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The English and French have been at each other's throats through much of history. So it's a shock to find that a bizarre exhibition of clothes at New York's Metropolitan Museum takes as its starting point an 18th-century bout of French Anglomania.
During the 1750s, elevated sections of French society thought England was cool, especially its fashions. The Anglomania exhibition shows those fashions in some marvellously exotic dioramas consisting of mannequins, antique furniture and paintings.
But look again, and there's something odd about these views. Why is that 18th-century lad wearing punky bondage trousers? And why is his friend sporting a bright orange Mohawk haircut? In some extravagant and atmospheric dioramas, the curators have mixed antique clothes with the outre creations of modern designers such as punk seamstress Vivienne Westwood. The cheeky conceit of the exhibition is to demonstrate how the styles of the 18th century continued to influence English couture. The result is some weird anachronistic visions.
I was attracted to Anglomania by a pair of punk-rock era bondage trousers, because they reminded me of concerts I'd seen in 1977. Standing guard outside the show, in front of a huge Union Jack flag, is an 18th-century redcoat soldier. Opposite him, also on guard, stands a young punk rocker in a nifty bondage suit, replete with D-rings, a purple dog collar, and clumpy boots. The cut, fabrics and hang of the two complement each other well. But it's only a taster of the contradictions that lie within.
The curators say the Anglomania phenomenon began as an intellectual wave that sprang from 18th-century England's reputation for 'reason, freedom, and tolerance'. But it was soon reduced to a matter of style.