A MAGAZINE ISSUE 01
: K PUN
Punk fashion has been extremely popular at various times, and many well-established fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier have used punk elements in their production. Punk clothing, which was initially handmade, became mass-produced and sold in record stores and some smaller specialty clothing stores by the 1980s. Many fashion magazines and other glamour-oriented media have featured classic punk hairstyles and punk influenced clothing. Punk rock was an intentional rebuttal of the perceived excess and pretension found in mainstream music (or even mainstream culture as a whole), and early punk artists’ fashion was defiantly antimaterialistic. Generally unkempt, often short hairstyles replaced the long-hair hippie look and the usually elaborate 1970s rock and disco styles. In the United States, dirty, simple clothes - ranging from the T-shirt and jeans with a leather jacket Ramones look to the low-class, second-hand
“dress” clothes of acts like Television or Patti Smith - were preferred over the expensive or colorful clothing popular during the disco scene. Deliberately controversial and offensive T-shirts were popular in the early punk scene, such as the DESTROY T-shirt sold at SEX. These T-shirts, like other punk clothing items, were often torn and mutilated on purpose. Other items in early punk fashion included: leather jackets; customised blazers; and dress shirts randomly covered in slogans (such as “Only Anarchists are pretty”), blood, patches and controversial images or words. Today the punk era still greatly influences the way we dress. For many of us we still feel liberated in that fashion should be an expression of ourselves, our own personal style, our lifestyle and our likes and dislikes. This first occurred due to the punk era. One day in mid-’70s London, a young John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, a punk band) became disgusted with the bright pink and green trash bags piling up in the street during the garbage strikes. The government had issued the brightly colored bags to make the trash look “nice.”
They provided him with a bolt of sartorial inspiration: Lydon dumped the garbage out of one of the pink bags, cut a hole for his head and arms, and wore it belted as a dress. Over 30 years later, British designer Gareth Pugh made the last five gowns of his fall/winter 2013 collection out of black trash bags, although his were layered, shredded and shaped until they resembled topiary. The dresses have a “Massive texture that looks a little bit like fur and feathers,” Pugh told the Daily News from his London studio. Presenting them on the runway was a little act of rebellion in itself, he added. “We show in Paris, at this very lavish fancy French hotel, and I liked the idea of bringing that quite grimy energy from what we do in London to this chic Parisian extravagance.” The term “punk” was first used in relation to rock music by some American critics in the early 1970s, to describe garage bands and their devotees. Beginning in 1977, punk rock spread around the world and became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.
“The classic punk rock look -- T-shirt, motorcycle jacket, and jeans,”
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THE BEST OF PUNK...
plete freedom. It influenced I think the best thing was that it felt like com poeple were scared to try people right across the board. Before punk, d. All it needed was people anything- they were so oppressed and stifle to say, ‘Fuck, just do it.’ It was as simple as that. Paul Cook
Around 1977, Zandra Rhodes, the British dress designer, took elements of the punk style and used it in her collections. She used gold safety pins and gold chains to connect and decorate uneven hems and holes. The carefully placed holes were edged with gold thread and adorned with exquisite embroidery. She also made refined and more elegant versions in bright colors which were more expensive and desireable to the rich and famous. Watered down punk chic worked its way to the top end of the market. Versace too, began to decorate their dresses with large safety pins. Now every fashion shop has torn and distressed clothing items. Many are still similar in concept to those originally sported by the first punks of the 1970s. Punk clothing incorporated every day objects for aesthetic effect. Purposely ripped clothes were held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; black bin liners (garbage bags) became dresses, shirts and skirts. Other items added to clothing or as jewellery included razor blades and chains.
“Watered down punk chiC worked its way to the top end of the market.�
Leather, rubber and vinyl clothing started to become more common as well, possibly due to their connection with bondage and S&M. Preferred footwear included military combat boots, motorcycle boots, brothel creepers, Puma Clydes (suede), Chuck Taylor All-Stars or Dr. Marten combat boots. Tapered jeans, tight leather pants, trousers with leopard patterns and bondage pants were popular choices. Other early punks imitated the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange by wearing bowler hats, eyeliner and braces. Hair was often cropped and deliberately made to look messy, and was often dyed bright unnatural colors. Although provocative, these hairstyles were not as extreme as later punk hairstyles. Hair was either shaved, spiked or in a crew cut or Mohawk hairstyle. Tall mohawks and spiked hair, either bleached or in bright colors, took on an extreme cbaracter. Charged hair, in which all of one’s hair stands on end but is not styled into distinct spikes, also emerged. A hairstyle similar to The Misfits’ devilocks was popular. This involved cutting a mohawk but leaving a longer tuft of hair at the front of the head. It is still a popular style today. Some punks bought T-shirts or plaid flannel shirts and wrote political slogans, band names or other punk-related phrases on them with marker pens. While this was not without precedent in the 1970s, the depth and detail of these slogans were not fully developed until the 1980s. Silkscreened T-shirts with band logos or other punk-related logos or slogans were also common. Studded, painted and otherwise customised leather jackets or denim vests became more popular during this era, as the popularity of the earlier customized blazers waned. Body piercings and extensive tattoos became very popular during this era, as did spike bands and
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studded chokers. Some of the hardcore punk women reacted to the earlier 1970s movement’s coquettish vibe by adopting an asexual style. Punk as a style succeeded even more when Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren publicized the ideas through their joint design ventures. McLaren launched the ‘Sex Pistols’ Punk music group. The punk group wore clothes from a shop called ‘Sex’ that Vivienne Westwood and her partner Malcolm McLaren opened on the Kings Road, London. The shop sold leather and rubber fetish goods, especially bondage trousers. Later the shop was renamed Seditionaries. Not long after, Westwood launched alone, renaming the same shop again as ‘World’s End’.
Westwood was soon translating her ideas into more avant garde ideas. Though the collections were innovative and beautiful, they were spoken of as unwearable,; yet other designers still often picked up on ideas she had instigated. In later years after her talent developed, her style, mood and methods changed. She mastered tailoring techniques combined with flair, frivolity and sexuality, creating looks that many copied. With a long stream of accomplishments behind her, Westwood is now considered to be one of the most influential punk designers of our time. Her work has made her one of the most innovative and beloved designers of the 20th century.
”Pink is the only true rock and roll color”
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Dr.Martens 8 Eye Boot, $124.95
Moschino Biker Jacket, $2,575
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