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Review: “Ann Lowe: American Couturier”

Photo © 2023 Manic Metallic Couture is a fashion art form that is typically thought of as existing only inside of French borders; indeed, the French began to legally protect the practice of “haute couture” in 1945. Governed by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture (which also gets to decide what companies qualify…

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Review: Gucci Garden

Much has been made about Gucci Garden since its opening in 2011 in Florence. Formerly known as the Gucci Museum, it was re-christened under its new name in 2018 by the Alessandro Michele-led Gucci. The Gucci Garden complex contains a host of exhibition spaces (the centerpiece of the museum), a boutique where one can…

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Review: “In America: An Anthology Of Fashion”

Tom Ford-designed exhibition vignette. (Benjamin Imhoff for Manic Metallic) “In America: An Anthology Of Fashion” - currently on display in the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York - is the museum's second installment of a two-part series meant to shine a spotlight on American fashion and all that it…

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Review: “Ravishing: The Rose In Fashion”

"Ravishing: The Rose In Fashion"; © Manic Metallic 2021 “Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? …O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By Any Other Name would smell as sweet" Romeo and Juliet, Act-II, Scene-II,…

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Review: “In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion”

"In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion"; © Manic Metallic 2021 “America is not like a blanket- one piece of unbroken cloth. America is more like a quilt- many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven together by a common thread.” Rev. Jesse Jackson, 1984 Democratic National Convention It is from this speech…

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Review: “Illume” Fashion Exhibition

ILLUME exhibit, designer retail section; © Manic Metallic 2021 The Illume fashion exhibition, centered around the Philadelphia Fashion Incubator (PFI), is currently being hosted at the InLiquid Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. The exhibit is broken into two portions: the primary portion is a retrospective on the work of previous Philadelphia Fashion Incubator participants over…

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Review: “Camp: Notes On Fashion”

House of Schiaparelli headpiece. Photo © Manic Metallic 2019 Camp is an indefinable fashion concept. The 2019 Met Costume Institute spring exhibition sought to define it somewhat, which is no small task. Enter Susan Sontag. As a writer, she took on the herculean task of doing this in 1964; her work "Notes On 'Camp'"…

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