"You can't be punk, you wear glasses" I love how even very early punk pulled "no, you must conform very hard or else you're not right for us, the self-proclaimed non-conformists". Even back then, the mythology failed to match up to their practices.
Literally all the bands back then did this nonsense to each other. Bernie Rhodes, who managed The Clash, bullied Mick Jones, the guitarist and primary song writer of the band, CONSTANTLY because he refused to cut his hair short and wear the type of clothes punks 'should' wear. It's kind of infuriating for someone as important to the subculture as Mick to be bullied within his own band for not conforming...
Always so hypocritical, really. My dad grew up in one of the major punk scenes and when I started getting into music he had a lot of rules about what was and wasn't acceptable to a punk. "No flood jeans, no disco, no metal, no blah blah blah", just replacing one conformity with another
A punk is an individual who just is. You can be in any outfit and be a punk just by not caving to peer pressure. Hell, you can even be in a suit. When it became an aesthetic, and people communed around it, it became crap. It became about belonging, when the point is to reject things that control you like a need to belong.
Being punk is more than being controversial. It’s more about not giving a damn about conformity and to do what’s right for you and the people you care about
I love showing up to punk shows in bright ass clothes jumping in the mosh with a huge smile on my face the whole time. Fucks with the few hardcore gatekeepers that are always around.
Oooooh... is that what it's "more about"? I would say commenting on a youtube video about what is or is not "punk" is truly what "punk" is about. Guess I'm punk too. Let's all be punks in 2025.
@@SoHungry666 So punks can't have a discussion? Get a grip man you're trying too hard to be "different" and making a fool of yourself. Original comment never implied they were punk either
Punk means nothing, in the same way heavy metal means nothing..these were terms used by critics for a way to describe sounds of music used to sell music!
Everything is punk so nothing is punk and punk remains what it started as: an infantile supervised tantrum which is part of and furthers the agenda of the establishment
Preach. Sticking faithfully to a predetermined fashion style so you can fit in when you go listen to a music style that's been largely unchanged until quite recently just feels like the antithesis of the original movement. I go to shows looking as colourful as I can manage
The the most punk place to buy clothes is a thrift store, but I really do appreciate (some) punk designers and the quality and effort that goes into their garments, I can't afford it, but I don't think that means that it shouldn't exist
I agree with this notion. Punk rock was born out of the working class and poverty stricken that turned to music to express themselves and worked with what they could afford hence why the thrift stores were the havens for punks to buy inexpensive clothes and then DIY them to give them character and style. But there's no denying that some of Vivienne Westwood's designs look pretty cool and still give off that kinda vibe even if it goes against the ethos with the outrageous prices. I think so long as people understand that punk is a music-based scene and that you don't need to buy expensive clothes to be a part of it, I think there's room for both.
Yes to the thrift store! I've also been told that a big part of the look we now see as 'punk' was basically based on things that were available in the thrift stores back then (old army clothes, old working clothes, etc.) that got DIY'd. It might be just my opinion about 'punk clothing', but I think the best punk designers make designs that people in the subculture actually can make/diy themselves, or be inspired by, instead of having to buy it from them. That has at least always been my own outlook at punk designs in fashion.
@@ZwarteKonijn Good and interesting point on why that aesthetic was incorporated. I had assumed myself that military items like boots were used almost ironically or in a paradoxical manner, use the weapons of the oppressor against them..plus let's be honest, military boots for example are physically just tough and look rad. I also assumed the same for bastardizing "yuppy" or posh sort of clothes, to take something absurd and make a mockery of it by taking it from let's say "high" culture and ripping it down. "I am going to take your over priced clothes, tear them up, stain them and dethrone your ideas of being better because of your clothes and their status" feel.
based fr. almost all the "punk"/ alternative clothes i wear is stuff i made myself, from thrift stores and mostly both. i don't buy from "normal" stores anymore (i.e target, h&m, etc...)
its hard for me to imagine anything like punk to truly represent its values in today's world. with the rise of the internet/tiktok everything gets commodified to quickly, i think most people wear clothes that they think look cool and what they see on tiktok and it doesnt go much deeper. which is fine but i do wish everything wasn't removed from context like it is now and people actually understood a bit about what their clothes/subculture represented
But sometimes we have the movies like Terrifier 3 winning over the other clown one with 200 million budget, Joker folie a deux. The most unhinged sadistic silent clown being a fan favorite over the JOKER it will never not be funny to me.
It was commodified even back then, by 1977 there was no ''real'' punk, the scene was already dead, same thing happened to no wave, with musicians in that scene saying that it was dead when "No New York" came out. The only thing the internet did was accelerate this commodification, back in the day you had at least 2-3 years before a scene would be mainstream or commodified, now it's more like 2-3 months.
It represents shit. Punk and all rebellious western subcultures have no deeper meaning. Their rebellion was never their own and their false sense of culture and identity as well. It was all handed down to them by the collective western government. This started with Dadaism which was a failed philosophical movement which was subjugated to be controlled and turned into the abstract art movement of the 50s in America which was directly funded by the CIA and all rebel culture in the west since is a hand of the governments agenda.
I never understand the "non-conformity" argument, I dont necessarily know where it comes from, but an alternative culture is a culture- not all punks dress punk but all punks embody the politics, music, ect. I think that is whats more important. Dress however you want! but if you wear patches and shirts with band logos you will look a little silly if you arent upholding the ideals those bands espouse.
Non conformity in punk was more about not letting fascists tell you what to do but, now, people just use it to say you're not allowed to do anything possibly normal which is stupid and anti-punk. Goths have the same issue rn too,
@skooptywooop1030 as a goth yup, HUGE issue. I love anything "gothic" Goth music, anti conformity, boycotter as much as is realistically possible (and not just for palestine, but because I am anti corporate as a whole), love dark aesthetics, german expressionism, macabre stuff, especially gothic horror literature amd surrealism. Yet some goth gatekeepers will say I don't fit the criteria because I don't dress the way or that I listen to other genres too. Isn't non conformism a part of alternative subcultres lmao. I get when people call out some girl whose only gothic trait is slapping on a black choker and calling herself goth, but this is overboard
@spaghetti5914 Its funny to me because growing up punks and goths listened to their music but we also listened to each others, if we were nerds we probably listened to they might be giants or something, motorhead, it all didnt matter.
