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

[xoxoadore]

Born in basements and garages in the mid-seventies, the punk music movement (think The Ramones, The Clash) and its attendant fashion could probably be imagined almost anywhere except the halls of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But there it shall be this spring when the museum unveils “PUNK: Chaos to Couture.” The exhibition, organized by the Costume Institute’s curator Andrew Bolton, highlights more than 100 designs for men and women, and examines punk’s influence—from its inception to today—on high fashion. The exhibition, which will be made possible by Moda Operandi, will be feted during the museum’s annual opening gala on May 6, 2013, and cochaired by actress Rooney Mara, Moda Operandi cofounder Lauren Santo Domingo, Anna Wintour, and designer Riccardo Tisci. Photographer Nick Knight will serve as the exhibition’s creative consultant as well as spearhead the design of the gala with Raul Avila.

vogue.com

Punk to Play the Met Courtesy of the Costume Exhibit

NEW YORK — Break out the Mohawks, safety pins, torn fabrics and razor blades.

Next May, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will stage “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” its big spring exhibition seeking to highlight the origins of the punk movement and draw direct connections to haute couture and ready-to-wear creations that it has inspired for the past three decades.

The show, which will be open to be public from May 9 to Aug. 11, will be inaugurated on May 6, when the annual Costume Institute benefit gala is scheduled to take place at the museum with Rooney Mara, Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci, Lauren Santo Domingo and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour serving as cochairs.

Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton had been mulling a show about punk for quite some time. “Punk broke all rules when it came to fashion, and everything became possible after punk,” he said. “Its impact on high fashion became so enormous, and continues at the same time.”

Unlike the Met's 2006 “AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” exhibition, which also featured elements of punk, this exhibition will draw a direct axis between the London and New York iterations of the movement and how they impacted fashion.

“The show will start off primarily with the origins of punk and the tale of two cities,” Bolton noted.

“It's generally accepted that punk was a musical movement that emerged in the early to mid-Seventies at CBGB and Max's Kansas City [in New York] with punk bands like The Ramones. When it emerged in London, it became a different phenomenon that was much more political and aesthetic. That look of punk was formulated in London primarily through Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.”

The exhibition, at the museum's Cantor galleries, will feature about 100 men's and women designs on display, juxtaposing original punk looks with the designer creations that were inspired by or incorporated punk elements, e.g., Gianni Versace's ultrasexy black safety pin dress that made Elizabeth Hurley an overnight star, though fashion's interest far predated the premiere of “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

“The first time it was adopted into high fashion was really with Zandra Rhodes in 1977,” Bolton said.

“Primarily the biggest legacy is DIY [do-it-yourself] and deconstruction,” he added. “Punk has had one of the biggest influences on fashion over the last 30 years, and sometimes people wear punk without even realizing it.”

The list of designers in the exhibition is extensive: Haider Ackermann, Miguel Adrover, Azzedine Alaïa, Boudicca, Ann Demeulemeester, Dolce & Gabbana, Andrew Groves, Marc Jacobs, Rei Kawakubo, Alexander McQueen, Rodarte, and Alexander Wang are just some of the names that will be incorporated in thematic galleries. These will be titled “Rebel Heroes,” “The Couturiers Situationists” (focusing on punk's godparents McLaren and Westwood); “Pavilions of Anarchy and Elegance,” “Punk Couture;” “DIY Style” and “La Mode Destroy.” Photographer Nick Knight, who is known to incorporate innovative technology into his images, will serve as the creative consultant and will create the gala's look with Raul Avila.

Moda Operandi, which launched in February 2011, will underwrite the show (it recently raised $36 million from such firms as LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and IMG). Condé Nast will provide additional support.

Santo Domingo, Moda Operandi's cofounder and creative director, said, “History is one of the greatest sources of inspiration in fashion, and we are especially excited for this exhibit because of punk's long-lasting impact upon fashion today.”

Cofounder and chief executive officer Áslaug Magnúsdóttir added, “The Costume Institute celebrates fashion as an art form that inspires movements and resonates with individuals,” noting a kindred spirit between Moda Operandi and the Costume Institute, which is “to connect women worldwide to designers and provide them access to the most special pieces ever produced.”

