Met: fashion tells the story of the times
From Manus x Machina until the pandemic Met Gala 2026 – three different faces of New York's most famous fashion scene.
The 2026 Met Gala took place on May 4, as tradition dictates - on the first Monday of the month.
The theme of the prom was „Costume Art“, and the dress code said „Fashion is Art“. Guests interpreted it with impressive artistic and sculptural outfits, turning the red carpet into a sort of exhibition stage.
But this year's edition was marked by more than just glamour and fashion. The event also sparked public controversy because of the war in the Middle East. Some of the invited artists, singers, and public figures refused to participate in protest against what is happening in Palestine. I got the impression that representatives of minority communities seemed to predominate among those who refused.
And yes, fashion is not locked in an „ivory tower.“ It does not exist in isolation from the world. It is always glamour and beauty, but it can also reflect a social stance, the times, and changes in society.
This brought me back to a vivid memory of New York – The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) and its impressive exhibitions dedicated to haute couture.
A good occasion to look back at two of them – Manus x Machina in 2016 and About Time in 2020 – and to trace how the same institution tells the story of technology, literature, and society through the language of clothes.
Precisely these three exhibitions – in 2016, 2020, and 2026. – show how many different faces fashion can have: technological, historical, literary, artistic, and even political.
Regarding time: fashion and duration – 2020
Who hasn't visited the Met once they've made it to New York?
A cosmic treasury „stuffed“ with unique exhibits from all over the world.
I was so glad that after six months of mandatory quarantine due to COVID-19, the museum reopened specifically with a continuation of the tradition in the beauty of fashion and women's attire.
The theme at the time was „About Time: Fashion and Duration“.
The exhibition traced fashion trends for more than a century and a half – from 1870 to the present day. In two adjacent galleries, it was explored how „clothes generate temporary associations that connect the past, present, and future“.
Everything was rendered in black—static and contemplative. And this was a complete contrast to the 2016 exhibition, when the garments were bright, flamboyant, and seemingly in motion.
As the museum explains, the exhibition is organized on the principle of „60 minutes of fashion,“ inspired by the French philosopher Henri Bergson's concept of la durée—duration.
Every „minute“ features a pair of garments that simultaneously demonstrate the linear nature of fashion and its cyclical character.
When the past meets the present
I will explain the idea in simple words.
A black silk princess dress from the late 1970s is paired with an Alexander McQueen Bumster skirt from 1995.
A mid-1890s black silk satin dress with huge sleeves is paired with a 2004 Comme des Garçons ensemble.
Isn't it bold?
Past and present – and in an excellent combination.
What comes out?
That fashion is cyclical, just like our whole life. Everything repeats, but with new fabrics, technologies, and possibilities.
The exhibition also marked the beginning of the celebrations for the Met's 150th anniversary. An interesting detail is that it was sponsored by Louis Vuitton, unlike the 2016 exhibition, whose main partner was Apple.
The dark times of 2020.
Main highlights:
• an exhibition featuring two timelines presented in entirely black clothing;
• a narrative driven by the „ghosts“ of the past;
• combining models from different eras that carry a sense of breakdown, chaos, crisis, and at the same time – continuity.
Original, right?
We had enough time to be alone with ourselves in 2020 and make sense of many things.
Virginia Woolf, Orlando and the black-and-white time
Virginia Woolf serves as a kind of „ghost narrator“ in the exhibition, with Philip Glass's music from the film playing in the background „The Hours.
Ulf's monologues sound in the voices of Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore.
The protagonist of the novel „Orlando“ serves as the spiritual backbone of the exhibition.
This is one of the most interesting combinations I have ever seen—literature, feminine theme, philosophy, and fashion all in one.
Isolated in their homes for most of 2020, all of us felt a little detached from time. Curator Andrew Bolton included.
As he himself notes:
„Today, because of what is happening, there is a difference between objective time and your internal time.“
And furthermore:
„The time in your head is so out of sync with the time on the clock.“
I think that is precisely why the exhibition had such a strong impact on visitors.
Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology – 2016
I was very happy to manage to visit the Met in 2016, when the latest annual edition of the haute couture forum, organized by, was taking place The Costume Institute.
Then the exhibition was dedicated to Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology – the combination of manual labor and technology in industry.
Just a few years ago, we believed that everything was ahead of us and that machines would make our lives easier. The exhibition explored precisely the impact of new technologies on fashion and the way designers combine the handmade and the machine-made in creating avant-garde clothing.
„Fashion and technology are inextricably linked, more now than ever“, says Thomas P. Campbell, then CEO and director of the Met.
Man versus machine – or together with it
I managed to enjoy more than 100 examples of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear, dating from dresses of the 1880s to a 2015 Chanel suit.
The exhibition halls were arranged like a studio with built-in workshops for embroidery, feather work, pleating, knitting, lace, leather goods, and fringe.
In contrast, models designed and manufactured using new technologies were exhibited, including:
• 3D printing;
• laser cutting;
• thermoformed;
• computer modeling;
• circular knitting;
• ultrasonic welding;
• lamination.
I saw live incredible outfits, created from fabric, thread, buttons, and vast imagination by designers and fashion houses such as Sarah Burton (Alexander McQueen), Pierre Cardin, Hussein Chalayan, Gabrielle „Coco“ Chanel, Christian Dior, Alber Elbaz (Lanvin), John Galliano, Nicolas Ghesquière, Hubert de Givenchy, Madame Grès, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough for Proenza Schouler.
Three outfits I remembered
Here are a few outfits I managed to capture in 2016:
– Prada – Fall–Winter 2012–2013 model.
– Miyake Design Studio – a 1993 model from the Pleats Please series, reinvented in 2016 through new technologies.
– And the most impressive one for me – the Chanel wedding dress from the Fall-Winter 2015–2016 collection.
She was a remarkable combination of manual and machine labor.
The large pieces of fabric are machine-woven and then embroidered with entirely manual labor.
The project moves from the designer's desk to computer processing, and the final assembly and sewing of the beads with a gold thread are again done by hand.
Three exhibitions, three faces of fashion
Technology, time, literature, society.
Three different exhibitions, three different periods, and three completely different ways of looking at fashion.
In 2016, machine and hand met.
In 2020, fashion began to converse with time, memory, and literature.
In 2026, the Met Gala red carpet once again showed that fashion can be not only beauty and spectacle, but also a public stance.
All three exhibitions are irresistible beauty!
A lady can only dream of wearing such an outfit. Even if just for two hours.
See more for the author Maria Radeva here