@MyNameHousefly the thing about nerds is so real because the only thing I've been listening to the last 3 weeks is london after midnight, cosmo sheldrake and the stupendium, which is an odd mix
@spaghetti5914Zionism is a decolonization movement so yr just another all too common neo nazi, so you’ll fit in just fine with the yt supremacist side that’s once again common in both goth n punk scenes
Punk ain't no religious cult Punk means thinking for yourself You ain't hardcore when you spike your hair When a jock still lives inside your head - DK
I walked away from punk dressing in the 80s when I was in high school and came to the realization it was just another uniform showing conformity to a specific groups ideals. That is the antithesis of what punk was or is. Punk is a mindset not the safety pinned jacket, liberty spikes or the Docs used to identify you as a member of a specific group.
Punk ideologically and philosophically is nothing more than extremist ideas of the people who rule the world financially. So the Punk mindset is nothing to keep as part of your identity. Punk was birthed by the establishment as a tool of it.
This is actually a very good point. From the start, punk has been shown as the opposite of what it's promised to be: a brand and a standard (for example, the bassist of sex pistols being kicked out because he had glasses...)
@SeRSi239 Punk was promised to be a safe outlet for rebellion and decadence and it was. Punk is not based in its branding. It's branding makes it sound deeper than it is.
The worst part is, John, Sid and Steve Jones all had horrible childhoods. Just for Malcolm to take them, give them the promise of fame and that assumedly money would come raking in after they get an album out. He was the absolute definition of a Capitalistic money grubby super establishment specs on this world his band hated so much
What a pleasant discovery while drinking my coffee and thinking about next collection. Being born into occupied country ( Lithuania, one of former ussr republic) my teenage brain was blown away when a friend of mine first played for me a smuggled punk album and a discovery of punk clothes. The diy aspect of it just opened door for me to a true freedom. Excellent dissection of Punk and the work of my beloved designers. Subscribed.
this reminded me of a south park episode with the goth kids: Pete: I'm not doin' it. Being in a dance group is totally conformist. Henrietta: Yeah. I'm not conforming to some dance-off regulations. Firkle: I'm not doin' it either. I'm the biggest nonconformist of all. Michael: I'm such a nonconformist that I'm not going to conform with the rest of you. Okay, I'll do it
The Japanese fashion world's obsession with Vivienne Westwood, the Sex Pistols, and overall punk aesthetics is epitomized in mangaka Ai Yazawa's work (who was a fashion student probably around the same time as the Harajuku punk boom). Her manga, "NANA", features multiple Westwood pieces (and even actually namedrops her) and references the Sex Pistols (namedrops them as well, along with a major character who's heavily inspired by Sid Vicious!). I would highly recommend anyone who loves Westwood and Harajuku to check NANA out
Please warn people that it is a very triggering and sad Manga/Anime. So much that the creator herself took a break from it to focus on happy things...🩷
@@toidIllorTAmIthat's not what happened. She was hospitalized for almost a year and after being discharged stated that even if she wasn't sick anymore she can't work on the manga because staying at a drawing desk and working for hours on end causes her extreme physical pain
this paradox always hauted me in fashion design college. It always exist in the firsts years of course, someone that use Punk as the inspiration and always is someone ripping off vivienne westwood and using plaid but they don't think if they are punk. One time the teacher giving a lecture suggested to a group that they change the theme of the clothe because it was "Punk without meaning" R.I.P Vivienne but she was not punk the entire carrer. I call the phase with Sex boutique the "Punk phase" and the phase with Vivienne Westwood label the "New Romantic phase" she was very influential in both eras and a cutie till her death
There is no contradiction. Punk as well as all scenes and subcultures arrive at the core from finance capitals cultural war on humanity. It was always a part of the establishment. It only fooled you to think it wasn’t.
@@toidIllorTAmI this is completely irrelevant to anything I said. Still Vivienne Westwood was a demon and the world is better off without her. I like high fashion but all houses and names today are evil and follow an evil agenda. People who sperg out over a rare hand crafted piece don't understand how the western fashion landscape is so rotten that they are sperging out over a crumb when in another society we could have the entire loaf.
I like your dad's take on punk. It's not nearly as ideological as some people say, it can honestly be kind of shallow at times. It is what it is, but it's important to show people that they can and should do what they want and pursue creativity.
Another designer that I could say embodies the idea of punk is Alexander McQueen, from the youngest of six children to becoming the epitome of what fashion has to offer not as medium but rather as a bridge between life and death. His coming up age first “professional”runway show literally representing all the atrocities and torture Britain did to Scottish women and how they’ve never been accountable for it. Never afraid of speaking his mind out and letting everyone know how disgust he was with the fashion industry. He may have never did actual punk clothing but he was the living embodiment of “too fast to live, too young to die”. Rip Lee. Great vid though and you’re completely right about punk always being contradictory even to the point that calling yourself “punk” makes you automatically not punk. Like that DC character once said “it’s not about the money…it’s about sending a message.”
I think the interpretation of the burka garments is easy. He was humanising Muslims which is pretty punk for the time. However, he is also critiquing Islam at the same time, which again is punk. It comes from a place of empathy and perhaps it wasn’t clear for him either what his art meant
I totally agree with this and thought the same as a muslim myself who thinks the same way as him!!!!! I am a muslim, yes. However i have so many points in "Islam" that i disagree with and go against sometimes. Mostly just cultural factors that are considired as islam but is actually againts the values of it. In society Muslims are mostly dehumanized as terrorists which is umm??? I also felt the discrimination towards them to my stomach naturally :D I love punk for this, it fights for rotten parts of society and humanity. They are not afraid to point out what everyone is afraid to.
@@yume5162 Yeah, I'm not Muslim myself but think this is probably the difference between plain islamophobia and genuine criticism of oppression within Islamic cultures. It has to come from a place of empathy and understanding that the problem is not that the religion itself is evil or something. Just like with other Abrahamic religions it's powerful men that interpret the teachings to benefit their position of power, and have most influence the way society interprets them.
