The D.I.Y.: Hardware gallery in the exhibition. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. See more gallery views.
«Shhhh! The dresses in the D.I.Y.: Hardware gallery in PUNK: Chaos to Couture are punk undercover. In contrast to the more obviously punk shirts, pants, trash-bag dresses, and tie-dye ball gowns in the rest of the exhibition, these clothes are not necessarily meant to be punk. It is obvious, however, that they are indeed influenced by punk style.»
The raucous style of punk teenagers is thought to be inappropriate for stylish women, but the D.I.Y.: Hardware gallery contains beautiful dresses with details influenced by earlier punk styles. For instance, the numerous safety pins and ripped holes found on several of the dresses in the D.I.Y. room are signature punk. Although we may not always have considered these dresses as punk, we now uphold them as stylish examples of clothing that shares the sentiments of its era.
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PUNK: Chaos to Couture