Fashion is in Revolt as The World Turns Dark Around Us
In the early 1970s, Vivienne Westwood and her boyfriend, Malcolm McLaren, made the ultimate anti-fashion statement by introducing punk to the UK. Their King’s Road boutique, SEX, sold fetish-wear and Westwood’s own designs, and was frequented by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie Sioux, and Adam Ant. Over the years, Westwood and McLaren, the Sex Pistol’s manager, collected endless memorabilia from the punk revolution. Last year, on the 40th anniversary of Anarchy In UK Vivienne Westwood and her son Joseph Corre by Malcolm Mclaren, deliberately set blaze to millions ($6 million) of dollars worth of punk memorabilia in protest against music and fashion becoming a ‘marketing tool.’ for major corporations. “Punk has become another marketing tool to sell you something you don’t need. Vivienne addressed the crowd declaring, “I never knew what to say before, ever since punk. We never had a strategy then, that’s why we never got anywhere.” “Punk provided a way out for the “No Future generation.” It was never meant to be about nostalgia”said
Punk in its original form may be dead to Vivienne Westwood, but it was alive and well on the spring 2017 men’s runways. In Paris, Kris Van Assche of Dior Homme based his collection on the punk youth he encountered in Antwerp, but with a modern twist. Van Assche’s rebel punks donned ripped, sleeveless blakc and white checked shirts with suspenders trailing off at the sides over loose black trousers, and purposefully chipped black nail polish.
In Milan, Dsquared2 models wore heavy chains as chokers with a padlock in the front, in addition to lip rings and unconventional platform boots in Milan. The tough accessories were paired with black mesh see through shirts and spotted bleached denim. Red tartan overcoats was another element heavily influenced by Vivienne Weswood’s signature punk look.
Marni put a bondage spin on a tailored men’s suit with extra straps and featured, not one, but two red leather coats that gave off a distinctly punk feel. Her handsome knee length crimson red leather coat was paired with slim black trousers, a skinny tie for a look that appeared down right rebellious. The coats were complemented by red and black lace up brogues that can be worn with any look to add a punk accent.
At Coach 1941, Stuart Vever’s went for a closer semblance of the original punk look culminating in ragged black sweaters embellished with candy skulls worn over shorts embroidered with bottles of poison, dice, and foxes. The look was finished off with heavy black combat boots and matching black leather backpacks. “If you want to understand the potent power of punk then confront taboos and question authority.”
See Xander Zhou’s Fall 2017 show filled with punk trenches and out of this world workwear.