I enjoy both hardcore punk music and fashion. Obvious contradiction there. I've come to terms with the fact that literally no fashion is "real hardcore", and if you try to be "real hardcore" you can't even buy cloths, so there's a middle ground somewhere.
Hope you can come to terms with that all subcultures and scenes arrive from earlier cultural movements that at their core arrive from an artificial culture funded by the CIA in the late 40 early 50s. This is why all subcultures are western and propagate the agenda of the collective western establishment. There was never a contradiction. Being part of a subculture enslaves your identity and by extension mind and ideologically you become a soldier of western finance capital and London banksters in their cultural war on humanity.
The solution is to realize that ppl fearmonger abt fashion nonstop and that there's literally nothing wrong with dressing to celebrate and show off your subculture. Seeing someone wear something and thinking "damn I could put that on" isn't mindless conformity, it's how taste is formed. I have a long history with DIY hardcore and i make references to it in my outfits, though I've moved to other genres. White belts, emo hair, tight ass striped shirts like Johnny Whitney. Hardcore ABSOLUTELY has fashion history and I engage with it out of love for the genre. After years in the hxc scene hearing people yap on how caring about fashion is a mind disease (while using clothes to signal how much they don't care), Im happy to be in the rap world where nobody gives a shit. The ~punk mentality~ i was around led me to delay a passion of mine for years for fear of being "shallow". All that happened is I had no idea how to dress. Funny enough, a TON of fashion that originated in hardcore lives on thru underground rap more than anywhere.
if you tried to be "real" hardcore, not only would you not be allowed to buy clothes, you'd be living on a property in the middle of nowhere like its 1503.
Punk was always a bag full of contradictions right from day one. Leftist, anti-racist, swastika wearing, anti-fashion, fashionable, creative, destructive, indivistic, tribalistic, conformist, spontaneous, contrived, anti-intellectual, inspired by french intellectuals (Guy Debord et al). One of the main, and maybe its most important, ethos is a DIY attitude whether that be for music, fanzines, or fashion but Vivienne Westwood herself has stated that she hated it when people would make there own punk clothing by ripping up their T-shirts. Vivienne wanted people to buy them from her and Malcolm's shop.
@@aria2aria2 one of the employees at sex, chrissie hynde, allegedly made a tweet about it but i couldn't find it! doesn't appear that vivienne ever said that online or in an interview, but if she did it's coming from chrissie
that's what's so funny about working class fashion, it can be adopted by high fashion but it will never be that because it's a material objective statement
The Electric Eels were the first to wear safety pins in 1975. They were part of the early Ohio punk scene with bands like DEVO, the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu, their drummer Nick Knox went on to join the Cramps.
What a fantastic video. I liked the dissent against the scholarly article’s perception of the use of the burka. The effort to research and develop coherent opinions about a topic is super admirable.
Just showered, got my meal ready, layered myself in my grubby little blankets, and even put the recliner UP. This video was calling my name, and it's so refreshing to see such an in-depth, researched video about something punk related! Keep up the great work man!!! :)
Thank you sooo so much for this video! my boyfriend has always loved punk music and fashion so much and this was such a good way for me to get my head around it in like a combined, omnibus way because I often find the timeline of the development so confusing ! VERY GOOD VIDEO BIG THANK
Depends on.. how much is known about the.. Fashion Punk look.. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood.. creating this fashion look.. to promote their Shop.. even the Bringing together a Boy Band like the Sex Pistols..
Fabulous and incredibly detailed and researched video. Subscribed. My two-bits worth is that I'd say Chelsea wasn't posh back in the 60s/70s. It was considered to be kind of freaky, full of art teachers and retired dancers. (Ironically, nowadays only rich people can afford to do THESE jobs)
Thank you! Banger of a video! I recently heard a commentary RUclipsr say that sincere commentary RUclips is the new punk rock, which while self serving, also carries a lot of truth - your video is true DIY from the heart. Thank you for sharing such a thoroughly researched and beautiful deep dive. ❤
in mid 2000's i used to hangout with the local punk rock people in my hometown since my early teenage years to my early 20's. there was this one guy who played guitar in a band that had already existed since the 90's. if you looked at his face, you could see that he saw some shit. anyway, he once told me "punk is dead because of punk itself". as a teenager i never understood that, then i grew up and see that every rebellious subculture like punk dies because it became solely a trendy fashion. this also happens in other fashion trends like how there are so many men who don't even work blue collar jobs now wear Carhartt as trendy fashion. i once heard someone calls it "podcast guys outfit" and it always makes me laugh. this is also why there's so many rappers these days trying to act tough when they've never even been gang members or even spent years behind bars.
what a fantastic spoken essay, was extremely informative + i loved ur middle-ground opinions n being open 2 interpretation ! extremely well written + also funny i loved it . keep going + making more ! u did gr8 :3
An important thing to note is that punk is a totally flexible movement, especially when we take into consideration that the punk movement practically reaches the entire world (especially leaving aside the fashion issue), which leads to different punk-regional moments, thus having philosophies , fashion, criticisms and totally different worldview, (sorry if the translation is bad, I'm just a Brazilian who loves the punk movement)
ugh, zombie is notorious for being such a twat in camden town. the stories i’ve heard about him is truly unfathomable. his lil “punk” scene are not great people. watch out for zombie folks
such a great video! i love how you seamlessly connect things throughout the discussion and your jokes are engaging too. good job, sadly really underrated content
I expected to hate watch this and found it incredibly well-researched and informative-this is one of the first channels I’ve found that takes fashion history really seriously and isn’t just surface level yapping. if anyone can recommend other current fashion writers or youtubers who are doing this level of analysis I would be so grateful! 💓
I personally really like modern girlz. She‘s not super heavy on the history but I love the way she analyzes fashion styles, I think she has a really good eye. Haute la mode largely does reaction content about high fashion but he has an absolutely enzyclopedic knowledge of anything high fashion. It really helped me understand the scene and industry and why designers do what they do. He is very critical, but naturally this also involves glorifying overpriced brands a bit. I don‘t agree with him on that much, especially taste wise, but it‘s very insightful.
