A Brief Look on The Influences of Punk and Grunge Rock Fashion

 In the mid 1970s in London, punk was the battle cry of many working class teenagers.  The look was about rebellion, non-conformity, and aggression, which explain the often destroyed and tattered looks that the kids then loved.  They deliberately cut up fabrics, and refashioned outfits in a manner that was then considered crude construction technique such as using safety pins to hold it together.  Clothing included black leather jackets, studded jeans, and T-shirts printed with vulgar messages.  For a group that was supposedly anti-fashion, they had little idea that they were actually creating one of the biggest and the most influential trends of the century. 

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Punk

Youth culture in the 70s London propelled punk, a look that was provocative, anti-establishment, into mainstream.  New wave punk burrows from the London look, but is devoid of any form of class struggle.  It is merely a theatrical interpretation appropriated by rock stars and their groupies.

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Blondie, The Sex Pistols, and The Cure are just some of the bands that embraced the culture and the fashion.  Their on-stage outfits – drain pipe jeans, scruffy tees, leather and chains – were a reflection of the times and the music.  It was said that these bands weren’t even thinking of their image, or what they wore.  They simply put on what was comfortable.  But being the big acts that they were, fans imitated their style, and rock stars for years to come made this their uniform.

Grunge

In the 90s, then unknown designer Marc Jacobs showed oversized shirts, baggy pants, and Doc Martens for preppy American brand Perry Ellis.  Suffice to say it didn’t garner rave reviews and cost him his job.  Today, he is one of the most respected and most imitated designers, with a philosophy that always works: mixing playfulness with high fashion such as his collaboration with graphic artist Stephen Sprouse, who printed graffiti over the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram.

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Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love were the voice of the new generation and their dressed down style rebelled directly against the conspicuous consumption of the 80s.