Filthy Dripped Art Couture | Punk | Urban | 80’s | Hip Hop | Clothing | Street Wear
Fashion is one of the things that allows you to instantly recognize a cultural group, and there are few places where it is more apparent than in an urban setting. Streetwear is a general term for any kind of fashion developed in an urban setting, instead of in some fashion design room. There are many kinds of streetwear, including retro, punk, and hip-hop, and that’s only counting a few styles.
Looking abroad you can find clothes inspired by anime, video games, music, and the urban setting it’s self. The key to developing a good look in an urban setting is observing the people around you, and then taking a look and customizing it for yourself. Urban wear is typically put together from a wide variety of sources, but since it has caught on in the last decade, you can find stores that serve as urban outfitters, and really give you a wide range of stuff to pick from in one place.
That said, if you are looking for a cool look without spending a load of cash, mixing and matching is still your best bet. Traditional urban street wear evolved from the Inner city in large cities like New York. Common aspects of traditional street wear include sneakers, baggy jeans, and darker colors. This is a great look if you live in an East Coast city and want to blend in to an inner city crowd, however the idea of street wear has evolved out into a lot of different places and ideas, and the label can be applied to a wide variety of fashions.
Hip hop fashion, as developed in the 80s, is one type of urban clothing, often times confused with traditional street wear, however urban outfitters often sell this kind of clothing, such is and example of the kind of overarching idea of street wear, which not longer applies to the sneakers and jeans style of inner city New York. Urban clothing has built up within American cities as well as abroad. In places like Japan, there is a whole different kind of street wear. Anime costumes and video game clothing are common in Tokyo, and much of Japan’s youth is infatuated with this sort of fashion. Places like London, England have also developed and unique style, with brighter colors and stark contrasts.
So make sure you know just what you are referring to when you talk about street wear, as some may assume you are talking about the traditional idea. Urban wear has been influenced strongly by the attitude and art found in the cities that it has developed in. In places like New York and Detroit, you will find Urban wear that draws heavily from graffiti art as a source of inspiration. On the west coast, hip hop can be cited as a major influence of fashion, and as stated earlier, Japan has games and anime to thank for much of it’s urban fashion. Street wear is a broad ideal, and a worldwide trend.
Early Punk Fashion
Punk fashion is one of the styles of streetwear that got it’s start in the 1970s. The style has evolved over many years of refinement and change, and is quite different from what it was originally, yet it still retains some of it’s roots. Originally, punk fashion was supposed to be aggressive, confrontational, and shocking. It was the style of rebels, and this was an ideal that has prevailed through punk’s history.
Early punk clothing was designed by Vivienne Westwood, and Malcolm McLaren, and was also inspired by such punk icons as the Ramones, Richard Hell, and the Bromley Contingent. Offensive imagery was important in early punk clothing, with images and phrases placed on clothing that was designed to catch eyes and scare people. Anarchy symbols, fake blood, and inverted crucifixes could be found on clothes in stores like SEX, and early punk clothing store. Often times, punk clothing was intentionally torn, a trend that continues into today, and covered in patches. Another early style was wearing leather rocker jackets and special blazers, patched and customized by the individual. Blazers are still a large part of the punk scene. The inclusion of blazers and the dress shirts that were also common shows that the punk scene was something that was, in it’s essence, a counter culture movement, and these clothes show that.
When it came to foot wear, people wore motorcycle boots, Chuck Taylor All-Stars, and other kinds of boots. Pants were often tight, and often leather, though tight jeans were very common aspects of punk apparel. Hair styles were messy intentionally, and styles like liberty spikes and mohawks were very common. Unfortunately, symbols found on early punk clothing were often racist, such as iron crosses or swastikas, this, however, changed in the mid 70s with Rock Against Racism, a campaign to eliminate racism among the rock and punk cultures. Luckily, the campaign succeeded, and to this day, punk culture is decidedly anti-facist, and anti racist, often containing things like crossed out swastikas in modern punk outfits.
Among women, early punk style could include ripped fishnet stockings, leather, and a large amount of facial piercings, something that men also sported. Also, punks who were women often sported feminine clothing mixed with masculine items, such as tutus and blazers or boots. There were also a large percentage of vegetarian and vegan punks, who did not wear fur and leather due to animal rights reasons. Punk clothing also saw the use of items like safety pins and tape to hold together clothing that had been torn and ripped on purpose, and even saw items like garbage bags being used as clothing.
All of these things moved towards the idea that punks were not normal, and they did not want to be. Also, none of these fashion items would have stuck around if not for the punk culture being supported by the vibrant music scene which fed it originally. Today, punk has changed a lot, but is also very similar, in many ways, to the punk designs of the 70s.