30 foot fall is one of my very favorite punk bands because they so explicitly denounce the aesthetic in so much of their music. entertainment vs. enlightenment
As someone who turned my very broken jeans from my teens into patch/crust pants (they aren't crusty yet but it served my inspo!) I can fully apprechiate the sentiment of a single seam being 90 Euro at 45:40, I'm obviously by no means a steamstress/seamster as these folks are but I really do apprechiate the work and I love the look of my upcycled trousers! This was a brilliant video, thank you for making it :)
this was so insightful. i was sketching along inspired by all the outfits until the paradox part came and it stopped me in my tracks. amazing soothing video
a very very high quality in depth and comprehensive video. has me all fired up to make some video of my own, concerning a topic which interests me. really gained hella insights into the punkk origin and contemporary relevance
There was a 2013 Punk retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. It was the big summer blockbuster exhibition attracting thousands of spectators. Kids, come to terms, dyed hair and plaid slacks is no longer shocking 50 years into it, the same way long hair and beads looks outdated. Oi, oi, oi...vey
the last third of this video essay was soooo good. i think the middle third was a bit long though and was too much filler for what actually needed to be said. great work, keep it up :D
What an excellent video. Love the research put into the Jun SCAB burqa tangent. I grew up muslim and have been in and out of punk scenes and hearing some analysis of this moment is very interesting. I'm not a huge fan of how designers like Takahashi have commodified art movements but it's complex given the origins of the Punk Fashion scene. SCAB is such a juicy moment in fashion history to take apart - a Japanese designer, inspired by the UK's designers foray into a US-originated music/diy scene, makes a fashion line which both commodifies a anti-materialistic Crust punk culture and appropriates the cultural dress of a burqa, and is also at the same time a love letter to the rebellious nature of punk. What a global moment
There are people with highly trained, disciplined voices in the classical sense that I don’t wanna listen to. Always thought Johnny rotten and Axel Rose as being very similar in the respect that they both had strange sounding voices which are almost impossible to duplicate.
Punk is about self expression, so as long as your sense of "self" isn't whatever is popular or trendy only then you're good. Spending a chunk of change on clothes you like isn't a bad thing in my opinion, you just have to make sure you're not buying it because "it's punk, I wanna look punk". I've always wanted a Sherpa denim jacket and just spent like $70-100 on a brand new one, sure I would have jumped at the chance to thrift one in my size but I can justify the cost for my own happiness and warmth.
Nothing but respect for those who make their own. Its all dedication. It doesn’t have to be “official” to be punk. Thats why a misfits bootleg record could be worth so much. DIY ethics and carving your own path IS punk. Running down to the shop to buy a carbon copy of what everyone else is wearing is whack. Make your own, save your money, and be unique.
i’m 12 min in and i just absorbed everything you said like a sponge, i wished i was this way in school, well you’re actually interesting… unlike my lousy teachers.
"You can't be punk, you wear glasses" I love how even very early punk pulled "no, you must conform very hard or else you're not right for us, the self-proclaimed non-conformists". Even back then, the mythology failed to match up to their practices.
Literally all the bands back then did this nonsense to each other. Bernie Rhodes, who managed The Clash, bullied Mick Jones, the guitarist and primary song writer of the band, CONSTANTLY because he refused to cut his hair short and wear the type of clothes punks 'should' wear. It's kind of infuriating for someone as important to the subculture as Mick to be bullied within his own band for not conforming...
Always so hypocritical, really. My dad grew up in one of the major punk scenes and when I started getting into music he had a lot of rules about what was and wasn't acceptable to a punk. "No flood jeans, no disco, no metal, no blah blah blah", just replacing one conformity with another
@@jhawk1229 no metal is crazy 😭
A punk is an individual who just is. You can be in any outfit and be a punk just by not caving to peer pressure. Hell, you can even be in a suit.
When it became an aesthetic, and people communed around it, it became crap. It became about belonging, when the point is to reject things that control you like a need to belong.
People are always ghd problem.
Being punk is more than being controversial. It’s more about not giving a damn about conformity and to do what’s right for you and the people you care about
I love showing up to punk shows in bright ass clothes jumping in the mosh with a huge smile on my face the whole time. Fucks with the few hardcore gatekeepers that are always around.
Oooooh... is that what it's "more about"? I would say commenting on a youtube video about what is or is not "punk" is truly what "punk" is about. Guess I'm punk too. Let's all be punks in 2025.
Yeah not really true. Being punk is not caring about people either. People love to Disney-fy everything to fit their own little cosy aethetic
@@SoHungry666 So punks can't have a discussion? Get a grip man you're trying too hard to be "different" and making a fool of yourself. Original comment never implied they were punk either
Punk means nothing, in the same way heavy metal means nothing..these were terms used by critics for a way to describe sounds of music used to sell music!
If Black Flag and Fugazi can play in trousers and polo shirts then everything is punk with the right ethos
I prefered american HC FASHION, lumberjack shirt/boots, jeans, band shirt, no mohawx,no leather. I love it simple
punk is not about what you wear or how you look. it´s about your mindset!
Everything is punk so nothing is punk and punk remains what it started as: an infantile supervised tantrum which is part of and furthers the agenda of the establishment
That was just a version of american skinhead clothes
Preach. Sticking faithfully to a predetermined fashion style so you can fit in when you go listen to a music style that's been largely unchanged until quite recently just feels like the antithesis of the original movement. I go to shows looking as colourful as I can manage
The the most punk place to buy clothes is a thrift store, but I really do appreciate (some) punk designers and the quality and effort that goes into their garments, I can't afford it, but I don't think that means that it shouldn't exist
I agree with this notion. Punk rock was born out of the working class and poverty stricken that turned to music to express themselves and worked with what they could afford hence why the thrift stores were the havens for punks to buy inexpensive clothes and then DIY them to give them character and style. But there's no denying that some of Vivienne Westwood's designs look pretty cool and still give off that kinda vibe even if it goes against the ethos with the outrageous prices. I think so long as people understand that punk is a music-based scene and that you don't need to buy expensive clothes to be a part of it, I think there's room for both.
Yes to the thrift store!
I've also been told that a big part of the look we now see as 'punk' was basically based on things that were available in the thrift stores back then (old army clothes, old working clothes, etc.) that got DIY'd.
