Rocky is arguably the most famous man that Philadelphia has ever produced. But he also never existed. So what is he, then? A symbol? Is he simply a movie character that legions of people have latched onto for reasons unknown? Is he a mythical creature whose legend has taken on a mind of its…
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If there’s one thing that people the world over know about Americans, it is that we are a striving, hardworking, and ambitious bunch. So why shouldn’t an exhibition aiming to trace the entire timeline of American art hold those same traits — and in the cradle of American democracy, no less? “A Nation of…
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Man Ray, the multidisciplinary artist whose name is closely associated with the Dada and Surrealist artistic movements, finally gets his due at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The show, which primarily focuses on Ray’s work from the 1910s and 1920s, is the first solo exhibition that the museum has dedicated exclusively…
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“Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” is the most culturally relevant Costume Institute exhibit that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has produced in years. It has already delivered the most profitable Met Gala of all time. Organized into twelve sections, with each meant to encapsulate a trait of Black style, the highly anticipated exhibit traces Black…
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Frieze New York’s 2025 edition wrapped up on Sunday, and it cannot be emphasized enough just how important that the fair was to the New York art world at a time of such social and global upheaval. Approximately 25,000 Frieze visitors visited over 65 galleries from across the world. While one of the reasons…
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Fashion industry folks have a pretty bad habit of thinking that being a fashion capital is a concept to which only four cities in the entire world – New York, London, Milan, and Paris – can lay claim. Surprise – it’s not true. We at Manic Metallic wrote a whole book on this a…
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When we think of San Francisco, many of us think of radical protests, radical music, and radical acceptance of different cultures. But, the de Young Museum argues, San Francisco also has a radically good fashion history. In Fashioning San Francisco: A Century of Style, the Herzog & de Meuron-designed institution plays host to high…
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Art has been essential to the heart of what Manic Metallic is since its inception. We are a fashion media company that creates from the standpoint of fashion being an art, discipline, and societal force for change. Fashion that draws from the energy of art drives who we are and who we want to…
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Raise your hand if the storyline of Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion surprised you. No? Me neither. The documentary, directed by Eva Orner, traces the turbulent path of teen shopping sensation Brandy Melville and discusses the darkness underpinning the company’s treatment of, well, almost everyone in its sphere of influence. The…
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Who really holds power when it comes to creative professions? Is it the artists, with all of their trial-and-error over countless years to see what styles, media, and forms work best for the type of art they want to produce and the vision they wish to execute? Is it the persons or entities who…
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Did you know that creating a green dye for clothing used to be virtually impossible centuries ago – and that at one point in history, there was a version of the color’s dye that was so toxic that it caused skin blistering, vomiting, and death? We’re referring to Paris green, to be exact. And…
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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 as “haute couture”), haute couture…
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