Asked if he expects to see many Mohawks and other punk behavior at fashion's party of the year, Bolton laughed. “I think we will be seeing dresses with a slight tear or gaps, which is so punk but very subtle,” he said.

Whether or not The Sex Pistol's Johnny Rotten, whose irreverent behavior raised a few eyebrows at the gala for “AngloMania” will be invited back for an encore remains to be seen, but Bolton assured that his spirit will be there either way. As he put it, “He was so inventive in terms of his self-presentation, he will definitely be in the presentation.”

WWD 9/13/2012

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

cont.

 

[xoxoadore]

Designers in the exhibition will include Miguel Adrover, Thom Browne, Christopher Bailey (Burberry), Hussein Chalayan, Francisco Costa (Calvin Klein), Christophe Decarnin (Balmain), Ann Demeulemeester, Dior, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana (Dolce and Gabbana), John Galliano, Nicolas Ghesquière (Balenciaga), Katharine Hamnett, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren (Viktor & Rolf), Christopher Kane, Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garçons), Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel), Helmut Lang, Martin Margiela, Malcolm McLaren, Alexander McQueen, Franco Moschino and Rossella Jardini (Moschino), Kate and Laura Mulleavy (Rodarte), Miuccia Prada, Gareth Pugh, Zandra Rhodes, Hedi Slimane (Saint Laurent), Stephen Sprouse, Jun Takahashi (Undercover), Joseph Thimister, Riccardo Tisci (Givenchy), Gianni Versace, Junya Watanabe, Yohji Yamamoto, and Vivienne Westwood.

So Who's Taking Whom to the Met Ball

The months leading up to the annual Costume Institute Gala are shrouded in secrecy, especially when it comes to two things: who’s wearing what and who’s bringing whom. And this year’s punk theme should yield some interesting moments in both categories. However, we didn’t think about how much of a challenge the former might be. Apparently, no one knows what to wear, especially when the dress code requires one to channel the punk movement, while still winning Anna Wintour’s approval. Is such a thing even possible?

“We keep running into the same problem, which is that rich women don’t want to look punk, or grunge,” Decades’ Cameron Silver, who’s helping to dress people for the big day, told the New York Times‘ Eric Wilson. “Not that many women want to look like Nancy Spungen.”
Guests risk not being punk enough, not being formal and fashiony enough, and all looking the same. How many black dresses accessorized with safety pins are we going to see? Poor rich people. We feel really bad for them.

Let’s change the subject to something less sad: which celebrities are going with which designers? Wilson got the scoop on some big names (none of which are confirmed because it’s all a secret!) Here’s what’s rumored to go down, with a little help from WWD and the Post:

• Michael Kors is taking Jennifer Lopez
• Valentino is taking Gwyneth Paltrow
• Dior is taking Jennifer Lawrence and Marion Cotillard
• Alexander Wang is taking Julianne Moore for Balenciaga
• Tommy Hilfiger is hosting at his table and dressing (with a little help from Trash & Vaudeville) a very motley crew including Debbie Harry, Nicki Minaj, Zooey Deschanel, Lily Aldridge, screenwriter Jamie Linden, music publicist Jason Weinberg, musician Marky Ramone with wife Marion, actress Thalia Mottola, music executive Tommy Mottola, and Kings of Leon lead vocalist Caleb Followill
• Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy are taking Elle and Dakota Fanning (Aw, sisters!)
• Joseph Altuzarra is taking Allison Williams (who started doing research in March)
• Brian Atwood is taking Elizabeth Banks
• Christopher Kane is taking Stella Tennant
• Nina Ricci’s Peter Copping is taking Carolyn Murphy
• Diane Von Furstenberg is taking Emma Roberts
• Tory Burch is taking Jessica Alba
• Topshop is taking Jaime King and Julianne Hough
• Kenzo’s Humberto Leon and Carol Lim are taking Solange Knowles
• Anthony Vaccarello is taking Gisele Bundchen
• Riccardo Tisci is taking fellow co-chair Rooney Mara
• Burberry is taking (rumored new face) Sienna Miller
• Peter Pilotto is taking Brooklyn Decker
• Samsung is taking Psy (Yes, Psy.)
• Saint Laurent is taking Greta Gerwig (we hear)

John Galliano is not attending, even though his designs are featured in the exhibit. “One step at a time,” Galliano’s publicist Liz Rosenberg told the New York Post, when asked about whether the designer would attend the gala, adding, “and that’s one huge mother f – - kin’ staircase.”

