12 posts tagged "Gianni Versace"
Inside Punk: Chaos to Couture
By now, you’ve no doubt already heard about—or even seen—the facsimile of CBGB’s bathroom that Andrew Bolton included in the opening gallery of the Met’s Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibition, which opens to the public on Thursday, following tonight’s red-carpet festivities. “CBGB was the heart of punk in New York,” said Bolton at a preview this morning. “Punk was all about shock and provocation, and so to start off an exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a toilet—well, I thought was the ultimate punk statement,” the curator told Style.com.
The exhibition juxtaposes original (and contemporary) punk wares by Vivienne Westwood against luxury and haute couture looks from the likes of Dolce & Gabbana (who are featured in the Graffiti room, above), Maison Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons, Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano, and Gianni Versace (yes, the 1994 safety-pin dress is on display). One might be hard-pressed to differentiate between Vivienne Westwood’s destroyed seventies sweaters and Rodarte’s Fall 2008 knit dress, which are on display side by side. The same gallery boasts Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s lewd T-shirts (for instance, her famed “Tits” top hangs against a black PVC curtain). “I love that we start off with T-shirts with very obscene political and sexual slogans,” said Bolton. “They’re still shocking thirty-seven years later—in a way, more shocking, because of our political correctness.” Beyond the T-shirts lies a reproduction of McLaren and Westwood’s infamous—and iconic—shop, Seditionaries, which stood at 430 King’s Road. The remainder of the show was divided into DIY categories, like Hardware, Graffiti and Agitprop, Bricolage, and Destroy—and each room was punctuated by a film by Nick Knight. “No other subcultural movement has a greater or more enduring influence on how we dress today,” Bolton noted in his opening remarks. Consider, as evidence, the fact that there is a slew of Fall 2013 looks in the show, from such houses as Viktor & Rolf, Saint Laurent, and Gareth Pugh—whose Fall 2013 trash-bag dresses are arranged into a veritable mob in the center of the Bricolage installation.
Bolton made sure to steer away from clichés—for instance, he noted that hairstylist Guido Paulo, who created the spiky Technicolor mops that topped each mannequin’s head, avoided Mohawks, and instead pulled inspiration from Richard Hell’s signature ’do.
“I wanted to present punk in a respectful, and even reverential, manner,” said Bolton. That’s already earning the show some mixed reviews. And of course, there are those who protest discussing punk in a high-fashion context—or, for that matter, paying couture prices for a punk-tinged look. “I think that’s completely punk,” said Bolton in response. “People seem to forget that punk really was a commercial movement. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, in a way, created what we know as the punk look. And they commodified it,” he explained.
As for why consumers and designers, from Karl Lagerfeld to Met Ball host Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy, are still drawn to the seventies subculture, Bolton offers, “Punk endures today because it reflects our longing for a time when originality and creativity were celebrated, a time when fashion was provocative and confrontational. And, above all, a time when fashion championed the individual and self-expression.”
Punk: Chaos to Couture opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this Thursday, May 9.
Versace Nails It
Versace’s Fall 2013 collection walked down the Milan runway just hours ago. The looks—some of which were in plaid or PVC—definitely had hints of the punk sensibility that’s been gaining steam this season. But what really jumped out at us was Ms. Versace’s use of metal nails in a few of her sexed-up wares. One purple dress, in particular (above, left), recalled that famed Versace safety-pin gown that Liz Hurley wore in 1994 (above, right). (Side note: Hurley’s gown will appear in the Met’s upcoming Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibition.) We’re also reminded of Christopher Kane’s ultra-feminine Spring ’13 collection, which was literally held together with plastic nuts and bolts. So, we have to ask: Could Kane’s Spring fastenings have ignited a sartorial hardware movement? Or perhaps more pressing: Is Donatella doing for the nail what Gianni did for the safety pin? We may need to wait until the end of fashion month (and until the Fall ’13 collections start popping up on the red carpet) to find out.
Before The Closing Ceremony, Hit Opening Ceremony On Greene Street
For Opening Ceremony, the focus has been all on London lately, with its pop-up space (which debuted just in time for the Games) and then its upcoming permanent location, but the brand’s been bringing some of the fun to NYC, too. The label opened a space on Greene Street last month, which exclusively houses the Brian Procell for Opening Ceremony collection of rare and vintage sportswear. Procell, a longtime professional collector of old-school duds from Gianni Versace, Alaïa, etc., gave the backstory on some of the best offerings in the shop right now. And if the Olympics have given you that itch for Americana sportswear, as they have to us, you will want to swing by ASAP for some vintage Ralph Lauren and Polo Sport gear. Click here to read all about his patriotic picks.
Putting Off The Ritz
Style.com contributing editor and party reporter Darrell Hartman circles the city and, occasionally, the globe in the line of duty. In a new column, he reports on the topics—whatever they may be at whatever given moment—that are stirring the social set.
As usual at the most recent Paris Couture collections, there were openings—including a big one for Louis Vuitton’s haute joaillerie store on Place Vendôme. But this time around, there was a major closing, too. As just about everyone knows by now, the Ritz is shutting its doors at the end of July. Not forever, just for two years and change. Of course, to a lot of fashion people, that is forever.
“Everybody’s talking about it,” Claire Courtins-Clarins told me at the Louis Vuitton party. We were, incidentally, at the Ritz; Vuitton had booked the hotel’s pool room for one last go-round. The Atelier Versace show had happened there two nights before—poignantly, considering it was Gianni Versace’s old venue. (That’s Gianni, below, with the usual clatch of supermodels backstage at the Ritz during one of his Couture shows.) Immediately after Donatella’s runway came down, a VIP section went up, for an after-party with a performance by M.I.A.
If the hotel owes its place in the fashion annals to anyone, however, it’s Coco Chanel. The designer lived there from 1934 until 1971, albeit on the less glamorous Rue Cambon side. “Poor Chanel, I use the front door of the Ritz, she must use the back,” Elsa Schiaparelli liked to snipe. Continue Reading “Putting Off The Ritz” »
Versace Announces Its Couture Runway Show, Diego Della Valle’s Speedy New Train, And More…
Donatella Versace has announced July 1 as the date for the Atelier Versace runway show after making a quiet return to the Paris Couture calendar last season with a small presentation. This time around, the label will have two shows at the Ritz Paris—the location of Gianni Versace’s last runway show in 1997. [WWD]
An Abercrombie & Fitch on Savile Row? Not if the staffers at The Chap magazine can help it. The Chap employees dressed up in three-piece suits and staged a demonstration against Abercombie to express their discontent with the retailer for opening on the famed bespoke tailoring street. [Styleite]
Tod’s chief Diego Della Valle unveiled his new high-speed train service, the NTV Italo, this past weekend in Italy. The train, developed with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, will run through nine cities and includes all the works, such as seats made of Poltrona Frau hides, gourmet Eataly delicacies, and a cinema coach. [WWD]
Victoria Beckham is lending her support to young designer Christopher Raeburn. Though she is known to step out in her own designs, Beckham recently bought one of Raeburn’s waterproof jackets and “tweeted a picture of herself in Beijing standing next to one of Raeburn’s inflatable squirrel installations,” according to British Vogue. [Vogue U.K.]