Page 48 - HMUN

Page 48 3170tthh AJuugnues2t 018

like Hussein Chalayan don’t just conduct runway shows, they conduct performances: dresses that

fly the model down the runway, or transform from a Victorian Era dress to a 1920s flapper frock as

the model walks. Studio XO creations are also noteworthy, like blushing Bubelle dress which

changes colours in accordance with the wearer’s mood!

Still not convinced of the romance of wire and thread? Last year's Met Ball, the Oscar of
fashion, had the theme "Manus x Machina: Fashion in the age of technology" and displayed pieces
like Chanel's incredible, intricate and illusive wedding gown, as well as some of Iris Van Herpen's
robotic, rare and extraterrestrial gems. It explored the idea the coming years will have to answer.
Artisanal and hand crafted or machine made? The typical answer is to hold the pieces made
painstakingly and meticulously by hand in higher esteem. But designers experimenting with both
mediums as well as those working purely with technology aim to contest that belief. Andrew Bolton,
the legendary curator of the Met Ball, argues that clothes made with technology require just as
much care, technique and time, if not more, as clothes stitched in ateliers.

And yes, like most art forms (I believe that fashion is indeed art), fashion frivolity and
wastefulness does come to mind. Fortunately, technology is contributing even in this regard. Now it
is possible to not waste millions of metres of thread and millions of needles as 3D printers and
fabrics made from bacteria grown in cultures take over. The dress Emma Watson wore to at the Met