Met Gala 2013 Celebrates Punk By Cutting Off Punk Icon

Met Gala 2013 has been called “the party of the year” and the fashion industry’s Oscars, but its supposed celebration of punk fashion on Monday night left plenty of people calling it managed, controlled, and even whitebread. Maybe all you really have to know about the authenticity of the event is that the pop royalty Beyoncé was the honorary chairwoman. Sheesh.

I’ll leave it to others to gush about what such non-punk celebs as Miley Cyrus , Anne Hathaway, or Cameron Diaz had to wear. The theme was “Punk: From Chaos to Culture,” but there was too much culture and too little chaos.

The thing about punk is that it’s all about keeping it real. And real doesn’t mean a completely invented publicity stunt such as honeymooning in Cub a and then pretending that President Obama griped about it, a lá Beyoncé hubby Jay-Z. At the end of the day, what authority did Jay-Z and Beyoncé really stand up to and who did they challenge?

Zip. That’s who. And that’s why they’re allowed to keep talking.

When the 72-year-old Vivienne Westwood , one of the doyennes of punk fashion and a well-known political activist, appeared on the red carpet, she had (as expected) made an unusual fashion choice. After all, we’re talking about the designer who came to public attention working with the late Malcolm McLaren — the manager of the iconic Sex Pistols, which was largely his invention. With their sense of style, they are sometimes credited with the very creation of punk.

When Westwood walked the Met Gala 2013 red carpet on the Vogue livestream last night, interviewer Billy Norwich asked what designer she was wearing.

It might have been obvious that at least one piece was handmade by Westwood herself — a huge laminated photograph of Wikileaks prisoner Bradley Manning pinned to her gown.

Ask a stupid question, Mr. Norwich.

Westwood’s reply? “When I did punk all those years ago…[it was about]justice…and a better world…I’ve got one more thing to say…”

But she didn’t get to say it. Norwich decided to cut it short and switched to co-host Hilary Rhoda’s video piece. Moments later, he was interviewing Kim Kardashian.

Really, Mr. Norwich? Kim Kardashian? The arch-villainess of shiny glossy mindlessness on the one night out of the year supposedly dedicated to punk?

But hurrah to Vivienne Westwood, using the punk gala to support Bradley Manning, only to be cut off by the voice in Billy Norwich’s earpiece

— James Wolcott (@JamesWolcott) May 6, 2013

Wait… did Billy Norwich just Ice Queen the Queen of Punk Vivienne Westwood?! #MetGala

— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) May 6, 2013

UGH sticky situation, they made Billy Norwich cut off the MOTHER of Punk because she got POLITICAL on the red carpet, UGH frigging facists

— bevysmith (@bevysmith) May 6, 2013

Wikileaks is of course one of many observers who ran the photo of the controversial exchange:

Photo: Vivienne Westwood supporting Bradley #Manning at Met Gala 2013. #wikileaks #freebrad twitter.com/m_cetera/statu…

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 7, 2013

Here’s Westwood talking to Kanye West in the aftermath. I have a pretty good idea that she can still work a room, even if Vogue doesn’t want to hear her thoughts.