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 will examine punk’s impact from the 1970s to its continuing influence on high fashion now.
“Since its origins, punk has had an incendiary influence on fashion,” says Andrew Bolton, Curator of The Costume Institute.
Featuring more than one hundred designs for men and women, the exhibition will include original punk garments from the mid-1970s juxtaposed with recent, directional fashion to illustrate how haute couture and ready-to-wear have borrowed punk’s visual symbols. Presented as an immersive multimedia, multisensory experience, the clothes will be animated with period music videos and soundscaping audio techniques.
PUNK: Chaos to Couture on view from May 9 – August 11, 2013
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.
