It enflamed and shocked – to some it was an affront – raising eyebrows and even a few mohawks. The Metropolitan Museum of Art looks back at Punk Rock and its unmistakable impact. With close to 100 fashion statements for both men and women, the museum's spring 2013 Costume Institute exhibition, Punk: Chaos to Couture, transports visitors to another time and place. With galleries evocative of iconic Punk stomping grounds such as Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's Seditionaries boutique on Kings Road to Manhattan's CBGB music bar – a venue for bands from Blondie to the Ramones – the exhibition illustrates how social movements impact and even drive high fashion.
The anarchy of the ’70s Punk subculture clearly influenced the fashion world as anti-establishment and do-it-yourself styles morphed into a new hardware and safety pin couture. The exhibition brilliantly juxtaposes vintage punk garb next to the works of fashion icons such as Gianni Versace and John Galliano.
Unexpected assemblages, such as stapled fabrics, zippered skirts, locks and bottle cap buttons, chains, razor blades, newspaper sleeves, vacuum-formed garbage and the use of a wide range of objects, both mundane and unseemly, ruled the day and drove the trends.
Soon, garbage bag dresses, shattered plate vests and bubble wrap skirts inspired the world of made-to-measure. Creations by the likes of Helmut Lang and Alexander McQueen are showcased in seven galleries that include a promenade of styrofoam cupolas, rainbow wigs and blackened brick walls.
The journey through the Met's darkened halls of Punk culminates with a stop at the Museum bookstore, where visual merchandising director Kathy Mucciolo used duct tape walls and road case cash wrap counters to put an exclamation on the exhibition.
While the hard pounding riffs of Sid Vicious, Johnny Rotten and the New York Dolls drove the rhythm, the medium – rather than the music – was the message. Whether you viewed the Reagan/Thatcher years as a redress of rebellion, or the road to repression, Punk: Chaos to Couture, captured the genre and mood of the day, demonstrating once again that fashion is art, and art is a reflection of who we are.