So before I get started with a mini introduction to the beautiful world of punk let me confirm – there will be more blogs about this in the future, because punk is a whole subculture and has contributed to our world SO MUCH – it deserves the space.
Now let’s get into it.
We at Monozygotics (we’re a little London based ethical fashion brand!) just made a collection partially inspired by the punk attitude and it’s amazing fashion subculture. To us, for this collection, punk was a space to say fuck the system, fuck anybody who is trying to control me and fuck the big cats out here focusing on money and power. It was something to draw on for inspiration about revolution and activism.
I think when people hear the word punk now they just imagine a fashion style, they imagine angry teenagers wearing things just to be provocative (which may be part of it). I agree that there is now a version of punk that exists which is a fashion style – but the original punk is a whole movement.
Punk really began to blossom across the UK, US & Australia in the 1970s as a movement encompassing music, literature, film, fashion, art and a whole set of ideologies. Its name came from Punk Rock, since Punk referred to a beginner or novice, which is what many of the untrained rebellious rock guitarists and vocalists were to the rest of the music industry at the time. In a nutshell Punk was an all-encompassing attitude of rebellion. Although it came after the ‘hippie’ movement and kind of shared their attitudes of fighting for activism and change, fashion-wise it rebelled against their flowing earthy clothing and long natural hair in favour of shaved heads, big makeup, tough DIY style clothing, safety pins, dark colours, you know the rest…
In London Punks were anarchic and aggressive in their rebellion – as opposed to hippie’s peaceful approach, and defined themselves as an anti-fashion subculture (which they were to begin with – but the fashion industry likes to appropriate from the young, rebellious and shocking, hence why punk influences found their way to mainstream fashion and remain there to this day.) Punk involved a lot of thrifting and DIY to create its signature looks - something we LOVE to do to this day and think everyone should do more of! This could have been an effort to save money for some, or an effort to avoid dressing like the mainstream and giving money to the big dogs and the fashion system (again – something we really stand for at Monozygotics!)
DO you see what I mean when I say that Punk is a mindset not just a style?
We LOVE punk fashion that’s why it so heavily inspires out clothes. And although punk as it’s original subculture could arguably be ‘dead’ we believe that there are still many, many punks out there and that punk will never truly die. If you are out there protesting and fighting what is wrong that’s pretty punk. If you are out there being unapologetically yourself and ignoring what the media tell you to do, that’s pretty punk. If you are out there mending your clothes and shopping in charity shops to make your wardrobe more ethical that’s pretty punk. If you don’t give a shit what people think or say about you, as long as you know you are being true to your morals, well, that’s pretty punk too.
If you look at our clothes you’ll see DIY repairs, use of ‘unusual items’ like nails and safety pins, protest slogans, provocative prints, leathers and denims, rips, frays and imperfections reminiscent of punk. But if you look even deeper you’ll see that Monozygotics is driven by a big beating heart that is willing to shout about the things that need to change, say ‘fuck that’ to the fast fashion cycle and the demands it makes of it’s designers - and that is what punk is all about.
If we all continue to carry this mindset PUNK WILL NEVER DIE!!