It might be just my opinion about 'punk clothing', but I think the best punk designers make designs that people in the subculture actually can make/diy themselves, or be inspired by, instead of having to buy it from them. That has at least always been my own outlook at punk designs in fashion.
Well let me say it for you, they shouldn’t exist
@@ZwarteKonijn Good and interesting point on why that aesthetic was incorporated. I had assumed myself that military items like boots were used almost ironically or in a paradoxical manner, use the weapons of the oppressor against them..plus let's be honest, military boots for example are physically just tough and look rad. I also assumed the same for bastardizing "yuppy" or posh sort of clothes, to take something absurd and make a mockery of it by taking it from let's say "high" culture and ripping it down. "I am going to take your over priced clothes, tear them up, stain them and dethrone your ideas of being better because of your clothes and their status" feel.
based fr. almost all the "punk"/ alternative clothes i wear is stuff i made myself, from thrift stores and mostly both. i don't buy from "normal" stores anymore (i.e target, h&m, etc...)
Nothing is less punk than thinking you have to look, think, or act a certain way to be punk
punk is not synonymous for rebellion
You do have to think a certain way to be punk. Cannot be punk and a nazi, or a typical bigot, for example
@@paula-666yeah this is the most accurate if not the only solid set of “rules” to being punk
@@paula-666tbh I think old school punks would scoff at what yall think punk is 😂
peak punk is walter white pre-heisenburg aesthetic
This reminded me of the song "Am I Punk Yet?" By Electro Hippies. It's a song about fashion punks.
Also “Flower punk” by Frank Zappa touches on the subject
I always think about the intro to this song when I dress up in the punk rock uniform.
Also check out "Punk" by the Ex, from their 1980 Live Skive EP, as well as No Trend's "Punker", from around 1982/1983.
Part Time Punks by Television Personalities
@@kelechi_77 My dad always puts that song on when I'm down
its hard for me to imagine anything like punk to truly represent its values in today's world. with the rise of the internet/tiktok everything gets commodified to quickly, i think most people wear clothes that they think look cool and what they see on tiktok and it doesnt go much deeper. which is fine but i do wish everything wasn't removed from context like it is now and people actually understood a bit about what their clothes/subculture represented
The internet commodifies subculture making it a paradoxical endeavour. It genuinely cannot exist in our post-digital, hyper connected world.
Back then punk was the counter culture. The counter culture of today is the rejection of identity politics and leftism
But sometimes we have the movies like Terrifier 3 winning over the other clown one with 200 million budget, Joker folie a deux.
The most unhinged sadistic silent clown being a fan favorite over the JOKER it will never not be funny to me.
It was commodified even back then, by 1977 there was no ''real'' punk, the scene was already dead, same thing happened to no wave, with musicians in that scene saying that it was dead when "No New York" came out. The only thing the internet did was accelerate this commodification, back in the day you had at least 2-3 years before a scene would be mainstream or commodified, now it's more like 2-3 months.
It represents shit.
Punk and all rebellious western subcultures have no deeper meaning. Their rebellion was never their own and their false sense of culture and identity as well. It was all handed down to them by the collective western government. This started with Dadaism which was a failed philosophical movement which was subjugated to be controlled and turned into the abstract art movement of the 50s in America which was directly funded by the CIA and all rebel culture in the west since is a hand of the governments agenda.
I never understand the "non-conformity" argument, I dont necessarily know where it comes from, but an alternative culture is a culture- not all punks dress punk but all punks embody the politics, music, ect. I think that is whats more important. Dress however you want! but if you wear patches and shirts with band logos you will look a little silly if you arent upholding the ideals those bands espouse.
Non conformity in punk was more about not letting fascists tell you what to do but, now, people just use it to say you're not allowed to do anything possibly normal which is stupid and anti-punk. Goths have the same issue rn too,
@skooptywooop1030 as a goth yup, HUGE issue.
I love anything "gothic"
Goth music, anti conformity, boycotter as much as is realistically possible (and not just for palestine, but because I am anti corporate as a whole), love dark aesthetics, german expressionism, macabre stuff, especially gothic horror literature amd surrealism. Yet some goth gatekeepers will say I don't fit the criteria because I don't dress the way or that I listen to other genres too. Isn't non conformism a part of alternative subcultres lmao. I get when people call out some girl whose only gothic trait is slapping on a black choker and calling herself goth, but this is overboard
@spaghetti5914 Its funny to me because growing up punks and goths listened to their music but we also listened to each others, if we were nerds we probably listened to they might be giants or something, motorhead, it all didnt matter.
@MyNameHousefly the thing about nerds is so real because the only thing I've been listening to the last 3 weeks is london after midnight, cosmo sheldrake and the stupendium, which is an odd mix
@spaghetti5914Zionism is a decolonization movement so yr just another all too common neo nazi, so you’ll fit in just fine with the yt supremacist side that’s once again common in both goth n punk scenes
Punk ain't no religious cult
Punk means thinking for yourself
You ain't hardcore when you spike your hair
When a jock still lives inside your head
- DK
@@petermgruhn Are you German or of Kraut descent?
I walked away from punk dressing in the 80s when I was in high school and came to the realization it was just another uniform showing conformity to a specific groups ideals. That is the antithesis of what punk was or is. Punk is a mindset not the safety pinned jacket, liberty spikes or the Docs used to identify you as a member of a specific group.
Punk ideologically and philosophically is nothing more than extremist ideas of the people who rule the world financially. So the Punk mindset is nothing to keep as part of your identity. Punk was birthed by the establishment as a tool of it.
This is actually a very good point. From the start, punk has been shown as the opposite of what it's promised to be: a brand and a standard (for example, the bassist of sex pistols being kicked out because he had glasses...)
@SeRSi239 Punk was promised to be a safe outlet for rebellion and decadence and it was. Punk is not based in its branding. It's branding makes it sound deeper than it is.
Yes that's exactly what I believe so too. You've put it in such great words.
Absolutely LOVE your photographic representation of New York.
FREE LUIGI!!!
I hope a lot of American punks will DIY their own DENY DEFEND DEPOSE prints on their clothes ;)
@@KarlSnarks This. So this.
@@KarlSnarksi was gonna make a patch of that for my patch pants!!
