You will have to excuse our being a day late with our Met Ball coverage, however we thought that there were probably a trillion places for you to see all the dresses and that what might be very fun would be to take it all in and then reflect on what we've learnt from the "Punk: Chaos to Couture" launch extravaganza. And we can conclude that punk is not quite what it used to be. "Although punk’s democracy stands in opposition to fashion’s autocracy, designers continue to appropriate punk’s aesthetic vocabulary to capture its youthful rebelliousness and aggressive forcefulness” said the exhibition's curator, Andrew Bolton ahead of the opening. Clearly, we might all have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we had looked a little closer at the title of the exhibition and seen the "TO COUTURE" bit at the end, which clarifies that punk is now couture (?). So really, nobody need have worried about about trying to combine safety pins with Dolce and Gabbana, but they did (hello, Giovanna Battaglia). Thus, a new kind of punk has been born in the space of mere days. Here follow its key components...
SOFAS
Poor Kim Kardashian. For months, speculation was feverish about whether Anna Wintour would even deign to invite her. Then it was confirmed she would get to go on Kanye's arm and talk turned to how she would tackle the whole dressing situation given that, in case you weren't aware, she's pretty damn pregnant right now. Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci stepped in and ran her up a floral gown with built-in gloves. Tisci told WWD today, "We should give her our punk moment with a romantic beautiful flower-printed dress. I have dressed many pregnant women in the past. People can say what they want. To me, pregnancy is the most beautiful thing in the world, and when you celebrate something, you give people flowers."
Cue the sofa meme.
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| Kim as sofa (via Leutton Postle on Instagram) |
I think I wore it better! pic.twitter.com/Cv0XtebBIX
HILARY DEVEY
If I remember correctly, Madonna has perfectly good hair. There was really no immediate need for a wig as part of her Givenchy Couture get-up. However, she saw fit to channel what she perhaps thought was Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction but ended up being construed in the UK as the more contemporary refererence which is... Hilary Devey.
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| Hilary and Madonna, hair twins (image via metro.co.uk) |
nice to see @mdna taking a few fashion tips xxxx
MISS HAVISHAM
Between them, Nicole Ritchie and Linda Evangelista made a sterling effort at rendering the Miss Havisham look part of the new punk genre. Evangelista's Marchesa froth-fest will be ideal for the next time she needs something for a Tudor- themed event, but its lightly faded grey colouring and sheer meringue-ness also remind of the classic Miss Havisham wedding dress motif. While Ritchie's white Topshop dress was less bridal, her powdered white hair recalled the gathering-dustiness of Dickens' tragically evil Great Expectations character.
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| Linda Evangelista (style.com) |
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| Nicole Ritchie (metro.co.uk) |
Anna Wintour was, quite naturally, one of the first to arrive at the Met Gala and consequently confused everyone who had been completely seduced by the theme by arriving a pink, floral embellished Chanel dress. Why anyone was actually that surprised, on reflection, seems strange because this is pretty much Anna's standard formal event modus operandi.
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| Anna Wintour in Chanel pink and flowers (image via refinery29.com) |
"Andrew Bolton, curator of the exhibition, gallantly defended the authenticity of Anna's dress choice. "Pink was the colour of punk," he explained. It was certainly the colour of Moschino's Cheap & Chic autumn/winter 2013 "punk" collection - and of many of 2013's non-punk collections. And that's the point."
Given that Wintour was joined in her pink foray by Gwyneth Paltrow (in Valentino), Kate Beckinsdale (in Alberta Ferretti), Zandra Rhodes (in original 1977 attire) and Vanessa Redgrave, we can conclude that pink is the colour of punk, version 2013.
PLASTIC ENVELOPES
Many have expressed regret that we haven't heard more about Vivienne Westwood's attendance at the Met Ball. After all, she's was one of the closest people on the guest list to an "original Punk". Well, Westwood unsurprisingly took the opportunity to have a good old rant about the Julian Assange case. In addition to mouthing off about Bradley Manning- the man accused of providing details for Assange to leak on Wikileaks- Westwood hammered home the message by wearing a picture of Manning pinned onto her dress. Most interestingly, said picture seems to be housed inside a plastic sleeve. These are consequently the new safety pins.
FAKE TATTOOS
Note, the "fake" here. It would be far too permanent a statement to have anything indelibly inked. Instead the new punk way to decorate one's body is to use fake tattoo paint. Derek Blasberg demonstrated the limitations of this new kind of punk when he tweeted:
PHOTO BOMBING
If we'd thought about it hard enough then it would be obvious that photo bombing was a very 2013 punk thing to do, however the behaviour of various Met Ball attendees confirmed that it is totally punk to photo bomb these days. Such photo bombs are best viewed via the medium of a GIF.
First, Jennifer Lawrence bombs SJP (who did perfectly pitched punk).
Secondly, there's Joshua Jackson bombing Anne Hathaway.
Finally, the front photo bomb. Jerry Seinfeld totally gets in the way of Valentino and Anne.
FUNK
Yup, funk is the new punk. The only exhibit we need to prove this is Solange Knowles in Kenzo, and the fact that the only song anyway wants to listen to right now is Daft Punk's Get Lucky.
PLASTIC ENVELOPES
Many have expressed regret that we haven't heard more about Vivienne Westwood's attendance at the Met Ball. After all, she's was one of the closest people on the guest list to an "original Punk". Well, Westwood unsurprisingly took the opportunity to have a good old rant about the Julian Assange case. In addition to mouthing off about Bradley Manning- the man accused of providing details for Assange to leak on Wikileaks- Westwood hammered home the message by wearing a picture of Manning pinned onto her dress. Most interestingly, said picture seems to be housed inside a plastic sleeve. These are consequently the new safety pins.
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| Vivienne Westwood at the Met Ball (image via dailymail.co.uk) |
Note, the "fake" here. It would be far too permanent a statement to have anything indelibly inked. Instead the new punk way to decorate one's body is to use fake tattoo paint. Derek Blasberg demonstrated the limitations of this new kind of punk when he tweeted:
I woke up in bed with a harness and sheets full of tattoo ink. That's normal for a Tuesday morning, right? #MetGala
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| Derek Blasberg's fake tattoos (image via Derek's Instagram) |
If we'd thought about it hard enough then it would be obvious that photo bombing was a very 2013 punk thing to do, however the behaviour of various Met Ball attendees confirmed that it is totally punk to photo bomb these days. Such photo bombs are best viewed via the medium of a GIF.
First, Jennifer Lawrence bombs SJP (who did perfectly pitched punk).
Secondly, there's Joshua Jackson bombing Anne Hathaway.
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| (via Papermag.com) |
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| via @AmyOdell |
Yup, funk is the new punk. The only exhibit we need to prove this is Solange Knowles in Kenzo, and the fact that the only song anyway wants to listen to right now is Daft Punk's Get Lucky.
