I had a lot of feelings when I first learned there was going to be a punk exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: the fashion side of me was super excited to see a punk fashion exhibit; the punk side questioned if displaying expensive clothes made for rich people in a museum was actually punk.
When I think of the word "punk" or when I think of punk music, I think of no wave, which, through experimentation in sound and performance, deconstructed punk music. And I think of riot grrrl, which among other things, questioned male dominance in the punk scene. These facets of punk music have always been more interesting and exciting to me than, say, The Sex Pistols...
But whatever my thoughts are about punk, the exhibit has some really great pieces.
The Margiela pieces were my favorite, but I'm biased because that's my favorite design house. I love Margiela couture shows because they rework trash and discarded materials into art, and it's totally the most refreshing thing to see when fashion companies show their couture collections.
There's a nice little nugget of Comme des Garcons dresses that are fun to look at. I always wonder what they're going to do next at CDG.
Of course this cool dress by Rodarte was there, which you could've seen if you'd visited Bergdorf Goodman a few years ago:
Which reminds me of a nice Junya Watanabe sweater on view:
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Elizabeth Hurley dress by Versace. (How many dresses have their own Wikipedia entry?)
So, for fashion enthusiasts, this exhibit is pretty great. You'll have fun, but it felt short. I wanted to see more. I felt like we got a survey of punk fashion, and BAM! Hey, here's our gift shop. Wanna buy a skateboard that says PUNK? (This is an actual thing on sale in the gift shop, mind you.)
I think the show should have reworked the theme because, while the clothes are amazing, us punks are rolling our eyes.
xo
craig hunter