@@ashhtray2003 nice, will look great :)
@ KarlSnarks I got a christmas sweater in the works ;p
The worst part is, John, Sid and Steve Jones all had horrible childhoods. Just for Malcolm to take them, give them the promise of fame and that assumedly money would come raking in after they get an album out.
He was the absolute definition of a Capitalistic money grubby super establishment specs on this world his band hated so much
What a pleasant discovery while drinking my coffee and thinking about next collection. Being born into occupied country ( Lithuania, one of former ussr republic) my teenage brain was blown away when a friend of mine first played for me a smuggled punk album and a discovery of punk clothes. The diy aspect of it just opened door for me to a true freedom. Excellent dissection of Punk and the work of my beloved designers. Subscribed.
this reminded me of a south park episode with the goth kids:
Pete: I'm not doin' it. Being in a dance group is totally conformist.
Henrietta: Yeah. I'm not conforming to some dance-off regulations.
Firkle: I'm not doin' it either. I'm the biggest nonconformist of all.
Michael: I'm such a nonconformist that I'm not going to conform with the rest of you. Okay, I'll do it
South Park is for the lowest common denominator.
The Japanese fashion world's obsession with Vivienne Westwood, the Sex Pistols, and overall punk aesthetics is epitomized in mangaka Ai Yazawa's work (who was a fashion student probably around the same time as the Harajuku punk boom). Her manga, "NANA", features multiple Westwood pieces (and even actually namedrops her) and references the Sex Pistols (namedrops them as well, along with a major character who's heavily inspired by Sid Vicious!).
I would highly recommend anyone who loves Westwood and Harajuku to check NANA out
NANA MENTIONED!!!! i finished it the other day and it had my wuh luh wuh self in tears
Please warn people that it is a very triggering and sad Manga/Anime. So much that the creator herself took a break from it to focus on happy things...🩷
@@toidIllorTAmIthat's not what happened. She was hospitalized for almost a year and after being discharged stated that even if she wasn't sick anymore she can't work on the manga because staying at a drawing desk and working for hours on end causes her extreme physical pain
@@rincewind4202 exactly
maybe one day we can get a manga continuation like how Miura had Mori work on berserk
The take on a wojack parody in the thumbnail is insanely great
this paradox always hauted me in fashion design college. It always exist in the firsts years of course, someone that use Punk as the inspiration and always is someone ripping off vivienne westwood and using plaid but they don't think if they are punk.
One time the teacher giving a lecture suggested to a group that they change the theme of the clothe because it was "Punk without meaning"
R.I.P Vivienne but she was not punk the entire carrer. I call the phase with Sex boutique the "Punk phase" and the phase with Vivienne Westwood label the "New Romantic phase" she was very influential in both eras and a cutie till her death
There is no contradiction. Punk as well as all scenes and subcultures arrive at the core from finance capitals cultural war on humanity. It was always a part of the establishment. It only fooled you to think it wasn’t.
@daseapickleofjustice7231 she was the only punk around fancy fashion. She just refused to lower her prices due to her greed.
@@toidIllorTAmI this is completely irrelevant to anything I said.
Still Vivienne Westwood was a demon and the world is better off without her.
I like high fashion but all houses and names today are evil and follow an evil agenda. People who sperg out over a rare hand crafted piece don't understand how the western fashion landscape is so rotten that they are sperging out over a crumb when in another society we could have the entire loaf.
I like your dad's take on punk. It's not nearly as ideological as some people say, it can honestly be kind of shallow at times. It is what it is, but it's important to show people that they can and should do what they want and pursue creativity.
It is nothing and all it is is a way to subjugate men into a false sense of opposition when they are under total control in fact.
Another designer that I could say embodies the idea of punk is Alexander McQueen, from the youngest of six children to becoming the epitome of what fashion has to offer not as medium but rather as a bridge between life and death. His coming up age first “professional”runway show literally representing all the atrocities and torture Britain did to Scottish women and how they’ve never been accountable for it. Never afraid of speaking his mind out and letting everyone know how disgust he was with the fashion industry. He may have never did actual punk clothing but he was the living embodiment of “too fast to live, too young to die”. Rip Lee. Great vid though and you’re completely right about punk always being contradictory even to the point that calling yourself “punk” makes you automatically not punk. Like that DC character once said “it’s not about the money…it’s about sending a message.”
glad to finally see this topic being treated with the nuance it deserves and without trying to smooth over the inherent contradictions
I think the interpretation of the burka garments is easy. He was humanising Muslims which is pretty punk for the time. However, he is also critiquing Islam at the same time, which again is punk. It comes from a place of empathy and perhaps it wasn’t clear for him either what his art meant
+1
+1
I totally agree with this and thought the same as a muslim myself who thinks the same way as him!!!!! I am a muslim, yes. However i have so many points in "Islam" that i disagree with and go against sometimes. Mostly just cultural factors that are considired as islam but is actually againts the values of it. In society Muslims are mostly dehumanized as terrorists which is umm??? I also felt the discrimination towards them to my stomach naturally :D
I love punk for this, it fights for rotten parts of society and humanity. They are not afraid to point out what everyone is afraid to.
@@yume5162 Yeah, I'm not Muslim myself but think this is probably the difference between plain islamophobia and genuine criticism of oppression within Islamic cultures. It has to come from a place of empathy and understanding that the problem is not that the religion itself is evil or something. Just like with other Abrahamic religions it's powerful men that interpret the teachings to benefit their position of power, and have most influence the way society interprets them.
why do you have empathy for facist- religious fantasy believe systems?
I enjoy both hardcore punk music and fashion. Obvious contradiction there. I've come to terms with the fact that literally no fashion is "real hardcore", and if you try to be "real hardcore" you can't even buy cloths, so there's a middle ground somewhere.
Hope you can come to terms with that all subcultures and scenes arrive from earlier cultural movements that at their core arrive from an artificial culture funded by the CIA in the late 40 early 50s. This is why all subcultures are western and propagate the agenda of the collective western establishment. There was never a contradiction. Being part of a subculture enslaves your identity and by extension mind and ideologically you become a soldier of western finance capital and London banksters in their cultural war on humanity.
Does this mean you gotta be bootie butt naked to be hardcore???
