2013 Costume Institute Exhibit : "PUNK: Chaos To Couture"

[Uemarasan]

Isn't true punk the antithesis of fashion?

Oh well...

 

[Not Plain Jane]

^ Nah, it deconstructs, satires and critiques, but it's still "fashion" - even bin liners and safety pins.

It's perfect! Except I'd rather stick with the chaos parts...B)

 

[Uemarasan]

^Yes, I agree, in a way it's along the spectrum of what's considered "fashion", but I guess what I mean is having Vogue, Anna Wintour, and the Met celebrate "punk" in this manner seems to be antithetical to what punk is about. Are these people in the fashion industry even capable of deconstructing, satirising, and critiquing themselves? They can't even see that most of them have become caricatures already... I'm predicting a missed opportunity here.

Of course, this is just another way for the industry to navel-gaze, pat itself on the back, and have a fabulous and shallow self-congratulatory party. It's pointless to complain

 

[Not Plain Jane]

^ I get what you're saying, re: "antithetical to what punk is about." It's much like the art galleries displaying Duchamp's urinal or Warhol's soup cans. Those, too, were all about questioning the very idea of the "art world" at the same time that they were incorporated into it! Perhaps one could think of this MET exhibit optimistically as "infection" from the inside. Oi! and LOL! More pessimistically, it's co-opting at its worst. That's the way with fashion, though - from the street on up....

But maybe, too, it's a chance to feature & celebrate some renegades while looking at how their experiments were dulled down when absorbed into high fashion and couture. Chaos reined in? There are still some "outsiders" in fashion who have a kind of punk mentality. Maybe it'll inspire some new Demeulemeesters, or A. McQueens, or even "Sex" shops?

One never knows...

 

[Chanelcouture09]

The Costume Institute's next exhibition swerves to the streets and clubs of New York and London, then to ateliers and runways with PUNK: Chaos to Couture. The exhibition, on view from May 9 through August 11, 2013, will examine punk's impact from the 1970s to its continuing influence on high fashion now.

The exhibition will feature approximately one hundred designs for men and women. Original punk garments from the mid-1970s will be juxtaposed with recent fashion to show how haute couture and ready-to-wear borrow punk's symbols, with the traditional paillettes being replaced with safety pins, feathers with razor blades, and bugle beads with studs. Punk's "do-it-yourself" concepts will be contrasted with couture's "made-to-measure" mindset. Visitors will see the materials and techniques of PUNK in an immersive multimedia gallery experience where the clothes will be animated with music videos and soundscaping.

The six gallery sections will include "Rebel Heroes" (think mid-seventies New York and London, with The Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash), "Couturiers Situationists" (via Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's 430 King's Road boutique), "Pavilions of Anarchy and Elegance" (punk versus haute couture hand craftsmanship), "Punk Couture" (haute hardware including studs, spikes, chains, zippers, padlocks, safety pins, and razor blades), "D.I.Y. Style" (recycled materials from trash culture), and "La Mode Destroy" (rip-it-to-shreds and deconstructionist fashion).

The approximately fifty designers featured in the exhibition range from Miguel Adrover and Azzedine Alaïa to Yohji Yamamoto and Vivienne Westwood.

The exhibition is made possible by Moda Operandi.

Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.

*metmuseum.org

 

[Chanelcouture09]

You know what? I didn't even think of that. It would be cool to see someone pair a gown with a leather jacket. And the more I think about, the more I realise that Punk is more relevant than it has been since the '80s. Look at pop stars like Rihanna and Lady Gaga. They've all done it. Or even someone less mainstream like Karen O.

And here we have it -

Givenchy Haute Couture Fall 2008

*Stylebistro.com

 

[Morphe]

I predict it will be a night full of bored and boring people.
How many stylists out there can successfully pull a decent punk look for their clients? I can only think of Ryan Hastings who did a fine job with Rooney Mara, Panos Yiapanis is a master of such looks but he doesn't work with celebs (right?)...
I sense fail.

 

[Melancholybaby]

Panos Yiapanis is a master of such looks but he doesn't work with celebs (right?)...

He works with Courtney Love I believe.

 

[Littleathquakes]

I expect to see some Galliano via Dior pieces in there.

Haute Couture F/W 2007

style.com

 

[tatouejeremie]

I predict it will be a night full of bored and boring people.
How many stylists out there can successfully pull a decent punk look for their clients? I can only think of Ryan Hastings who did a fine job with Rooney Mara, Panos Yiapanis is a master of such looks but he doesn't work with celebs (right?)...
I sense fail.

they never stick to the theme of the exhibition anyway

 

[Deleted member 7575]

Honestly, I find the idea of a Punk themed exhibit tired and a bit lazy. But, it is at least an exhibit that could have some real meat behind it unlike this last Prada/Schiparelli show, which was nice, but didn't say much.

I would love it if they really went into depth on the origins of Punk style and took a careful look tracing exactly when it started to influence mainstream trends and dress and what the public reaction was and how it eventually became accepted. But we'll see, I am not expecting much more than to see a bunch designer clothes stuck with safety pins or fixed with leather straps.

