met gala 2013

Met Costume Institute Announces Next Year’s Exhibit: ‘Punk: Chaos to Couture’

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Photo: Rex USA/Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Following lackluster numbers for this year’s “Schiaparelli and Prada” exhibit, the Met Costume Institute has cooked up a show with more mass appeal for next spring: “Punk: Chaos to Couture” will chronicle the punk movement from music (The Ramones, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious) to fashion (Vivienne Westwood, Gianni Versace, and, of course, Alexander McQueen). The corresponding Met Gala will be co-chaired by Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara, and Lauren Santo Domingo, socialite and co-founder of luxury e-retailer Moda Operandi, which is footing the bill for the show, reports WWD. 

Photographer Nick Knight will serve as a creative consultant and help devise the exhibit and gala’s overall look. Designers whose works will be featured include Haider Ackermann, Miguel Adrover, Azzedine Alaïa, Boudicca, Ann Demeulemeester, Dolce & Gabbana, Andrew Groves, Marc Jacobs, Rei Kawakubo, Alexander McQueen, Rodarte, and Alexander Wang. As usual, the exhibit will be divvied up into digestible sections, each focusing on specific aspects of the punk movement. According to the Met’s press release:

Organized thematically, gallery sections will include Rebel Heroes, which will evoke the New York and London music scenes of the mid-1970s, focusing on iconic punk bands such as The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and The Clash.  The Couturiers Situationists gallery will examine Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s visual codification of punk through the merging of social realism and artistic expression, featuring fashion and graphics they produced for their boutique at 430 King’s Road in London, including Let it Rock, SEX, and Seditionaries.

Pavilions of Anarchy and Elegance will juxtapose punk designs with haute couture creations, focusing on customization and hand craftsmanship.  Punk Couture will explore high fashion’s engagement with punk hardware such as studs, spikes, chains, zippers, padlocks, safety pins, and razor blades.  D.I.Y. Style will highlight the impact of punk’s bricolage ethos on high fashion, including the use of recycled materials from trash culture. La Mode Destroy will examine the effect of punk’s rip-it-to-shreds attitude via torn and shredded garments associated with deconstructionist fashions.

Anyway, get ready for lots of faux-hawks, ripped gowns, and unfinished hems at the 2013 Met Gala.

This post has been updated to include further images and information from the Met Museum’s press release.

Photo: Dennis Morris/Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sid Vicious, 1977

Photo: David Sims/Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Arizona Muse in Chanel, 2011

Karl Lagerfeld (French, born Hamburg, 1938) for House of Chanel (French, founded 1913), 2011 Pictured in Vogue, March 2011

Photo: Richard Young/Rex USA/Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Lydon, 1976

Photo: Peter Lindbergh/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sweater by Rei Kawakubo, 1982

Sweater by Rei Kawakubo (Japanese, born 1942) for Comme des Garçons (Japanese, founded 1969), 1982

Photo: Ray Stevenson/Rex USA/Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Lydon, 1976

Photo: Clive Arrowsmith for Zandra Rhodes Archiv/Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Zandra Rhodes design, 1977

Ensemble by Zandra Rhodes (British, born 1940), 1977

Photo: David Sims/Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Daria Werbowy in Rodarte, 2008

Dress by Rodarte (American, founded 2005) Pictured in Vogue, July 2008

Sources

WWD

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Next Year at the Met: ‘Punk: Chaos to Couture’