Anti-Fashion: The Makings of Punk Style in the UK by Seamus Brady

anti-

FASHION:

the makings of Punk Style in the

Introduction

Safety Pins

Better Badges

Symbology

Vivienne Westwood & Malcolm McLaren

Footwear

Is Punk Fashion Still Punk Today?

INTRODUCTION With a society still revelling in the sparkle and glamour of psycedelia and disco, punk rock came along to retaliate against the mainstream. In the mid-70s, while the Ramones started up in New York, now-iconic bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned were and gaining notoriety in the London punk scene. The music appealed to the youth of the 1970s that wanted to reject traditional standards of beauty and comformity, capitalism, consumerism, and authority, while also fighting for the rights of marginalised groups. Quickly, the subculture grew from that of a few hundred outlawed youths in Camden, to a movement that eminated throughout all of England, and continues to impact modern tastes and trends. Although short-lived in its purest form, the punk rock style and spirit made an enormous impact on society. Throughout the 70s and 80s, punk developed many codes, including a clothing aesthetic that is arguably more influential than the genre’s

music. DIY screen-printing and customising jackets by hand became symbols of rebellious teens all across the United Kingdom and United States. Punk rock and its visual cues have only increased in their relevance in recent decades by capturing more than an image: punk’s spirit of anti-establishment, anti-politician, anti-fashion and anti-anythingpopular is felt by every subsequent generation at some stage in their lives. It was a genre defined by self-expression: mohawks, bondage wear, safety pins, torn up t-shirts, skinny jeans and leather jackets shocked the older generations at the time. Since then, however, many of the identifiable codes of a once underground subculture have been plundered for use in mainstream design. Graphic t-shirts are more popular than ever, and plenty of streetwear brands have risen to prominence with punk-inspired designs; safety pins are still used as decorations, often times by the large fashion houses that the genre originally repelled from; distressing has become a fixture of the clothing industry; and punk’s footwear

staples, Converse and Dr. Martens remain in fashion through various designer collaborations. But the fashion of the punk movement varied wildly even before it was commercially appropriated. While British punks started to dye their hair in vibrant shades and wear huge t-shirt graphics and plaid trousers, the New York scene opted for more toned-down aesthetics, going for all-black everything as American hardcore punk emerged in the mid80s. There was anarcho-punk, crust punk, garage punk, glam punk, hardcore, street punk, ska punk, pop punk and grunge, to name a few. The thread that held all of these genres together was the punk spirit of rebelling against established authority, but visually the connection can be hard to identify. DIY designing with patches or safety pins is often a feature, and graphic tees are a staple of punk as much as they are of today’s wardrobes. This book explores the clashing concepts of fashion and anti-fashion primarily in the British punk scene of the 70s and 80s, and whether or not ‘fashion’ and ‘anti-fashion’ are terms that can even sit alongside

one another. A fierce subcultural pushback against all things pretty and popular, ending up as one of the most enduring and influential styles of the last century in the UK, US and further reaches of the globe. Often utilitarian additions to designs become trends, and trends become fashion. The ever-changing store owned by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren was a cornerstone of punk from its first days in England, and now the brand is an established fashion house with a global fanbase, as well as being an attendee of Paris Fashion Week alongside brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci. Is this the punk spirit? As a genre based on ideas and philosophy, can punk be categorised into a look? When most people hear the word ‘punk’, an immediate and vivid image will come to mind, whether it’s a band member or a generically pale and skinny person with bright hair, drowned in leather. As worded by Stewart Hodgson in an article for Fabrik, “In a sense, punk was and is a chameleon that changes to suit the needs of anyone who embraces it. There’s no single definition, yet we do have ideas of images that are inherently punk.”

“It’s true the punk fashion itself was iconographic:

rips and dirt, safety pins, zips, slogans, and hairstyles. These motifs were so iconic in themselves...

motifs of rebellion.”