WWD Exclusive: First Look at 'Punk' at the MET

NEW YORK — What do dirty toilets have in common with punk? Everything.

The Costume Institute’s “Punk: Chaos to Couture” features a striking — if not slightly verging on the gross *— replica of the bathroom at CBGB, the famed New York nightclub that is widely credited as one of the pioneer places of punk. “Patti Smith had this great comment about how all the action happened in the toilets at CBGBs,” said curator Andrew Bolton during an exclusive walkthrough of the exhibition, which officially opens to the public at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Thursday and runs through Aug. 14. The toilets, urinals and sinks add a suitably gritty touch to the display of 100 or so original punk outfits and designer clothes inspired by the movement.

“Everyone has an idea about punk,” Bolton said. “I think that’s what is so difficult to negotiate. In a way, we never set out to do a comprehensive history of punk. It was always a very specific, very conceptual take on punk.

“One of the reasons punks are difficult to define is because it originally started as a feeling, an impulse, so people still respond to it emotionally, even if they didn’t live through it,” he added. “We wanted to treat the subject matter with reverence, with punk individuals as heroes. Punk radicalized fashion, and introduced postmodernism to it — the collecting, the mixing of references, deconstruction."

The exhibition makes a case for the movement’s origins in London and New York and how it influenced high fashion through today.

The entry gallery at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall features a 16-foot-high LED screen showing a mosh pit of punks pogo-ing to music from “A Clockwork Orange.” Framing this is an original parachute shirt by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, and a riff on it by John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture. “It sets the scene of chaos to couture, sidewalk to catwalk,” noted Bolton.

The entry leads to a theme of punk’s origins in New York and London — including the CBGB replica and another room built to mimic Seditionaries, Westwood and McLaren’s store at 430 Kings Road.

“To me the legacy of punk on high fashion is the aesthetic of the DIY,” Bolton said. The do-it-yourself galleries include Hardware, ie. studs, razor blades and safety pins, such as the Versace dress that made Elizabeth Hurley famous; Bricolage, with recycled materials like trash bags, including dresses from Gareth Pugh’s fall 2013 collection, and Graffiti and Agitprop, with Stephen Sprouse, Katharine Hamnett, Maison Martin Margiela, Moschino and more Westwood.

The architecture of the exhibition is surprisingly grand — moldings and arched display sets made of Styrofoam or actual trash that has been vacuum packed to drive home the DIY message.

“We wanted to have this real grandeur because we are treating the subject and the punks themselves are these heroic figures in terms of fashion,” Bolton said.

“Every designer has done punk at some stage,” he noted, “but I wanted to focus on designers who had engaged with it more consistently and, in a way, more intellectually.”

The exhibition will be feted at the Costume Institute benefit tonight, with Beyoncé as honorary chair and cochairs Rooney Mara, Lauren Santo Domingo of Moda Operandi, Riccardo Tisci and Anna Wintour.

The show ends with the DYI Destroy gallery, which includes ripped looks by Yohji Yamamoto, Chanel and Viktor & Rolf, as well as several pieces by Comme des Garçons. “I think that more than any other designer, Rei Kawakubo engages with punk as an intellectual paradigm,” Bolton noted. “We end with the ultimate deconstructed piece by Martin Margiela, which is a piece of fabric strapped around the body, and we gave it a last gesture as you leave.” The mannequin is flipping the bird.

cont.

 

[xoxoadore]

Punk Without the Down and Dirty

By SUZY MENKES
Published: May 6, 2013

NEW YORK — Ah! Sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll. Where would the anarchic world of punk be without them?

In much the same state as the sanitized and bloodless version of punk’s origins and influence delivered by the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the name of fashion.

The blasting music catches the pounding energy that ought to be at the heart of “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” which opens to the public Thursday and runs through Aug. 14. But the only moment the show gets faintly down and dirty is in the re-creation of grimy and gritty toilets of the 1970s East Village club CBGB. Even that comes minus any tawdry signs of vomiting or drug-taking (or any reference to Marcel Duchamp).

The entire exhibition ignores any negative aspects of punk like swastikas or drugs — unless you count the Ramones singing “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue.”