The solution is to realize that ppl fearmonger abt fashion nonstop and that there's literally nothing wrong with dressing to celebrate and show off your subculture. Seeing someone wear something and thinking "damn I could put that on" isn't mindless conformity, it's how taste is formed.
I have a long history with DIY hardcore and i make references to it in my outfits, though I've moved to other genres. White belts, emo hair, tight ass striped shirts like Johnny Whitney. Hardcore ABSOLUTELY has fashion history and I engage with it out of love for the genre.
After years in the hxc scene hearing people yap on how caring about fashion is a mind disease (while using clothes to signal how much they don't care), Im happy to be in the rap world where nobody gives a shit. The ~punk mentality~ i was around led me to delay a passion of mine for years for fear of being "shallow". All that happened is I had no idea how to dress.
Funny enough, a TON of fashion that originated in hardcore lives on thru underground rap more than anywhere.
if you tried to be "real" hardcore, not only would you not be allowed to buy clothes, you'd be living on a property in the middle of nowhere like its 1503.
@ the most hardcore thing you can do is reject individualistic commodity lables like subcultures and live your life as a pragmatist
Punk was always a bag full of contradictions right from day one. Leftist, anti-racist, swastika wearing, anti-fashion, fashionable, creative, destructive, indivistic, tribalistic, conformist, spontaneous, contrived, anti-intellectual, inspired by french intellectuals (Guy Debord et al). One of the main, and maybe its most important, ethos is a DIY attitude whether that be for music, fanzines, or fashion but Vivienne Westwood herself has stated that she hated it when people would make there own punk clothing by ripping up their T-shirts. Vivienne wanted people to buy them from her and Malcolm's shop.
Why we've always called them.. Fashion Punk's...
And refer to the Sex Pistols as a Boy Band...
Cheers from Westminster CA 🇺🇸
Oi Oi Oi
Do you have a source for when Vivienne said that? I’d like to know more about it.
@@aria2aria2 one of the employees at sex, chrissie hynde, allegedly made a tweet about it but i couldn't find it! doesn't appear that vivienne ever said that online or in an interview, but if she did it's coming from chrissie
@@aria2aria2 I don't I'm afraid but it was from a television interview.
that's what's so funny about working class fashion, it can be adopted by high fashion but it will never be that because it's a material objective statement
RIP. Vivienne Westwood
The Electric Eels were the first to wear safety pins in 1975. They were part of the early Ohio punk scene with bands like DEVO, the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu, their drummer Nick Knox went on to join the Cramps.
And I happily wore them in my ear and nose over a decade later.
What a fantastic video. I liked the dissent against the scholarly article’s perception of the use of the burka. The effort to research and develop coherent opinions about a topic is super admirable.
Just showered, got my meal ready, layered myself in my grubby little blankets, and even put the recliner UP. This video was calling my name, and it's so refreshing to see such an in-depth, researched video about something punk related! Keep up the great work man!!! :)
Thank you sooo so much for this video! my boyfriend has always loved punk music and fashion so much and this was such a good way for me to get my head around it in like a combined, omnibus way because I often find the timeline of the development so confusing ! VERY GOOD VIDEO BIG THANK
Depends on.. how much is known about the.. Fashion Punk look.. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood.. creating this fashion look.. to promote their Shop.. even the Bringing together a Boy Band like the Sex Pistols..
bro finally came back
One of the best videos essays I have viewed this year.
Pure brilliance!
Fabulous and incredibly detailed and researched video. Subscribed. My two-bits worth is that I'd say Chelsea wasn't posh back in the 60s/70s. It was considered to be kind of freaky, full of art teachers and retired dancers. (Ironically, nowadays only rich people can afford to do THESE jobs)
Thank you! Banger of a video! I recently heard a commentary RUclipsr say that sincere commentary RUclips is the new punk rock, which while self serving, also carries a lot of truth - your video is true DIY from the heart. Thank you for sharing such a thoroughly researched and beautiful deep dive. ❤
0:48 boycott shein
the author is talented af
so many topics that are really closely-related. great work, a very one
Immediately excited that you're talking about american protopunk
in mid 2000's i used to hangout with the local punk rock people in my hometown since my early teenage years to my early 20's. there was this one guy who played guitar in a band that had already existed since the 90's. if you looked at his face, you could see that he saw some shit. anyway, he once told me "punk is dead because of punk itself". as a teenager i never understood that, then i grew up and see that every rebellious subculture like punk dies because it became solely a trendy fashion.
this also happens in other fashion trends like how there are so many men who don't even work blue collar jobs now wear Carhartt as trendy fashion. i once heard someone calls it "podcast guys outfit" and it always makes me laugh. this is also why there's so many rappers these days trying to act tough when they've never even been gang members or even spent years behind bars.
i have a cold and just found myself watching this video and im enjoying it so much youve got something good going bro much love
I know I’m not op but this comment made me smile I hope u feel better
@@fruitsarian fr
If you're into tea, I suggest you drink a cup. Makes a feel a lil better, gws tho :)
@ thank you yea im in japan its nice that they have hot tea that you can take out of a warm fridge in convenience stores
@@fruitsarian 🥹❤️
what a fantastic spoken essay, was extremely informative + i loved ur middle-ground opinions n being open 2 interpretation ! extremely well written + also funny i loved it . keep going + making more ! u did gr8 :3
An important thing to note is that punk is a totally flexible movement, especially when we take into consideration that the punk movement practically reaches the entire world (especially leaving aside the fashion issue), which leads to different punk-regional moments, thus having philosophies , fashion, criticisms and totally different worldview, (sorry if the translation is bad, I'm just a Brazilian who loves the punk movement)
"He can't even answer the most basic questions without being insufferable" Kinda on-brand for punks ngl
Oh yeah?