Vivienne Westwood 9

SAFETY PINS A ‘motif of rebellion’ is a perfect description of what the safety pin became to punks. The origin of its inclusion in punk attire is debated, but its rise to prominence in the UK can be pinpointed as the music video for the Sex Pistols’ single ‘God Save The Queen’ was released, featuring Johnny Rotten in a t-shirt held together by safety pins, along with the infamous cover art designed by Jamie Reid. Once the safety pin was an established symbol of punk fashion, it became an easily applicable shortcut to reference this era without any other visible connections to the scene. Ever since the style was first born, all it has taken is one strategically placed safety pin on a garment for it to immediately carry a countercultural, rebellious tone.

Artwork by

Jamie Reid for the

Sex Pistols Clothing by

Vivienne Westwood

FIG.1

Once the safety pin had been established as one of punk rock’s clothing codes, it was adopted also as an accessory for easy DIY piercings (fig.1). Ear piercings were obviously the most common, however the desired shock value led to many punks piercing their lips, cheeks and septums with safety pins too. Although it may not turn so many heads nowadays, in the 1970s these fashions which many categorised as body mutilation were extremely niche, and yet to be accepted by more mainstream tastemakers. For punks, it was an easy way to socially identify themselves, while also offending or abhorring elders. As the subculture 16

P I N S & B A D FIG.2

G E S

evolved, piercings became more exaggerated and avant-garde (fig.2), reflecting punk’s rejection of traditional beauty in favour of abrasive new styles. Long, bulky chains such as the one pictured in fig.2 were often not jewelry chains originally, but more like safety pins: a household object converted into something controversial and wearable.

The appeal of the safety pin was multi-faceted: on a practical level, pins would hold together the t-shirts that they purposely tore apart into ugly, distressed silhouettes, and this is often cited as the origin of the safety pin’s existence in the culture. However, it’s prevalence and popularity should also be credited to its aesthetic appeal. Being a standard household item made of sharp metal, the safety pin became an easy accessory for anyone to thread through their clothes to demonstrate their allegiance. Pins were also employed to attach button badges and patches, generally to the backs or lapels of leather jackets and blazers. In true punk spirit, it was a cost-effective DIY method to transform an existing garment into something new and expressive.

BETTER BADGES Button badges are one of punk rock’s cornerstones. The simple format that could be attached to any article of clothing, displaying any band logo or offensive symbol they wanted, made them the ideal accessory for the wildly expressive subculture. Founded in 1976 in London by Joly MacFie, Better Badges, through its simple but eye-catching designs and guerilla marketing, quickly ascended to be the leading publisher of punk badges in the world. By the early 1980s, they were working with many of the genre’s biggest names, including Adam and the Ants and The Slits. I spoke with Joly about Better Badges and the impact it had on the punk scene.

Hi Joly! I’m working on a project for university regarding punk fashion. It’d be an honour to hear anything you’ve got to say about your work. With the badges, I took pains to make them work as a medium rather than a fashion accessory. They certainly are an art form in themselves. Why do you think they resonated so much with the punk rock fans? Social medium. It was the birth of P2P (peer to peer). Do you think there was anything in particular that defined a great badge design for you? Or was it very much case to case, depending on the band or artist you were working with at the time? Although I did work with bands, and to a lesser extent labels, primarily the badges were for fans, to empower them to be more than passive consumers - active cultural participants. I saw it as a medium, rather than merchandise or accessory. 21

What was the design process like for Better Badges? Were they from your own artistic background, or were they more informed by the trends and current bands of the time? The design process was very much driven by the weekly stall at (band manager) John Curd’s shows, first at the Roundhouse, then the Electric Ballroom, and then the Lyceum. It was very last minute, and many designs made up on the spur of the moment became classics. Generally, as far as design goes, less was more. One thing that made Better Badges stand apart from its competitors was the emphasis on simple iconography, and, to begin with, rough texture. Though that did improve with time! You mentioned badges being one of the first social mediums. I’m interested in hearing any other ways that punk rockers and fans of the genre were able to participate through your work.

