Spring Fashion Forecast for The Costume Institute = PUNK

September 18, 2012

Left: Sid Vicious, 1977, Photograph © Dennis Morris, All Rights Reserved; Right: Karl Lagerfeld for House of Chanel, Photograph by David Sims

Left: Sid Vicious, 1977, Photograph © Dennis Morris - all rights reserved; Right: Karl Lagerfeld (French, born Hamburg, 1938) for House of Chanel (French, founded 1913), 2011, Vogue, March 2011, Photograph by David Sims

«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.