Bringing Back Your Punk

Honestly, Punk has to be one of my most favorite movements music wise. It was radical, transformative, loud and trashy and not afraid to show it. On top of that, it stood for something outside the realms of the music world. Punks were not happy about the world and with politically loaded songs such as Bonzo Goes to Bitburg by The Ramones, a song protesting the Ronald Raegan's visit of Bitburg which was a soldier cemetery where numerous SS officers were buried,  they took a different approach to what the world was used to up until that point with regards to voicing their ideas of social protest. (The Flower Child movement being the stand out voice against social injustice  prior to Punk's briskly booming popularity.) Bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash or The Ramones are very much alive in our consciousness even today and rightly so. The Punk movement was in its own right, a highlight of the late 20th century.




Vivienne Westwood is probably the most influential designer associated with Punk fashion. Her collections often include elements of the Punk world and aesthetic with various slogans on t-shirts, distressed pieces mixed with combat gear paired with an abundance of safety-pins which is why she is one of the main designers included in the "Punk: Chaos To Couture" exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Although Vivienne Westwood is often associated with Punk fashion,  the exhibit offers a glimpse at other iconic pieces that put the designer's names down in history. For example, Jean-Paul-Gaultier's iconic skirts worn by men (image below). He introduced the shocking concept in 1984 when he presented his "Et Dieu Creá L'Homme" spring collection. There are also traces of Gareth Pugh's aethetics as well as the unmistakable Fausto Puglisi gladiator stilettos  - a pleasant surprise for me.
My personal favorite aspect of the exhibit are the phenomenal wigs that the mannequins sport throughout the collection.

Here are some images from the exhibit.

Is it everything you expected? I was expecting more spikes and leather - of course that would be the obvious thing to do- so I was pleasantly surprised by Andrew Bolton's selections of the exhibit pieces.

All Images by Julia Chesky for Lurve Magazine

Further reading: A Wonderful Article