Designs submitted by fans for our DIY service, sometimes got adopted as a line, and even attained ‘official’ status. ‘I’m a Lazy Sod’ and ‘Clash City Rockers’ both came that route. My favourite DIY, I guess ‘DRUG USERS AGAINST NAZIS’ with what looked to be deteriorating brain cells.

SYMBOLOGY Graphic t-shirts became increasingly popular throughout the 60s and 70s, for a few reasons. Firstly, new screen-print technology made them easier to make than ever, and the desire for garments allowing more obvious symbols of self-expression such as slogans and illustrations were perfect. They also became popular merchandising tools, quickly becoming many underground artists’ largest revenue streams. When punk rock came along with its bold Dada-esque designs and customisation culture, having simple, distinctive, codified icons became integral. Most punk logos were devised as basic shapes and forms that could be painted by fans onto leather jackets as easily as they could be printed onto tees. This concept was carried throughout generations of punk, from the Sex Pistols’ ransom lettering, to Black Flag’s iconic four line logo, and in the 90s, Nirvana’s X-eyed smiley. These designs were integral advertising for punk bands, especially those without any official marketing to support them, relying instead on word-of-mouth for their growth, 30

which came to include patches and prints that could be easily identified on garments and posters. As well as birthing some of music’s most iconic logos, punk rock often plucked ideas from history to reinterpret or reclaim: the anarchist ‘A’ symbol, and far more controversially, the Nazi swastika. While band logos helped punks categorise themselves only within their scene, these symbols were also understood - and generally hated - by the rest of society. Whether politically or emotionally motivated, the use of these in punk is as widespread as any musically originated design. As punk evolved, matured, and eventually was gentrified, the use of the swastika essentially halted, and for good reason. The adoption of simple, accessible processes like hand painting and screen printing, the clothing much like the pins and badges - became a powerful tool for punks to engage with the culture and project their attitudes into society.

The capital A enclosed in a circle is a development from the writing of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Although the origin of the icon is still open for debate, many historians of anarchism have chosen to interpret the circle as a capital O, representing ‘order’ or ‘organisation’, based around a phrase from Proudhon, “as man seeks justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy”. The symbol was adopted early by punks who, despite many not truly prescribing to anarchist ideologies, associated with the antiestablishment message that it projected. The concept became widespread through the punk scene due to the Sex Pistols’ single ‘Anarchy In The UK’, followed by the rise of specific anarcho-punk bands such as Crass and Subhumans. Along with the music, the graphics of anarchist designer Jamie Reid left a huge impression on the scene, essentially defining the aesthetic of punk in the eyes of future generations. As a result, the symbol pictured above was emblazoned onto garments all over the UK in various forms for the best part of a decade while punk was thriving. 33

Y M B O L O G Y

S Y M B O L O G Y

THE ART O

LEATHER 36

S Y M B O L O G Y

R JACKETS 37

As many will know, leather jackets are one of the movement’s most important statement pieces of clothing. The large, empty black canvas it provided was perfect for punks to emblazon their own symbols, whether that was a band logo, a political or personal manifesto, or simply a slogan to shock and offend the general public.

Y M B O L O G Y

In this way, the leather jacket was more than just a piece for style. It was a method of communicating your personality and your ideology through punk’s DIY ethos. The opportunity to proclaim anything you wanted through this medium allowed punks unlimited creativity to express themselves. There were many other ways that these jackets were customised beyond the hand-painted designs. One of the most iconic motifs of punk’s leather jacket obsession is the metal studs that were often sewn all over them. As well as providing an instantly rebellious touch to the clothes, inspired by 50s biker gangs, the studs were a way of symbolising danger. In the 1970s and even still today, most people would not want to approach someone wearing a black leather jacket covered top to bottom in large metal studs. 39

