ABC-TV news announcers wondered over Beyoncé latex gown and how she kept cool in it, as Miss Bey topped the dressers at the Met Gala at the beginning of the week. With co-host Taylor Swift “Goin’ Goth” in mostly black thigh-high strappy sandals and a silver mini and Zayn Malik sporting silvery faux robot arms, lots of celebs were attempting to dress to the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” theme of the night. While others, notably Beyoncé, went her own way…in a stunning latex fashion design.
Is latex considered a material of the future? Worn only by the hippest, fashionably conscious (or we’d like to think), are the leggings, corsets, kimonos and catsuits, all that we’ve been in and into for so long, what everyone will dress in in the years to come? Did the Met’s theme (the famous NYC museum is also running an “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” exhibit currently) get a full airing from the stars in their metal and see-thru lace (Madonna showing quite a bit of her top and bottom in hers), or was this all show-and-tell of a purely pop sensibility? “Smart clothes,” “wearable tech,” textiles that morph through various color and texture, all these advances are pretty much upon us; a faux robot arm, or some silvery bejeweling does not a futuristic outfit make.
For true future couture thinking we have to look where we always do, at that eleven year old kid right now sitting in his/her basement dreaming-up new ways to wear and render wardrobe pieces. Advances in the technology we come to wear against our skin, be it leather, lace or latex, or some heretofore unrealized wardrobe material, might not even come from a designer. We tend to think we are sitting smack dab in the future with our downloads, cell phone advances, Dick Tracy super neato watches, but there is so much stuff on the horizon not a MET exhibit nor a celebrity can really consider it completely.
The future of fashion was not present at the Met Gala this week…but Beyoncé did wear a neat peach-colored tight latex dress that showed off her curves wonderfully.
