The Met 2013 Punk: Chaos to Couture Gala - Part I

Of course I just wrote about not being able to finish a post and here I am with one started on the same day!

I normally don't cover things like this, but after checking out the coverage on all my bookmarked entertainment/ fashion sites (Tom & Lorenzo, Go Fug Yourself, The Daily Mail UK*) I wanted to blog this. I was bothered that all the sites wrote how most attendees of the Metropolitan Museum's Punk: Chaos to Couture gala "got punk wrong." I have to admit it did seem many got confused and actually thought the theme was Goth to Couture because following that criteria there would have been loads of hands-down winners, but still:

1. The exhibit (May 9 to August 14, 2013) is titled Punk: Chaos to Couture and it's goal is to "examine punk’s impact on high fashion from the movement’s birth in the 1970s through its continuing influence today." Which basically involves borrowing certain visual elements, hardware, and shapes while also juxtaposing the punk DIY aesthetic versus couture's made-to-measure practice; anti-establishment versus elite establishment.
2. Dressing according to the theme of the Met's events is and has always been optional. It's a chance to dress up, period.
3. I believe the essence of Punk was/is unconventionality and irreverence not just safety pins, leather, Doc Martens, and ripped fishnets. Those elements are punk "shorthand". 
4. Having not been a punk (I was into New Wave, thankyouverymuch) I wouldn't dare to make a statement on what exactly "a punk" looks like. For starters, English punk and American punk had cultural differences and big city punk was also different from small city suburban punk.

Some fashion websites participated in either awarding participants for including those shorthand elements while also deriding others for incorporating some of those same elements. My favorites among the one's you may have seen were January Jones, Sarah Jessica Parker, Anne Hathaway, Miley Cyrus, Ginnifer Goodwin, Carey Mulligan, Hailee Steinfeld, Debbie Harry, and believe it or not, Taylor Swift. Personally, what I noticed was  people who either got it near-perfect by showing what punk has become or instead incorporated some irreverence while still following the basic rules for gala wear. Here are some examples you may not have seen that I found through other sites. Definitely check out the image links at the bottom of the post. I hope you enjoy/appreciate these as much as I did.

Designer Donatella Versace in Versace

 

Emma Roberts in a subtle Diane Von Furstenberg



Designer Zandra Rhodes in her own design



Carey Mulligan in Balenciaga

Lele Sobieski in Christian Dior



Kerry Washington and Vera Wang in Vera Wang



Aubrey Plaza in Marios Schwab


Totally not on theme, but this next one is just plain gorgeous! What else would you expect from Isabella Rossellini's daughter and Ingrid Bergman's granddaughter?

Elettra Weideman in Prabal Gurung

Images: Style.com, Vogue.com, Stylesnooperdan.com, InStyle.com

Oh Come On, Now...

I'm just as tired of seeing that Bloglovin' post as you are. Since I wrote it I have five draft posts in the works to replace it, but I can't seem to finish any of them. I don't know what it is but I feel I need to put more information into all of them or something. I also have two homemade garments (one for April and one for May) that are done and the reviews are complete but I need decent pictures before I can post those.

So I'm going back into my archives to finish up and post some old drafts. Can you believe I have 68 drafts (1/3 are practically complete)! I think maybe I'm thinking too hard.

So how many of you have a 'multitude-of-unfinished-posts' problem like mine?

What is your most common reason that they don't get finished?

For the ones you don't finish, why don't you delete them and instead let them hang around?

Image: Good Housekeeping, October 1917.

Update on My Bloglovin' Havin' Self

Well, I will still miss Google Reader, just like I missed Bloglines before. However, I must say I’ve become used to bloglovin’ pretty quickly. I don’t feel that anything is missing because I never asked much from Google Reader. I want to see any new feeds and be able to read them one after another easily, that's all.  

Google Reader

    

bloglovin'

Well, I get that with bloglovin’ and more, now I can cycle through my website feeds not as simple text/picture excerpts but as full pages with the authors blog design, headers, and all (see below).You click on the first entry on the main page and it opens up in a separate window. There appears on top, toggle switches that take you to the next blog feed or back to the last one you read. There is also a handy counter next to those that let you know where you are in the unread posts queue.

So I’m happy…well, until someone decides to take my new reader away from me, which unfortunately, is always a possibility. I just hope we get a chance to save it next time.

Here’s a question for those who have been on the Bloglovin’ for some time: On the main page, even before you log in, it seems they have picked blogs that I might be interested in, unless everyone else sees fashion and beauty blogs too? Is there a way to have them focus on other types of sites? I love suggestions and fashion but those blogs aren’t really me, I’m more into reuse and making my own rather than buying in mass. I feel that if they can target us this way then there must be some way to alter the criteria, or as Don and Peggy would say, “If you don’t like what they’re [showing], change the conversation.”

The Great British Sewing Bee!

Makower London Collection Icons

Okay, has everyone been watching the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC Two? I have and I love it. I know there has been some controversy on other blogs about certain aspects but I'd rather not get into that.* The most important point is that there is a TV program/programme about sewing where technique and knowledge are paramount and ornamentation is second. The show is very unlike the Project Runway franchise where the contestants are meant to be more focused on design and flash instead of quality of construction.

• What I like about GBSB is that the challenge projects were selected by an actual professional sewer, Claire-Louise Hardie of The Thrifty Stitcher. She also timed all of the projects to make sure that the time limits were do-able. She is currently writing on her blog about the GBSB: from the preparations made before filming to episode commentary once the latest episode has aired. 
• I love the fact that they acknowledged the many types of sewing; dressmaking, menswear, alteration of ready-to-wear, home decorative arts, and costume. One doesn't have to be able to drafting their own patterns to be considered skilled in the art. 
• The sewing history bits were great and informative. How many people outside of Great Britain knew about all the sewing-related street names that exist in England?
• Love that it focuses on details we might not be as aware of now, such as menswear's traditional rules, while ready-to-wear womenswear has become less strict, ex. the direction of men's flys and shirt button plackets.

Having seen the episode 3 semi-finals, it is clearly down to Ann and Lauren for the win. I adore and respect Ann Rowley, administrator of the Stitchers Guild forum on Artisan Square, and would love to hang out in her sewing room and pick her memories. I am also increasingly impressed by Lauren Guthrie, now the owner of fabric shop Guthrie & Ghani. She is great news for the future of personal sewing. Though very young, she is knowledgeable and technically proficient in the art and has a great attention to detail. She understand the patience it takes to create a quality product. Those rouleau ties she constructed were amazing! I absolutely hate turning fabric tubes inside out and I can't believe she was able to turn those incredibly teeny ones. Impressive, indeed.

If you are in the US, the official show website will not allow you to view full episodes. Instead, they can be viewed on YouTube: Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. Here is Episode 4 - The Final.

*The show does have problems: the judging format and those silly sewing project segments. Seriously, if they are meant for beginning sewers/sewists, then the instructions are given too fast and are far too vague to actually help.

Do You Remember TV's "Philly Justice"?

If you don't remember that 2003 TV show starring Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Kathryn Hahn, (and Paul Rudd, in the pilot only) don't worry. No one does, not even its stars. However, ask the cast and crew of Parks and Recreation about it. I've been watching past PaleyFest panel sessions with the crew and this video had me laughing out loud and gasping for breath this morning. Enjoy the madness.



Also, check out Philly Justice Confessions.

Watch Parks & Recreation Thursdays on NBC.