S Y M B O L O G Y

In his book England’s Dreaming, about the history of punk music, Jon Savage talked to Siouxsie of Siouxsie and the Banshees about her use of the swastika in her wardrobe:

We’ve got to talk about the swastika at some point... It was always very much an anti-mumsand-dads thing. We hated older people. Not across the board, but generally the suburban thing, always harping on about Hitler, and, ‘We showed him,’ and that smug pride. It was a way of saying, ‘Well, I think Hitler was very good, actually’; a way of watching someone like that go completely red-faced. We made our own swastikas. So was it just something that had to come up in English society? Maybe. I think everyone who used that image, there was that film, The Damned, and everyone who saw it thought it looked great. There was nothing coming out

S Y M B O

about what went on in concentration camps - and probably we would have been the first people to be persecuted if that was to happen again, but it was a way of getting back at the older generation that we hated. When did you become aware that there was something more? Did you get into arguments about it? No, I became aware when skinheads latched on to it, and took it quite seriously, and it was used politically, and started talking about race, and I thought, whaat? Hang about, you know. I’m completely the opposite in my views on race. I liked the look of it, the colours, red, white and black, that’s why. Then it became an issue, and I thought, fuck off. No way.

L O G Y

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD & MALCOLM McLAREN In 1971, Vivienne Westwood and her partner Malcolm McLaren opened a boutique store at 430 Kings Road, Chelsea, named Let It Rock. The store sold clothing designed by McLaren, made by Westwood, and inspired by the styles of 1950s rock and roll and the Teddy Boy trend - a style of neo-Edwardian tailoring that became popular with teenagers after the Second World War. As the couple’s interests changed, the store went through a variety of identities: from Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die, selling biker gear; SEX, which focused on bondage and fetish wear, with the slogan, ‘rubberwear for the office’; and Seditionaries, which took elements of SEX and transformed them into a new and provocative clothing aesthetic that would go on to define British punk rock. McLaren had strong links with the punk scene from its incepciton, managing the New York Dolls in the US before returning to the UK to manage the Sex Pistols (who were named in part after the store). The band’s

frontman Sid Vicious and bassist Glen Matlock both worked there as shop assistants, and so naturally went on to regularly wear pieces from Seditionaries throughout their meteoric rise to fame. The location of the store led to Kings Road becoming the regular hangout of London’s punks. Soon after, other boutiques and stalls began popping up around the area, inspired by the success and popularity of Westwood’s clothing.

The storefront of SEX. The unmissable sign, covered in pink rubber perfectly presented the aesthetic and intention of Westwood and McLaren. The woman in this photograph is Jordan, an early model for the brand that established herself has one of the faces of punk rock in the UK.

OW N C AM DEN T

ACME ATTRACTIONS

SEX / LET IT ROCK 430 KINGS ROAD

BEAUFORT MARKET

SEX / LET IT ROCK This is the flagship store of Vivienne Westwood. Now named World’s End, it was the central hub of London and England’s punk rock scene.

Due to its proximity with other shops, it rapidly became a punk-dominated market, selling often homemade imitations of the products available at SEX and Acme.

ACME ATTRACTIONS Inspired by Let It Rock, this boutique sold a wide range of antiques, from suits to jukeboxes to furniture, and a hangout for punks and reggae artists. Seeing the success of SEX’s endeavour into punk rock, Acme Attractions was shut down, and reopened as BOY.

CAMDEN TOWN Cited by many as the birthplace of punk, Camden remains a bustling world of subcultures. In the early 70s, the Roundhouse theatre hosted gigs for some of the genre’s biggest acts, including The Stranglers, The Damned and The Buzzcocks, as well as Talking Heads, Mötorhead and the Ramones from overseas. It also had its own, wider array of stalls in its insular community, similar to those in Beaufort Market.

BEAUFORT MARKET An open area full of independent stalls selling garments and accessories.

