Punk fashion
Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-down look of North American hardcore.
The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion.
Arena rock groups of the early 70's, with long, drawn out songs rooted in the psychedelic movement, were viewed as out-of-touch by fans who were much less economically successful.
[17] Generally unkempt, often short hairstyles replaced the long-hair hippie look and the usually elaborate 1970s rock and disco styles.
Hell is credited as one of the first to help popularize the stereotypical 'punk' look, spiking his hair and wearing t-shirts that were held together with safety pins.
[22] Punk fashion aimed to provoke and challenge middle class culture, often through vulgarity, illicit iconography, and sexual innuendos, among other means.
Other items in early British 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.
While the band has denied that the single was produced specifically in reaction to the Queen's Silver Jubilee, the song and Westwood's design were viewed as an affront to British values of patriotism and the monarchy.
Sid Vicious wore a t-shirt featuring a swastika while he walked through a Jewish neighbourhood in the film The Great Rock and Roll Swindle.
[citation needed] Female exemplars of early punk style included Pamela Rooke aka Jordan,[25] Siouxsie Sioux, Soo Catwoman,[26] and Gaye Advert.
[29] Purposely ripped clothes were held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; black bin liners (garbage bags) became dresses, shirts and skirts.
Keen designers, much like Westwood, had been able to draw inspiration from the punk style found on the streets, translating its anarchic frustration and resistance to the runways.
[32] Zandra Rhodes utilized rips, tears and safety pins in her 1977 'Conceptual Chic' collection; similarly, Claude Montana presented 12 models in "black leather jackets, caps, and pants in 1977.
Spiky hair, jeans or bondage trousers, leather jackets with slogans, pins, and patches on them, T-shirts, studs and chains all became hallmarks of the look, undermining the individuality that had been essential to the movement.
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.
[39] In contrast to Morris' and Rollins' views, one scholarly source claims that the standard hardcore punk clothing and styles included torn jeans, leather jackets, spiked armbands and dog collars and mohawk hairstyles and DIY ornamentation of clothes with studs, painted band names, political statements, and patches.
[40] Another scholarly source describes the look that was common in the San Francisco hardcore scene as consisting of biker-style leather jackets, chains, studded wristbands, pierced noses and multiple piercings, painted or tattooed statements (e.g. an anarchy symbol) and hairstyles ranging from military-style haircuts dyed black or blonde, mohawks, and shaved heads.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bristol bands like Disorder, Chaos UK, Lunatic Fringe, Amebix, broke from the usual punk fashion confines, creating a disheveled DIY look originating in squatting and poverty.
[45] Dance-punk fashions include day-glo colors, phat pants, glowsticks, leather studded jackets, chains and combat boots.
[citation needed] Fans of dark cabaret and Gypsy punk often imitate the costumes of 1920s music hall, sideshow or burlesque performers, pejoratively referred to by some modern critics as "once fashionable trash.
Men often wear vintage Bowler hats, battered fedoras, tweed cloth vests with more typical street punk fashions such as drainpipe trousers or heavy boots.
[49] Their hair was generally worn long, as was then fashionable in the 1970s, but some fans opted for buzzcuts or Caesar cuts, previously associated with hard mods and bootboys.
[50][51] Contemporary to the garage bands of the early 1970s, glam punk fashion, pioneered by bands like the New York Dolls,[52] includes glitter, androgynous make-up, brightly dyed hair, drainpipe jeans, bright colours like electric blue, elements of leather fetish wear, and unusual costumes like leopard print, spandex, or satin shirts.
Common sneakers include classic Adidas Originals, Asics, Converse, New Balance, Nike, Pony, Puma, Reebok, Saucony and Vans.
In the 2010s, pop punk fans took on a more hardcore look, with shorter hair (including Liberty spikes and a wide Mohawk combined with a fringe), plain hoodies and straight-leg jeans.
Braces are popular, as are Harrington jackets with royal Stewart tartan lining, thin ties, Doc Martens, mohair suits, pork pie hats, tonik suits (especially in the early years of the 1980s ska revival),[55] tank tops, Ben Sherman or Fred Perry polo shirts, hoodies, and checkerboard patterns.
Common skate punk clothing items include T-shirts, flannel button-down shirts, hooded sweatshirts, webbing belts, and khaki shorts, pants or jeans.
Some punks, especially in Southern California, mirror Latino gang styles, including khaki Dickies work pants, white T-shirts and colored bandanas.
[citation needed] In general, contemporary street punks wear leather, denim, metal spikes or studs, chains and military-style boots.
The associated dress style draws on military fashion and punk aesthetics[66] with hints of fetish wear, mainly inspired by the scene's musical protagonists.
