In 1982, I was a teen in New York, attending Stuyvesant High School and as preppy as preppy can be. I was a pink button-down oxford Ralph Lauren shirt with khaki pants wearing Bass shoes prepster.
Then I heard the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and everything changed. Punk music was cool, but to me punk clothes and style were cooler!
Was I true punk ? Nah… I was never going to drop out of school especially since I wanted to go to Brown or MIT when I graduated. But, I got an unconstructed olive green blazer, ripped out the shoulder pads and covered the lapels in safety pins. Wearing it made me feel like a superhero. I wore it everyday for almost a year. I had learned the transformative powers of fashion.
Starting this month, the stunning exhibition PUNK-Chaos to Couture at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the influence of punk style on high fashion.
Focusing on the relationship between the punk concept of ‘do-it-yourself’ and the couture concept
of ‘made-to-measure,’the exhibition will be organized around the materials, techniques, and embellishments associated with the anti-establishment style.Presented as an immersive multimedia, multisensory experience, the clothes will be animated with period music videos and soundscaping audio techniques.
In this video, curator Andrew Bolton walks us through the galleries:
If you have the chance, make sure you see it before it closes August 14th.
