Punk never played nice. Whether in music or in fashion, it wanted to provoke and offend, disrupt and incite. But those howls of rage and despair from London’s mean streets that dressed up fantastically as it grew into a sociological phenomenon — has finally found its place — uptown, in decked up catwalks and designer boutiques. Against the backdrop of torn and safety-pinned outfits with studs, tartans, rips, zips and all the other sartorial shorthand for punk, the new generation of designers are reinventing the look.
“For punks in the street, the style was motivated as much by poverty as by rebellion and was distinguished by all kinds of DIY customisation: cutting, lettering and safety-pinning, often evoking the anger of traditionalists, the French Situationists and even early Conceptual art while foreshadowing postmodern deconstruction. At the beginning of the movement, the best way to confront the British society was to be as obscene as possible,” recalls designer Nachiket Barve about the Punk movement.
As the movement that ignited the latter half of the 70s is flexing its sinewy style muscles once again, designer Gautam Gupta adds that it embodies change, revolution and empowerment. He says, “Most people view punk as the guy with the green mohican on the Kings Road but it is more than that. It may have come from nihilism but it’s actually a positive influence when things get too corporate. And if mod style or rave occasionally make it on to the catwalk, punk is perhaps the only subculture to recur seasons after season.”
However, there is an argument that punk high fashion is a contradiction in terms; it started, after all, as a look, that any teen Pistols fan could replicate with a pair of scissors and a marker pen. Designer Rozina Vishram agrees, “Those pieces were the most powerful and beyond couture.” She adds, “You customised it so you knew not even one person had what you were wearing. Creativity flourished in a hard economic climate where you had to make something out of nothing. The basic uniform of punk’s prime years, the late 70s, consisted of ripped jeans, studded leather jackets, T-shirts or dress shirts with some combination of holes, rude wording, pornographic images or bloodlike splatters of paint. Black rubber was big and so were chains and mohair sweaters, reminiscent of the 1950s, but bedraggled. Dresses were made of anything, including garbage or dry-cleaning bags with tape.”
But if you are not the DIY sort, don’t worry as designers and brands are at your disposal with punk’s familiar tropes faithfully on a wide range of silhouettes. “A bold statement is essential, so opt for anti-establishment fits, dark leather, ripped denim, safety pins, leather accents... but worn in a sophisticated manner, so it’s a reinterpretation rather than literal,” advises Barve. “Stick to what works for your body type and personality, and add doses of punk. For colours, play with strong hues of Petrol blue, red and black tartan checks, white with graphical prints, neons, etc. in jarring combinations,” he adds.
Giving interesting combinations to channel your inner-punk, designer Natasha J. shares, “Go for plaids. Well, you might think of plaid as a preppy staple or holiday decor, but the classic red pattern has an edgier side with punk-rock roots! Rock a head-to-toe plaid the punk way in cropped pants and a matching moto accessorised with cool rocker accents. To tame the look, pair plaid pants with a cool vintage tee or top your fave skinnies with a plaid moto jacket. If you want to put a girly spin on Goth then there is nothing like a black midi dress in punk’s signature fabric — leather. You can prettify your punk vibe with black leather in a girly silhouettes like dresses and wrap a plaid shirt around your waist, too. For a low-key way to dip your toes in the punk trend, top your go-to denim skinnies with a vintage rocker tee and off the look with pointy-toe boots and layered pendant necklaces.”
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