“Having a shop was a bit like having your own playground and you could do what the fuck you liked, and that was the whole trip. It was not just a shop for the sake of it, the clothes were not just clothes for the sake of clothes, they were clothes that you used to express your ideas and you created the environment, the shop, the music and everything that went with it. It was your place, your scene. The clothing I designed was not to be really treated as clothing, they were really ideas, a fustrated painter, not a very good painter, but not bad at making a T-shirt, and getting those visceral images happening, and creating havoc. That was my greatest talent, creating havoc!

All the designs are not based on form very much. They are all about taking a schoolboy’s shirt, and deconstructing it, and throwing paint all over it, and painting slogans on it, and re-working old t-shirts and putting your own imagery on them. We messed around with imagery that basically was provocative, and more often than not, to do with sex, and if it wasn’t to do with sex it was to do with politics, and thats where the word ‘Anarchy’ comes in and where the ‘nude cowboys’ came in, and so on and so on. It was just imagery that hopefully wouldn’t appear polite, because the last thing you wanted to do in my shop was to look polite!” Malcolm McLaren

S Y M B O L

A large part of punk rock’s attitude - as well as it’s continued appeal - is it’s desire to provoke and offend, by any means necessary. This was arguably taken to its most extreme length when UK punks started donning the swastika on a variety of garments. One of Vivienne Westwood’s most iconic graphics, the ‘Destroy’ t-shirt (pictured), features an upside-down crucifix printed over a huge swastika and an image of the Queen on a stamp. Sid Vicious was often seen sporting one on a leather jacket, and Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees wore a swastika arm band to many a gig.

O G Y

S Y

Vivienne Westwood is often referred to as “the mother of punk”, for the influence her designs had on the culture from the very beginning.

M B O L O

Her graphic t-shirts were highly soughtafter, especially after being religiously worn by the Sex Pistols. Hand-printed graphics featuring bold anti-establishment symbols resonated with an audience who showed no respect for their elders nor society as a whole. But nowadays, many of the t-shirts from this era of Vivienne Westwood are coveted by collectors and streetwear enthusiasts, who view the designs with great nostalgia for a time they may not have even been there to experience, knowing that such designs will never be reproduced. They mainly serve as a trophy to showcase esoteric knowledge; a piece of punk history for something for those in the know to nod their heads at.

G Y

S Y M B

The title of this collection, Seditionaries, defines someone who promotes rebellion against the the government of monarchy. Not only were there plenty of anti-authoritarian symbols throughout, but Vivienne Westwood and the punk movement’s anarchistic ideologies targeted large corporations like Disney, as shown through the dark and nihilistic graphics printed onto these plain white t-shirts. Beyond simply abhorring the older generations, these designs were showcasing the grittier side of life that was a reality for many British punks: tough, working class men and women fighting against the awful social conditions they were stuck in. Using Disney figures was a way to make clear: nothing is pure.

O L O G Y

S Y M B

Vivienne Westwood is often referred to as “the mother of punk”, for the influence her designs had on the culture from the very beginning. Her graphic t-shirts were highly sought-after, especially after being religiously worn by the Sex Pistols, among other notable figureheads. Hand-printed, and featuring very bold anti-establishment symbols that resonated with an audience who showed no respect for their elders nor society as a whole. All the t-shirts of Vivienne’s ‘Seditionaries’ collection were hugely popular items, and their use of provocative and generally distasteful imagery made them more appealing to the punk market.