Hahah iktr
ugh, zombie is notorious for being such a twat in camden town. the stories i’ve heard about him is truly unfathomable. his lil “punk” scene are not great people. watch out for zombie folks
wrong trousers somehow delivered on EXACTLY what i needed EXACTLY when i needed it. thanks mr trousers
such a great video! i love how you seamlessly connect things throughout the discussion and your jokes are engaging too. good job, sadly really underrated content
this editing style >>>> on top
I expected to hate watch this and found it incredibly well-researched and informative-this is one of the first channels I’ve found that takes fashion history really seriously and isn’t just surface level yapping. if anyone can recommend other current fashion writers or youtubers who are doing this level of analysis I would be so grateful! 💓
Mina Le makes videos about fashion! Check them out, they're really well-made
I personally really like modern girlz. She‘s not super heavy on the history but I love the way she analyzes fashion styles, I think she has a really good eye. Haute la mode largely does reaction content about high fashion but he has an absolutely enzyclopedic knowledge of anything high fashion. It really helped me understand the scene and industry and why designers do what they do. He is very critical, but naturally this also involves glorifying overpriced brands a bit. I don‘t agree with him on that much, especially taste wise, but it‘s very insightful.
OBSESSED with the editing here - wonderful visuals!!!
was just rewatching all ur vids yesterday and then u dropped
30 foot fall is one of my very favorite punk bands because they so explicitly denounce the aesthetic in so much of their music. entertainment vs. enlightenment
As someone who turned my very broken jeans from my teens into patch/crust pants (they aren't crusty yet but it served my inspo!) I can fully apprechiate the sentiment of a single seam being 90 Euro at 45:40, I'm obviously by no means a steamstress/seamster as these folks are but I really do apprechiate the work and I love the look of my upcycled trousers! This was a brilliant video, thank you for making it :)
this was so insightful. i was sketching along inspired by all the outfits until the paradox part came and it stopped me in my tracks. amazing soothing video
Wow fantastic video, thank you so much! everything was on point, I'm glad you made this!
Bro just wrote an academic thesis. Great work man.
27:21 belgium mentioned this has to be the greatest acomplishment in my nation's history
man, this video got a lot more philosophical than i expected. loved it as always.
aristotle. plato. confucius. wrong trousers.
Bravo! This is so well done. You researched the right things and presented this topic in the best way I have seen in 40 years...
happy you’re back , love ur videos
a very very high quality in depth and comprehensive video. has me all fired up to make some video of my own, concerning a topic which interests me. really gained hella insights into the punkk origin and contemporary relevance
Nice to see Richard Hell getting his due. A small-town boy from Kentucky who basically created the punk look.
There was a 2013 Punk retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. It was the big summer blockbuster exhibition attracting thousands of spectators. Kids, come to terms, dyed hair and plaid slacks is no longer shocking 50 years into it, the same way long hair and beads looks outdated. Oi, oi, oi...vey
the last third of this video essay was soooo good. i think the middle third was a bit long though and was too much filler for what actually needed to be said.
great work, keep it up :D
Honestly
One of the best fashion videos i've ever seen
I Love your videos, top quality as always. Hope to see another one soon!
The Vegeta image is killing me lol.
I love how you edited the video 🔥 and the narration
What an excellent video. Love the research put into the Jun SCAB burqa tangent. I grew up muslim and have been in and out of punk scenes and hearing some analysis of this moment is very interesting. I'm not a huge fan of how designers like Takahashi have commodified art movements but it's complex given the origins of the Punk Fashion scene. SCAB is such a juicy moment in fashion history to take apart - a Japanese designer, inspired by the UK's designers foray into a US-originated music/diy scene, makes a fashion line which both commodifies a anti-materialistic Crust punk culture and appropriates the cultural dress of a burqa, and is also at the same time a love letter to the rebellious nature of punk. What a global moment
another insane video, keep it up bro please I need these in my life
Being punk is a mindset not a style 🗣️🗣️
Genuinely a great video! Props to you brother
"I connect to punk deeply and believe in rebellion" - - - man who's never had to worry about paying a gas bill on time.
The idea punk is connected with rebellion and not a tool to contain rebellion is ridiculous
WEEZER MENTIONED💯💯‼️‼️🔥🔥
Protect your people, your nature, your animals around you, show love and integrity
There are people with highly trained, disciplined voices in the classical sense that I don’t wanna listen to. Always thought Johnny rotten and Axel Rose as being very similar in the respect that they both had strange sounding voices which are almost impossible to duplicate.
“I dont believe in consistency”
I didnt know anything about this scene before this vid. Great vid
My boy is back hell yeahh
what about Crass and Discharge? They looked much cooler than the Pistols.They influenced the all-black styles way more.
Punk is about self expression, so as long as your sense of "self" isn't whatever is popular or trendy only then you're good.
Spending a chunk of change on clothes you like isn't a bad thing in my opinion, you just have to make sure you're not buying it because "it's punk, I wanna look punk".
I've always wanted a Sherpa denim jacket and just spent like $70-100 on a brand new one, sure I would have jumped at the chance to thrift one in my size but I can justify the cost for my own happiness and warmth.
Nothing but respect for those who make their own.
Its all dedication.
It doesn’t have to be “official” to be punk.
Thats why a misfits bootleg record could be worth so much.
DIY ethics and carving your own path IS punk.
Running down to the shop to buy a carbon copy of what everyone else is wearing is whack.
Make your own, save your money, and be unique.
being punk is being kindness and chaos in a rigid, cold world. Thats it.
"Dinner time, dinner in america"
"Dinner time, dinner in america"
"Dinner time, dinner in america"
the cut to the emo wolf in between levi's interview is so funny
this video is fantastic and so well researched -awesome
🗣️🗣️AHHHHHH
Thanks for posting bro fr fr
literally this been in my mind for a long time,
yeah....the burka is really a sign of self-expression and freedom LOL
Thank you for this deeply researched video! Great Channel! Greetings from Germany!
Fashion Coolea is my favorite new channel
My goat is back
I love you for your editing 😂 1:20
this video is fantastic. thank you
Watching punk get watered down has been so depressing
Responding to the thumbnail, it is the difference between living it and dreaming about living it.
i’m 12 min in and i just absorbed everything you said like a sponge, i wished i was this way in school, well you’re actually interesting… unlike my lousy teachers.
Watched a couple of your videos to saw some wood to and it was really pleasant having hearing you talk.
I always heard it was Ramones tour that brought punk clothing and music to England.
absolutely amazing video
You should make more videos on the fashion of music genres. You should do glam metal or speedmetal.
in the words of hobie brown: "i dont believe in consistency"
great video. keep up the good work 👍🏾
The nyc image kills ayy