Deep in the bowels of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a gray-smocked assistant in the Costume Institute was carefully transporting a long box from a storage area. All around her were mannequins wearing head-to-toe perfected haute couture: a laced-up Versace, a deconstructed Margiela. In a corner stood a male mannequin wearing a black bondage suit and artfully scuffed Doc Marten boots.

The assistant laid down the box, opening it to unfurl folds of acid-free archival tissue. Gently, she lifted up a few sheets, revealing her treasure: a dingy, ripped “Anarchy in the U.K.” Sex Pistols T-shirt, sized to fit a child or an extremely hard-living rock star. There also was T-shirt after well-worn T-shirt, with punchy slogans and graphic images — many faded, with pit stains and rings around the collars. The assistant held up a scribbled black one. “We have to make sure we don’t remove that safety pin,” she said, reverentially.

On view starting May 9, the Costume Institute’s exhibition “Punk: Chaos to Couture” is, by design, a blend of high and low culture, anarchic street style metamorphosed into impossibly chic fashion. “We’re trying to highlight the more intellectual, artistic side of punk,” said Andrew Bolton, the curator of the exhibition. Organizers hope to draw a parallel between the populist, DIY punk aesthetic and the individualized vision of rarefied designers.