O L O G Y

“Vivienne and Malcolm use clothes to shock, irritate and provoke a reaction but also to inspire change. Mohair jumpers, knitted on big needles, so loosely that you can see all the way through them, T-shirts slashed and written on by hand, seams and labels on the outside, showing the construction of the piece; these attitudes are reflected in the music we make. It’s OK to not be perfect, to show the workings of your life and your mind in your songs and your clothes.” Viv Albertine, The Slits

FOOTWEAR The footwear of an outfit is often seen as the defining feature; it’s the anchor of any structured aesthetic, and for punk this was no different. As the genre rose up, the desire for visual signifiers grew within punk culture. Simply put, people wanted to be able to easily distinguish who and what you were. Pin badges were an extremely blatant way to pledge certain allegiances, and to represent yourself visually, but footwear also made a huge impact on the scene. From the iconic Dr. Marten boots, to the American classic sneaker the Converse Chuck Taylor, and the understated British elegance of George Cox’s brothel creepers, certain shoe models have now been tied up irreversably with punk rock thanks to their being worn by some of its most prominent figures, including the Ramones in New York, the Sex Pistols in London, as well as Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren themselves.

DR. MARTENS Well known as the defining footwear of punk rock, Dr. Martens were originally developed in 1947 by Dr. Klaus Märtens, as a more comfortable alternative to his standard issue German army boots. They eventually made their way to Britain in the 1960s, where mods and skinheads adopted them into their wardrobes. The utilitarianism of the 8-eyelet boot led to them becoming a staple of many subcultural wardrobes, including punk. This was probably due to many early punk rockers, such as Paul Simonon of The Clash, being skinheads in their youth, where their love of the boots began. High-quality leather construction and a heavy sole made Dr. Martens the perfect footwear to roam the city streets all day, and stomp feet in mosh pits at night. Although a great protector of one’s own feet, Dr. Martens have often lead to others on the dance floor ending the night with broken toes. There’s also stories of various artists stage-diving in crowded rooms, just to hit one of the audience boots-first onto the ground, which is where the boot came into its secondary use.

Patent (glossy) leather

F O O T W E A

Steel toes

Yellow stitching

Among some of punk rock’s more violent members, the steel toe-capped versions of the Dr. Martens boots became weaponised. The Slits guitarist Viv Albertine said of Sid Vicious: “He got me into so many fights, he was the reason I started wearing Dr. Martens”.

Sometimes, punks would even cut the leather off from the toes of their Dr. Martens just to expose the steel caps, like a warning sign on the front of their boots.

CONVERSE The ‘Chuck Taylor’ model was already one of the most successful shoes in the world; they were crowned the official shoe of the Olympics in 1936 for over 30 years, and they were commonly used by the US Army for physical drills. By 1960, 90% of all American collegiate basketball teams wore Converse. The light canvas and high-top heel support made them ideal for athletics, which are the same characteristics that made it work so well for punk rockers’ daily uniforms. Starting with the Ramones in New York City, the Converse trend quickly made its way over to England, being worn by every big name on the punk scene, including Joe Strummer, Sid Vicious and Vivienne Westwood. Despite Converse’s huge mainstream success, it was seen as a natural fit for punks who wanted to bolster their ragged outfits with shoes that were typically kept for athletic wear and not worn out on the streets. Converse then have always occupied a strange space in the culture, maintaining status as both a pop culture icon, and a subcultural staple.

Ankle support

F O O

Rubber toecap 8 eyelets

T W E A R

Lightweight sole

Joe Strummer of The Clash, photographed in Converse Chuck Taylors.

GEORGE COX A few years after he bought his first pair of Creepers, Malcom McLaren and his partner Vivienne Westwood bought a handful of George Cox models and started selling them in their store SEX. From then, the Creeper exploded in popularity, being worn by the most important names in the UK punk scene. A large part of the shoe’s success would have been due to SEX and McLaren’s incredible influence in the punk world, but another important element was the luxurious and more crucially - British craftsmanship of George Cox. Since their explosion in popularity since the punk movement, George Cox has remade their Creeper model in collaboration with a variety of prominent fashion brands, including Comme Des Garçons (pictured) and Midnight Studios, both of which have drawn significant inspiration from the genre in the past, with the latter also collaborating with the Sex Pistols on a collection.

