So I wanted to create a blog post about punk rock. I kept thinking and thinking about how to get started, and realized I am thinking way too much. So fuck it all. Punk rock is a movement and music genre that I know quite a bit about. The music is raw, edgy, and simple just like its fashion and the people involved. They had a don't care let's just have fun attitude. It started in the mid to late 70's kicking off with the New York Dolls in New York and bleeding over into the Sex Pistols in England. They and the Bromley Contingent (consisting of Siouxsie Sioux, Jordan, and, Soo Catwoman to name a few) shaped a lot of what we associate with punk rock style today. Growing up I had known little about punk rock, but I did have that attitude and mindset. I shopped mostly thrift and sales racks, I made many of my own clothes (very crudely using only hand stitching and safety pins), and loved dressing with some androgyny and sex appeal.
Now that I am older I continue to dress according to what feels right for me and has the "punk" aesthetic that I cherish. I want to dedicate this post to the punk rockers, and the lazy sods.
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| Soo Lucas aka Soo Catwoman |
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| The Bromley Contingent |
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| Jordan |
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| Siousxie Sioux and Jordan |
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| Siouxsie Sioux in a Vivien Westwood T-shirt |
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| Viviene Westwood and Malcolm McLaren |
I just fucking love it! Timeless patterns, tight pants, DIY custom clothes, AND one of the first actual "punk" clothing designers Viviene Westwood who is still making clothes today. The shirt that Siouxsie Sioux is wearing is infamous. Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols) and Vivien Westwood opened a clothing store named SEX (and later called Seditionaries) which many from the punk scene shopped and stole clothes at.
Speaking of the Sex Pistols, I was in lust with Johnny Rotten as a teenage girl, his demented snarly look enticed me. He was easy on the eyes as far as I was concerned and his over sized sweaters made me want to crawl inside right along with him. I also really liked the collard shirts, ties, safety pins, and torn jeans that is most often seen wearing. He really just used clothes as decoration, and didn't make it seem as though clothing should be a precious thing that we carefully wore, washed, and ironed. I really do believe that our clothes are meant to be worn and lived in. Life is passionate, unpredictable, fast, clumsy, and wears us the fuck out, and we can wear it on our sleeve to show that we have lived.
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| Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious |
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| circa 2003 |
Other great punk women icons in England sprung up and formed bands such as Gaye Advert (from the Adverts), Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), and Viv Albertine (The Slits): just to name a few. I mean the female punk rockers who rocked on and off the stage. They emitted style with attitude and uniqueness which I aspire to achieve when I roll out of bed in the morning.
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| Gaye Advert |
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| Gaye Advert |
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| Poly Styrene |
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| Germ Free Adolescence |
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| The Slits |
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| Viv Albertine |
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| Viv Albertine, Ari Up, and Tessa Pollitt |
While the punk rock scene was kicking England in the head, overseas in the good ol' U S of A punk rock was birthed from bands such as the Ramones, the Runaways, and Richard Hell (first playing in the Neon Boys, Television, The Heartbreakers, and finally forming the band Richard Hell and the Voidoids ). Richard Hell has been credited as "a source of inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well
as the safety-pin and graphics accessorized clothing that McLaren sold
in his London shop, Sex". [citation here]
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| Richard Hell |
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| David Johansen (New York Dolls) and Richard Hell |
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| Richard Hell |
Hell was one of the first punk rockers on the scene and torn clothes is not all he is know for. He is a talented musician as well starting off in the band Neon Boys which eventually became Television. They were one of the first bands to play at the best known American punk venue CBGBs. Richard Hell left Television and started a band with two members from the New York Dolls, Jerry Noland and Johnny Thunder called the Heartbreakers. After a year he left that band and started Richard Hell and the Voidoids. The venue CBGBs was a starting place for a lot of bands and was where many photographers flocked to take snapshots of history in the making. One fashionable little lady played there who captured many people's attention, Debbie Harry of Blondie.
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| Debbie Harry |
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| Debbie Harry |
Although not exclusively at punk band Blondie started out with the raw punk rock sound. In many of their albums the band experiments with disco, pop, and rap as well. And one cannot deny the enchanting carefree Debbie Harry, who doesn't give a shit about what you can all see while she is rocking out on stage. She appeared to have fun with her style and experimented with all types of looks, just like with her music.
So I can go on and on about punk rock; the musicians, the style, the history, the stories and antidotes, but I really should point out where I am going with all this. The historical movement of punk rock has influenced many things, new clothing, music, and all around aesthetic. Here are a few that make me think about punk rock style....
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| Agyness Deyn |
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| Besty Johnson |
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| Betsy Johnson |
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| Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton in Vivien Westwood |
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| Vivien Westwood 2009 |
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| Lydia Lunch |
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| Versus |
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| Vivien Westwood for Levis |
The fashion world today has drawn on the past punk rock style, from the streets and venues to create collections. It may have all the flair of punk rock, but it certainly does not have the attitude. You can find that walking the streets, the teenagers and adults that just don't give a fuck and are just out to live their lives the way they want. The people who are unmoved by what the fashion world deems in and out of style. And from the musicians that are set out to shake up the world.
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| Eugene Hutz (Gogol Bordello) |
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| "Shut up, that's why" |
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| Steve Luebbe |
