Softgrey,
Yes, Suzy was right about the videos being a big missed opportunity. There were huge video displays in some of the rooms, and in the entryway, but they were not very engaging, and for me at least, they just wound up as decoration and background noise.
At the entrance was a huge video wall showing images of punks moshing, but it was in slow motion, and the images were almost abstract. I had read about this video before going, and thought it sounded interesting ( this may have been the Nick Knight project ) but the effect was underwhelming I thought. It was flanked by two models in couture outfits, but they weren't really blocking the video in any way. It would have been better the way you pictured it, with the mannequins standing right in front of the screen, bringing the two worlds together.
In the first room with the CBGB toilet diorama, there was a wall of old tv monitors creating a large video of the Ramones playing on stage, but again, it barely registered. If they had put footage of several different bands and stage performances on each of the small screens, it would have made me stop and look more closely. There was no clothing in this room, and the intro on the wall mentioned how in those early days in New York there really wasn't a conscious style to the scene, but surely Debbie Harry still has something from back then that could have been shown, and here in DC they recently had an exhibit about women in rock, that included a pair of Pattie Smith's old boots that were held together with duct tape ( they looked amazing! ) so there's yet another missed opp......anyway!...back to the vids.
In the Westwood room was the only video which really grabbed my eye, and it was just on a small monitor hanging from the ceiling. It was old footage of someone (maybe Malcolm? ) standing outside the shop SEX, in broad daylight wearing a full body rubber gimp suit, then walking right up to, and putting it's face into the camera, which was very creepy and effective. There was also some interesting audio of Westwood and Mclaren taken from old interviews that was playing on a loop throughout the room.
The next two rooms had huge ceiling high video displays, one was a close up black and white shot of Sid, I think, and the other room had some concert footage of maybe the New York Dolls, but not totally sure. Still neither of these were really integrated with the clothing displays in any way, and they just felt like wallpaper.
There may have been another video display in the graffiti themed room, but If so, I honestly can't remember anything about it. That was however where the McQueen graffiti dress was displayed, but it was not shown with the runway footage like they did for the savage beauty show.
I hope that gives you some idea about the video aspects softgrey, sorry I couldn't give you more specific details.
I should mention that I am not usually a very big fan of video art or most short fashion films unless they are totally epic, like the Plato's Atlantis film, or the animated film that Prada did for their fairy tale collection a few years back. So that kind of slow motion minimal style video rarely piques my interest, though someone else might find the videos they used in the show to be really intriguing.
Have you gone to the Met's website? They might have a short video tour of the show. I seem to recall them doing that with the McQueen exhibit, and if so it might show some of the videos in motion.
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