than ever, as evidenced by advances in 3D printing technology.

Handmade and machine-made things are often thought of as opposing forces, but one of the points the exhibition hopes to convey is that they have many things in common. According to Jonathan Ive, Chief Design Officer at Apple, the production process requires the same amount of expertise and care, whether machine-made or handmade. While there are examples of technology being optimized, ultimately, the care and dedication to craftsmanship is what transforms ordinary materials into something extraordinary. In this case, machine-made and handmade are irrelevant.

The exhibition will run until August 14th in the Robert Lehman Galleries section of the museum.

This article has been translated and written with permission from (Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/).