According to Dick Hebdige's Subculture, the Meaning of Style, style as a form of resistance can be easily seen in examination of the punk movement, which emerged in the late 70's. In the UK, it can be seen to be a rebellion against the working-class youth's limited options in a capitalist driven society, as punks rejected the traditional values set out by the self-interested middle-class. Punk style aimed to shock and repulse with participants using their clothing as a means of breaking away from what was considered normal or acceptable, utilising their physical appearance to exert power over the society that used its own power to overlook the working class.(Hebdige 7) The punk's use of style as resistance can be seen to be a reaction to the
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They saw that any attempt to pull themselves out of their class-based stagnation as pointless and so came to the conclusion that rather than resign themselves to apathy they would rather rebel against oppressive societal expectations. Creating a style that would ostracise themselves from the general public, they paired symbols of domestic drudgery such as safety pins and clothes pegs with objects associated with muck and rubbish such as bin bags and lavatory chains layered on top of loud and trashy fabrics, sometimes tied together with items linked with perceived sexual deviancy.(108) The resulting clashing effect was termed 'confrontation dressing' as described by Vivienne Westwood, a mish-mash of clothing that was united by its disharmony.(107) Hebdige's description of punk fashion tells of the use of safety pins as facial ornaments, and ugly coloured fabrics in tacky patterns being fashioned into clothing that was seen to be 'common' or distasteful. He says that the use of unfashionable garments 'offered a self-conscious commentary on the notions of modernity and …show more content…
George Grosz is quoted as having said 'Nothing was holy to us [...] we spat on everything, including ourselves.' and this is never more evident than when it is observed in the punk-style fashions.(106) This vulgarity is especially obvious when paired with items of clothing associated with schools and school children, and this was used to great advantage by some punks as they wore school shirts covered in fake blood or profanities as mentioned above, or the wore school ties undone. The defilement of the school clothes was particularly obvious when paired with leather and rubber garments commonly associated with sexual bondage and
They saw that any attempt to pull themselves out of their class-based stagnation as pointless and so came to the conclusion that rather than resign themselves to apathy they would rather rebel against oppressive societal expectations. Creating a style that would ostracise themselves from the general public, they paired symbols of domestic drudgery such as safety pins and clothes pegs with objects associated with muck and rubbish such as bin bags and lavatory chains layered on top of loud and trashy fabrics, sometimes tied together with items linked with perceived sexual deviancy.(108) The resulting clashing effect was termed 'confrontation dressing' as described by Vivienne Westwood, a mish-mash of clothing that was united by its disharmony.(107) Hebdige's description of punk fashion tells of the use of safety pins as facial ornaments, and ugly coloured fabrics in tacky patterns being fashioned into clothing that was seen to be 'common' or distasteful. He says that the use of unfashionable garments 'offered a self-conscious commentary on the notions of modernity and …show more content…
George Grosz is quoted as having said 'Nothing was holy to us [...] we spat on everything, including ourselves.' and this is never more evident than when it is observed in the punk-style fashions.(106) This vulgarity is especially obvious when paired with items of clothing associated with schools and school children, and this was used to great advantage by some punks as they wore school shirts covered in fake blood or profanities as mentioned above, or the wore school ties undone. The defilement of the school clothes was particularly obvious when paired with leather and rubber garments commonly associated with sexual bondage and