The PUNKS HAVE ARRIVED

by H.Jules

Gothic, Rock & Punk

Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, infrequently doleful, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes black dyed and crimped hair and black garments. Both male and feminine goths sometimes wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Can’t put my finger quite so well on why EMO kids like the dark nails, but then goth inspires us all in some way. I say they should use pink and reds. Styles are typically borrowed from the Punks, Victorians and Elizabethans. BDSM images and paraphernalia are also common. Some haute couture designers, especially Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, have been associated with the goth aesthetic.

Cintra Wilson declares that “The origins of recent goth style are found in the Victorian cult of mourning.” Valerie Steele is knowledgeable in the history of the style. Fashion is like poetry, it suggests much but actual says nothing. It comes up from what is around us.

Punk fashion is the styles of clothing, haircuts, cosmetics, jewelry, and body alterations of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely from Vivienne Westwood styles to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, rude boys, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion. Punk fashion has similarly influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of popular culture. Punks use clothing as a strategy of making a statement. Rancid, one of my all time favorites personifies this in some many ways. You cannot deny the Mohawks and the torn leather. Now that these genre is so popularized, you see EVERYONE sporting Mohawks and faux-hawks these days.

Deliberately offensive T-shirts were popular in the early punk scene, for example the famous DESTROY T-shirt sold at SEX, which featured a reversed cross and a Nazi Swastika. These T-shirts, like other punk clothing items, were often torn purposely. Other items in early British punk fashion included : Anarchy symbols; brightly-colored or white and black dress shirts at random covered in slogans ( like “Only Anarchists are pretty”); fake blood; patches; and deliberately controversial images (such as portraits of Marx, Stalin and Mussolini ) were popular . Who can think of punk and without some spikes? Leather rocker jackets and customized blazers were early, and remain a common fixture of punk fashion. Accessories these babies with some rivets and spikes and we have a hit!

Punk fashion has been intensely exploited at numerous times, and many well-established fashion designers – such as Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier – have used punk elements in their production. One cannot deny the powerhouse influence that Ed hardy has, thus you see tattoo and punk symbolism everywhere because of this. Now HARDCORE-punks would despise any shirt costing more than a case of pabst, smokes and round trip fares on a metro card but it has taken hold of contemporary culture. Punk clothing, which was at first home made, became mass produced and sold in record stores and some smaller specialty clothing stores by the 1980′s. A online store like www.treatsandthreads.com has perfect examples of these styles mass marketed.

Well now that you know some background of the culture, maybe you are willing to go buy some it. Perhaps you already have some goth and punk clothing on right now. It’s deeper than basic blacks and safety pin shirts. ENJOY life and rebel BORING

H. Jules