Your Coffee Table Needs the ‘Manus x Machina’ Book

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The Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology book that accompanies the spring Costume Institute exhibit at the Metropolitan's Museum of Art just landed on our desks, and the first thing we realized? It's not hardcover.

The cover is actually cardboard with laser-cut holes that's wrapped in a plastic casing and features a white double ‘M.’ The first several pages inside look like silver foil, furthering the book's fashion-forward but tech-y vibe and imploring readers to keep thumbing through the 248-page tome. Otherwise, you'll get more of the same that you got from the books that accompanied China: Through the Looking Glass, Charles James: Beyond Fashion, and all the exhibits before that: an in-depth look at the exhibition with gorgeous, close-up photographs of the exceptional pieces featured.

But this edition has a bit of a twist. There's a lightweight paper booklet of interviews tucked just inside the back cover's plastic jacket that holds a series of interviews between exhibit curator Andrew Bolton and designers like Sarah Burton, Nicolas Ghesquière, Miuccia Prada, and more. These are definitely worth a read — in Karl Lagerfeld's interview, for example, he and Bolton discuss how the closing bridal gown at his autumn/winter 2014 couture show inspired the whole exhibit.

Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology doesn't officially open until Thursday, May 5th, but the book is available now for $50, and you can get your copy here.