I have a long history of trying out alternative clothing, not content to follow the fashion police tribe, and their denim jeans and cargo pants. It’s not hard to understand then, how this once rebellious fashion trend, popularised by “hard core” punk bands of the 70’s and early 80’s, has grown in popularity.
Alternative punk fashion was the dress code of a music influenced urban punk subculture and was then considered rebellious and confrontational, a far cry from contemporary brands such as Addict an Iron Fist. A far cry from the days when punks and later Goths, bought their clothes from charity shops and thrift stores and wrote their slogans with a marker pen.
Vivienne Westwood, inspired by the punk phenomena, and using the influence to this day, of controversial images, patches, studded or plain leather jackets and tartan designs in her runway shows.
These were traditional of the punk style and remain prevalent today, although the torn t-shirt and safety pin has taken a backseat. Bondage clothing, tapered jeans, and well worn, almost destroyed, leather trousers dominated the punk clothing scene as well.
Footwear for the alternative clothing scene embraced a selection of styles ranging from motorcycle boots (complete with buckles and steel toe caps) to combat boots and Doc. Martens.
With the advent of contemporary punk fashion there are various contemporary elements of style watered down from hardcore punk clothing, this type of fashion consists of jeans, ripped and customised, usually from top designers at top prices, or camos a hoodie, and a simple, screen printed, t-shirt with a flavour of rebellious anarchy.
The punk fashion scene since the advent of the original look in the 1970's, has evolved into the mainstream, for better or worse, and since then clothing stores and even fashion designers have taken punk fashion to an entirely new level. It's easy to see that this once controversial, rebellious fashion has now grown into a very popular style of dress.