Even the hair — that leitmotif of the period as a rejection of hanging hippie tresses — comes through as identical frizzy wigs, like uninspired Afros.

How could Andrew Bolton, the brilliant and cerebral museum curator, whose blockbuster shows have included the Alexander McQueen retrospective and last year’s fusion of Elsa Schiaparelli with Miuccia Prada, have made punk seem so dull?

Mr. Bolton said that he did not want to “parody” the spikes and mohawks, and gave those directions to the exhibition’s hairstylist Guido Paulo. Yet the fantastical hairdos and extraordinary makeup, requiring hours of artistic imagination, were emblematic of defiant, anarchic, rebellious individuals kicking against the boredom of being no-hopers. The hair was as significant as the do-it-yourself clothing.

And why wouldn’t Mr. Bolton, given his intelligent and intellectual foreword to the accompanying book, have linked that nihilistic spirit of London’s political and social crisis in the 1970s to other 20th-century movements like Dada?

“Everyone has an opinion about punk,” said Mr. Bolton as he prepared for the opening gala on Monday night. “It was difficult to keep my thoughts and my focus when it means so much to so many different people who respond to it emotionally.”

He also emphasized that the focus of the exhibition is the enduring influence of the low-down punk on high fashion.

The show opens with Richard Hell, the American luminary of punk, backed up by others including Blondie (New Wave) and Patti Smith. The latter might be seen rather as the end of the hippie era when compared with the British punks whom Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) of the Sex Pistols described as “utterly fearless.”

Then there is Vivienne Westwood, who, driven by Malcolm McClaren, her partner, offered a sense of rowdy revolution. Her vibrant plaid bondage pants, furry sweaters and anarchic T-shirts make a striking display, interspersed with pieces in a similar spirit, like torn dresses and hose from Rodarte.

The rebel-yell T-shirts include the infamous punk Queen Elizabeth. And an outrageous Westwood commentary from the designer can be heard on a 1970s film, played on a period television set, placed in a re-created version of the couple’s store on King’s Road in London. Its name was changed from “Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die,” to “Sex” and then to “Seditionaries” as their ideas evolved, says Ms. Westwood, claiming that she did not see herself as a fashion designer “but as someone who wished to confront the rotten status quo through the way I dressed.”

That is more or less it for examples of original 1970s punk. The next four rooms, their grandiose high ceilings suggesting salons of haute couture, are filled with four decades of punk inspirations, right up to Burberry’s current silver studs.

The ranks of high-fashion outfits, shown with no context, start with punk’s first appropriation as wedding and evening dresses by Zandra Rhodes in 1975. That faces off the flesh-exposing black dress, held together with gilded safety pins down the side, that shot Elizabeth Hurley into paparazzi heaven in 1994 at the London premiere of “Three Weddings and a Funeral.”

Some of the clothes — the recent collection made by Gareth Pugh from garbage bags or the shredded complexity of Comme des Garçons — absolutely deserve their place as imaginative bricolage. Yet the exhibition is static, neglectful of digital opportunities to show the runways and to bring clothes to life, as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London does with its current dramatic screen-filled study of David Bowie.

To take John Galliano’s recycled shreds and threads for Dior haute couture entirely out of context is to lose the detailed intricacy of broken beauty; and to fail to explain why bringing Dior down to the level of punky do-it-yourself seemed so scandalous.

Having attended every single collection that brought these stationary clothes to life, I can remember the impact of Martin Margiela’s models, dressed in transparent dry-cleaning bags, walking the suburbs of Paris followed by gawping multicultural kids.

I watched the designer Katharine Hamnett, wearing a T-shirt declaring war on nuclear missiles, encounter British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984. But how many museum visitors will know it as the source of the famous image? And how would they understand its relationship as “graffiti and agitprop” to splash-paint ball dresses from Dolce & Gabbana or the colorful work of Stephen Sprouse?

The final room, focusing on destroy and deconstruction, creates a valid place in fashion history, even if the museum was unable to get the piece that started it all: the famous “gruyère cheese” sweater with deliberate holes from Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.

The premise of the exhibition is worthwhile. But the Metropolitan Museum is facing a quandary. Its much-anticipated, celebrity-fueled, fundraising galas risk overwhelming the museum shows themselves.

