This essay investigates the concept of metallurgic fashion by looking at three designers who have all worked with metals and metallurgic principles: Paco Rabanne’s metal dresses in the 1960s, Alexander McQueen’s harnessed models in the 1990s, and the high-tech alchemical designs of Iris van Herpen since 2007. While ‘following the metals’ in their sartorial transformations, I will investigate the specific techno-media context in which the specific metallurgic designs could come about...