F O O

Made of suede or polished leather

T W E A R

Crepe (light rubber) sole

F O O T W E A R

“My pair of George Cox creepers were probably the most important things I ever bought. They made a statement about what everyone else was wearing and thinking. To wear those shoes was a symbolic act.” Malcolm McLaren

IS PUNK FASHION STILL PUNK TODAY? Despite its relatively short lifespan in its purest, most condensed and impactful form, punk rock has made massive waves in underground and mainstream subcultural fashions. The incomparable style of the era, with outrageous - and nowadays, unthinkable graphics, as well as the ground-breaking exploration of sexuality and taboo via clothing, has made it a seemingly bottomless well of inspiration for modern trends. Vivienne Westwood’s brand continued to grow its reputation in the UK, with her designs becoming inspired by various historical periods and references as the original punk scene faded out. Although punk was no longer thriving in the same way, the aesthetic ideas began traversing the globe to continue impacting style elsewhere. When it first emerged, punk rock shocked an abhorred the public. Britain, still in the swing of 1960s hippy culture, wasn’t prepared for hordes of

teenagers shaving their heads, donning bondage clothing and t-shirts printed with blasphemous imagery, blasting fast-paced, incendiary rock music. It was a movement unlike anything conventional society had seen before, and in many ways the defining era of youth culture. While punks are still present today, the aesthetic and political messages are often diluted, with the lack of current relevance making it increasingly difficult to gain any foothold in public outrage. With society’s generally increasing acceptance of contemporary outsider ideas, the efficacy of wearing a ‘God Save The Queen’ t-shirt or painted leather jacket has been greatly diminished (although the swastika is likely to generate as many infuriated reactions than ever). As a result, modern day punks who want to continue the impact that the subculture had in the 70s and 80s must turn to new iconography. One prominent example of this was John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten making headlines when one of the paparazzi photographed him wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ t-shirt from Donald Trump’s presidential merchandise line. Many younger people were shocked

by the photographs - perhaps more aware of punk rock through its visual contributions to culture than musical, or with the idea in their minds of punk rock being a left-wing, libertarian movement - but they would come as no surprise to those who remember the days when Lydon and the Sex Pistols would perform anti-establishment songs in garments stamped with swastikas and other references to Nazi attire. Among the storm that the photos caused on social media, one user perfectly phrased their response: “I can only conclude that people bitterly complaining about how much their former hero John Lydon has angered and upset them have completely missed the point of their former hero John Lydon.”

CREDITS ‘God Save The Queen’ artworks - Jamie Reid Better Badges - Joly MacFie Leather jacket photography - Chris Moorland England’s Dreaming - Jon Savage Vivienne Westwood Vivienne Westwood t-shirt graphics - Silver League Footwear photography - END Clothing

RESEARCH LINKS 1970s Punk Fashion History fashion-era.com Punk Fashion wikipedia.org/punk_fashion Punk Piercings bodycandy.com The Very Best of Vivienne Westwood Google Books Punk Fanzines and the Creation of a DIY Aesthetic web.archive.org Siouxsie Sioux’s Swastika Armband bbc.co.uk It All Began With Richard Hell anothermag.com

Janette Beckman — Raw Punk Streets UK 1979–1982 caferoyalbooks.com Silver League - Vivienne Westwood silver-league.com Sneakers That Defined England’s Punk Scene sneakerfreaker.com Safety Pins: Solidarity or Punk Rock? billboard.co.uk Converse and Punk dazeddigital.com Don Letts: “Jamaican Music Gave British Punk Its Distinct Identity” anothermag.com Punk’s Impact on Fashion and Culture fabrikbrands.com Better Badges Archive instagram.com

Punk Style Book / Sex Pistols Book archive.org 29 Things You Didn’t Know About Punk Fashion complex.com 1970s Punk Fashion History, Vivienne Westwood & Body Piercing fashion-era.com

SEAMUS BRADY