However intelligent and intellectual Mr. Bolton’s commentary in the catalog, the imaginative and often exceedingly expensive concoctions walking the red-carpeted steps on Monday night may well outshine the exhibition.

The true punks — those who lived and survived that moment — should find an exquisite irony in the idea that their no-future kick at a dead-end society should, 40 years on, have moved from a defiant statement from society’s impoverished and self-proclaimed social outcasts to a display of clothes for global celebrities and the super-rich having a ball.

nytimes

So I thought I'd post some information and articles about tonight's Met gala!! I am beyond excited to see what's in store and what the guests are willing to bring to the table, I really want them to go all out. So disappointed Galliano won't be attending though, I wish they'd forgive him already. He's in the exhibit and really deserves to attend. Anyways I went to Prada's last year and let me tell you, it's magical! I can't wait to see this one, it seems so promising.

you can see it tonight: HERE

 

[71000]

trolololo i already knew the exhibition would be shit.

The celebrities who actually dressed up for the theme ended up being my favorites of the night. SJP was easily the best dressed, with honorable mentions going to Miley Cyrus, the Olsens, the Fannings, Sienna Miller, Anja Rubik, Joan Smalls, Anne Hathaway, Donatella Versace (she looked terrible but at least she tried to fit the theme), Gisele Bundchen, Vivienne Westwood (well obviously, since she's one of the pioneers of punk), Hilary Rhoda (although she's an absolutely dreadful interviewer), and Cara Delevingne. Kudos to Madonna for going all out, but she looked like one of those old women that try to dress too young for their age (since she is one of those old women, I guess).

Some people who didn't dress for the theme but still looked good were Rooney Mara, Eddie Redmayne, Rosie HW, Liu Wen, And then there's a long list of people who showed up wearing boring, forgettable dresses, like Anna Wintour, Jennifer Lawrence, Carey Mulligan, Katie Holmes, etc.

Worst dressed of the night goes to Beyonce, with Ashley Greene and Kim Kardashian not too far behind.

I was really disappointed by Gwen wearing Martin Margiela. Both embodied the punk spirit, yet Gwen's outfit ended up being a bore.

 

[71000]

i have a bias towards the ones who actually fit the theme

best dressed:

 

[71000]

worst dressed

 

[espressoenthusiast]

good god Kim K looks awful..and not even in theme either In my opinion, Emma Watson looked much thinner than she has recently in the shots so far

 

[71000]

eddie redmayne

Adding Karolina Kurkova to the best dressed list! The only place this dress would work is at a punk-themed exhibit

And adding some more to the worst dressed
(ok they both look amazing here but this is like the POLAR opposite of punk and if it was anyone but anna i would've thought they were trolling or something)

 

[Miss_Skinny]

 

[oferta]

I knew that this theme would end up looking everybody like idiots.

Being famous doesn't mean you have a sense for fashion.

 

[alexandtm]

Beyonce is wearing some House of Dereon fug, right there. Is her mom making her clothes again?

 

[curlycue]

Abbey

 

[BeautifulWay]

ABBEY! aw, she looks sweet. I love Sienna, too. Beauties.

I actually really liked Nicole Richie's look

Anne Hathaway's boobs were freaking me out

K-Stew's hair made her look like a block head

THIS IS TERRIFYING

so is this

PROENZA

and Coco... I thought she looked amazing.

Overall I'd say so much of the makeup was just terrible... there's a way to do punk without looking like a 50 year old with a smokey eye. Dios Mio.

The fashion was ok - not my favorite. It ticks me off that not everyone embraced the theme. Especially such a broad theme as punk - could have been done better, IMO.

 

[xoxoadore]

My favourites:

And this deserves a special recognition:

Worst: I thought Karlie Kloss looked horrible! That dress, make up and hair made her look about 20 years older, such a shame Kim K, Anna W., Minka Kelly (looked so big), Ashley Green, Beyoncé, Kate Uptown (barf), Kristen S. and so many others

There are some I missed but I'm tired and they are forgettable. I think a lot of people missed the mark on this one. They think black + studs=punk and most of them just looked more romantic goth than punk. I think Grace expressed pretty well what I was feeling:

 

[BeautifulWay]

LOVE HER

 

[curlycue]

Didn't love the outfit, but Constance is still looking hot: