70’S PUNK

The only punks you see today are on the stage at Butlins…

The 360-campaign component of Brand Me taught me a lot about myself and how I typically conform to the simplicities around me until finding my feet and urging the inner creative boundaries to be challenged. The Punk era was an element I stumbled across during these studies and I am interested in extending my findings further to fathom the notions behind the subculture as well as how designers have implemented it within their collections as a contemporary method of telling stories.

I discerned a similarity between the 1970’s and society today, typically from a youth viewpoint. Amongst heightened political corruption, economic downfall, and social restriction, there was a country falling to its knees, as it is presently in the UK. Europe was brimming with high unemployment statistics, ongoing strikes, increasing energy prices and a generation of juveniles fearing the future ahead of them.

The Punks reflected this cohort, echoing the decline in culture through fashion, music, and arts. Administered by the Sex Pistols, the multifaceted group of youngsters paved the way for a reaction. A voice which screamed rejection and stirred anarchy. Their movement dictated the 70’s, driving media channels crazy and sending shockwaves through the ‘Silent Generation’ of adults, corrupting an, already, broken system and dismantling its rulebook entirely.

There is much more to punk than what is documented and publicised. Personally, I think the media spotlights the overall conventional ‘essence’ of punk like the hairstyles, drugs, and drinking. However, there is a greater creativity to the scene than the “yobs” the youth were titled as. Despite its rough n ready demeanour, it embarked a new scope on fashion, something which bubbled up into designers’ collections and remains to exist as influence today.

I have found a great appreciation for the punks both within this project and the 360 campaign, especially how they utilised their economical class associations as a staple for voice and change.

Lower minorities are often looked down upon and theories such as trickle down home in on this as they were established to advance the societal status of the wealthy who had the money to influence fashion trends. These trends would filter down to mainstream fashion and provide cheaper alternatives to accommodate those who wished to emulate their status.

The punks disseminated this theory and opted for a do-it-yourself style whereby an anti-consumerism approach was taken through customisation of pre-used garments.

I have great admiration for this and their retaliation to society regarding its stereotypical connotations to defining class as categories. The Punks embraced their street upbringing and wrapped this in a unique creativity to devise decorative garments. Such pieces like leather jackets were revitalised through studs, defacing prints, chains, and slogans and proved to be iconic in challenging the idea that fashion had to be perfect. Again, an area I really want to push in my concepts.

The bubble up theory, coined by George Field in 1970, is something I feel passionate about in relation to the punks. I congratulate how the small British ‘underclass’ minority established garments which are translated throughout fashion collections today and are adopted by higher classes, whilst presenting society with a past historical reference.

But I can’t help but have a deep frustration for how wrongly these classes were deceived previously and now their innovative natures are being commodified and “a gratuitous part of mainstream fashion trends” (Summers, n.d). Within my studies I found an image *FIGURE * of Kim Kardashian wearing a stud coated leather jacket. I believe such items have been scouted for their recognisable silhouette but removed of their uniqueness and purpose.

What frustrates me further is that their purpose today is contradictory to what the punks designed them for – anti capitalism.

I completely agree with the statement “Punks bubble up into designer fashion ignores the prejudices that punks had to face in order to express their opinion in a regimented society” (SchmidtRees, 2019) and believe it truly accentuates the problems with cultural appropriation in societal circumstance currently. The recreations of punk garments have immortalised the origins it came from.

I am determined to relive these origins yet bubble them up within a brand collaboration which will appreciate its founding’s fondly.