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The 2016 Met Gala’s “Manus x Machina” Theme Gave Us All the Robot Dresses We Could Want

If you didn’t hit up any social media services last night, you missed out on a photo-sharing celebration of the best and worst fashion on display at the 2016 Met Gala. Every year, celebrities hit the red carpet for to celebrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual fashion exhibit, and also show off some excellent designs crafted by icons of the fashion industry. This year’s theme was “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” which means robot dresses galore.

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Not everybody rose to the robotic occasion, but I’m not the sort to share examples of the “worst-dressed” … that’s just not my style! Instead, here’s a collection of my favorite looks of the evening. Feel free to share your own favorites in the comments if you don’t see them here!

Up at the top of this post, I’ve included a photo of Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik, looking adorable and also like they’re about to rule over a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Versace provided Malik’s super-heroic outfit for the evening, while Hadid’s dress is a custom Tommy Hilfiger design.

Next up, here’s Claire Danes’ glowing Cinderella-esque gown, designed by Zac Posen, illuminated by fiber optics (and several battery packs)!

Jaden and Willow Smith looked stunningly futuristic, if not necessarily technological:

A lot of folks made jokes about tinfoil when it came to the dresses on display, because so many of them involved metallic fabric. That can either look amazing, or terrible, or both depending on the lighting. There were many dresses that fell into this theme, but here’s my personal favorite example of someone who rocked a silver robotic gown: Jourdan Dunn, in a Balmain design.

I would be remiss if I didn’t at least link to one photo of Kanye and Kim looking like Final Fantasy villains, as per usual. These two are also wearing Balmain designs:

Beyonce wore a dress made entirely of latex, studded with pearls:

Last but certainly not least, let’s have a look at Nicole Kidman’s moonlight-inspired cape and gown.

So many beautiful, beautiful sparkles! I could go on, but I’ll leave it to you. Which were your favorite outfits of the evening?

(via Vogue, featured image via Instagram)

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Author
Maddy Myers
Maddy Myers, journalist and arts critic, has written for the Boston Phoenix, Paste Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and tons more. She is a host on a videogame podcast called Isometric (relay.fm/isometric), and she plays the keytar in a band called the Robot Knights (robotknights.com).

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