Props to 2 Punk Icons at the Met Gala 2013

Fashion has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Some would term it a critical necessity to life and free expression. I've followed it as a slave, as a consumer, and more recently as one fascinated by the artistic evolution of the trends and the messages behind them. Slavery to trends are exhausting, but down right lucrative. In certain circles they can be the end-all of whether you are IT or OUT. That in itself is not insignificant. As long as you can discern the messages you are projecting and own them? Then I am a full-fledged proponent, and only think that the "fashion police" are justified in passing judgement or at least calling out those that are in fact, projecting hypocritical messages.

As this is an "art blog", and I'm a self-proclaimed "fashion aficionado", then it only seems appropriate for me to weigh in on the annual Met Gala. The annual who's who bash of  the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Especially as this years theme was "Punk: Chaos to Couture". If that is not "decay to decadence", I don't know what is.

Instead of thrashing the cacophony of hypocrites, I'm going to give props to two punk revolutionaries that I have a soft spot for, and tell you WHY, regardless of what the critics are saying, they stayed true to their creeds.

First, Vivienne Westwood. For those unacquainted? She is the designer lauded as the "cornerstone, style-wise, of the whole punk movement in London." -Many on that red carpet (Marc Jacobs included . Basically? She got stripped of her fashion statement. Which was:

"Her jewelry: A laminated photo of the Wikileaks revolutionary Bradley Manning, attached by safety pins to her pastel robes."

She was given her 15 seconds in the limelight and then shuffled through. What she did have a chance to articulate, before she was cutoff was: 

 "When I did punk all those years ago, [it was about the same thing]: Justice and [trying to] have a better world,” she explained. “I've got different methods nowadays." -the Cut

Nowadays, whenever I hear of Vivienne Westwood, it is difficult not to get nostalgically reminiscent and a bit self depreciating. As I did at one point, own, hot pink Vivienne Westwood leggings. Which I wore to the SLC Hard Rock Cafe in head to toe Cindy Lauper get-up in college. Why I didn't keep those gems? That is a life mystery. I'm on the prowl for pics. I should have know that Vivienne Westwood & hot-pink was keep-worthy. Fourteen years and could've, should've, would've, especially this year, when Anna Wintour Vogue's editor-in-chief, the Met gala medium wore hot-pink Chanel, and said "its the color that symbolizes the punk movement."Oh well, I'll get over it, I do have the hot pink skinny jeans my 2-year-old gave me for Christmas.

The second accreditation goes to one of my personal favorite punk icons. Debbie Harry (aka. Blondie). Apparently she was hosted by Tommy Hilfiger. He is the quintessential All-American designer with an affinity for the nautical-look, so really this makes a whole lot of sense. I figure she was paying homage as she was a nautical-look proponent back in the day. For the Met gala they all appropriately hard-rocked Hilfiger's version of leather & metal. So, in summation, even when "The Tide is High", with floods of wannabe's and wishy-washy attempts that pegged more "chaos than couture." It was encouraging to see that at least the front-running ladies of punk, "aren't the kind of girls that give up just like that."