 

[Chanelcouture09]

I can see this being a heavy tribute to Vivienne Westwood and I just hope it isn't since to me her clothes are awful and they've never been considered visionary (well, not in my eyes anyway), when I see her clothes I always think they belong to a homeless man or in some charity shop, not selling in Selfridges or Harvey Nichols for several hundred pounds.

I think we'll also see Balenciaga S/S 07' & S/S 11' ?

I've also always loved Lee McQueen's interpretations of punk over the years, they've always had a bit of weight behind them in terms of design and execution, I keep thinking of all the possible looks from various designers that could be considered for this exhibit, I think the world is pretty much their oyster from what they can pick from most, if not every brand in existence.

*Stylebistro.com

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

And here we have it -

Givenchy Haute Couture Fall 2008


*Stylebistro.com

Even earlier with Dior Fall 2005 by Galliano

style

 

[Chanelcouture09]

^Oh yes, but I would consider that jacket more an Aviator style, more so than Punk/Biker, but that was one is definitely a fantastic example

 

[LostInNJ]

The amount of negativity in TFS users is astonishing. The exhibit isn't even until next year and people are already moaning about it. Writing things off before they even happen seems to be a recurring trend in many of the threads here.

Personally, I like this theme a lot and I think it is a theme that people can really get into, like AngloMania. Given the access they have to designers' archives and the amount of effort put forth by the team, I have faith that they will be able to put something exciting together.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

The amount of negativity in TFS users is astonishing. The exhibit isn't even until next year and people are already moaning about it. Writing things off before they even happen seems to be a recurring trend in many of the threads here.

Personally, I like this theme a lot and I think it is a theme that people can really get into, like AngloMania. Given the access they have to designers' archives and the amount of effort put forth by the team, I have faith that they will be able to put something exciting together.

Well, Punk is a cliche. To do an exhibit about it now, when it is already so widley discussed and referenced in every segment of the clothing market, seems unambitious. They'll have to really give it a go to get my interest.

As for adding depth or at least some clarity to the subject, the Met doesn't have a great track record: The totally surface and poorly researched Model as Muse, the entertainment pandering Superheroes, the forced Impossible Conversations and the oh so poorly done American Woman...

Well? What should one expect? If this were a Valerie Steele/Patricia Mears exhibit I could at least expect to learn something even if the subject matter has already been beaten to death.

I guess all the good fashion exhibits are done in Europe.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I can see this being a heavy tribute to Vivienne Westwood and I just hope it isn't since to me her clothes are awful and they've never been considered visionary (well, not in my eyes anyway), when I see her clothes I always think they belong to a homeless man or in some charity shop, not selling in Selfridges or Harvey Nichols for several hundred pounds.

I think the world is pretty much their oyster from what they can pick from most, if not every brand in existence.

You perfectly illustrate all of my concerns regarding this exhibit.

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Some information on the book;

Publication Date: 31 May 2013 | Series: Metropolitan Museum of Art | 224 pages (paperback)

Since its origins in the 1970s, punk has had an incendiary influence on fashion. With its eclectic mixing of stylistic references, punk effectively introduced the postmodern concept of bricolage not only into directional ready-to-wear but also into the elevated precincts of the haute couture. As a style, punk was about chaos, anarchy, and rebellion. Drawing upon a corpus of sexual and political imagery that was deliberately intended to shock, provoke, and confront, punks made fashion overtly hostile and threatening. This aesthetic of violence - even of cruelty - was intrinsic to the clothes themselves, which were often customized with rips, tears, and slashes and such savage and sadistic hardware as studs, spikes, chains, buckles, zippers, D-Rings, padlocks, safety pins, and razor blades. "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" examines the impact of punk's aesthetic of brutality on high fashion, focusing especially on its do-it-yourself, rip-it-to-shreds ethos, the antithesis of couture's made-to-measure exactitude. Indeed, punk's democracy stands in direct opposition to fashion's autocracy in which trends are driven by the artistic expression of the designer rather than by the dictates of the wearer. Yet as this book reveals, even the haute couture has readily appropriated the visual and symbolic language of punk, replacing beads with studs, paillettes with safety pins, and feathers with razor blades in its attempt to capture and reflect the style's youthful rebelliousness and aggressive forcefulness. Focusing on high fashion's embrace of punk's aesthetic vocabulary, this extraordinarily designed and produced book reveals how the quintessential anti-establishment style has been co-opted, exploited, and transformed by designers in their search for new ideals of beauty and new definitions of fashionability.

*Amazon.co.uk

 

[Scott]

to be honest,chanelcouture,that is precisely what made viv a visionary. together with rei kawakubo,she changed the way people thought about fashion and silly social codes. remember punk was a reaction to excess and pretense. it was anti-materialisation. she paved a long quite revolutionary road for a lot of designers. imo,if it weren't for punk fashion laying the groundwork,we would have never seen the deconstruction movement in the late 80's and 90's.

also,depending on how they actually execute this,it could actually go a bit deeper than the proverbial chains and mohawks. hopefully they do take this as a way to present the social aspects of the punk movement not merely for the sake of fashion.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

^ Hear! Hear!!