How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 5 - Women of Punk Rock

Mothers, sisters, daughters - women are tough. Just being a woman is incredibly hard in this male-dominated world. Mid way through the 20th century American and British women were beginning to organize and demand attention, but they were doing it in dresses and bows. It’s hard to take someone demanding their liberties seriously when dolled up in the uniform of oppression. “Women’s Lib” became a joke in the Ivy League opium dens and sex clubs (I do not have a strong opinion and don’t you dare say otherwise).

In the 1970s, however, something changed. After the British Invasion of the 60s had died down there was a flare-up of garage bands in the US. Breaking sticks and busting strings along with the boys were lots of girls who were ready to rock and roll in the big leagues. Throughout the punk movement there have been women forging ahead where men have feared to tread, and some of the most influential people in punk rock have been females. So you want to look like a punk rocker? Let’s take a look back at some of the most visually distinctive women to ever grab a mic or guitar and see what they did to look punk.

The Runaways: 1975 - 1979

Although they managed to avoid being labeled “punk” while they were together, the first all-girl rock band was also the first all-girl punk band. With ragged vocals, punchy guitar riffs, and slam-bang drumming the Runaways were dismissed as a novelty during their time. In retrospect the Runaways have been hailed as one of the greatest rock acts of their time. Most famously the Runaways spun off the successful solo career of Joan Jett, who was the band’s lead guitarist and backing vocalist. Their break-up was tough on the teenage girls. They formed the band when between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, and got a harsh lesson in the reality of music industry politics.

Visually the Runaways were a breakthrough because they didn’t flat-out reject their sexuality, but doled it out on their own terms. Some of their contemporaries, like Debbie Harry of Blondie, would use their sexuality in a very conventional way. They would look harmless, seductive, or approachable. Conversely the girls of the Runaways looked rough, potentially violent, and aggressive. Men were used to looking at girls and wanting to have sex with them. They were unprepared for a set of girls who looked like they want to have sex with you. The Runaways turned the tables on men. While Debbie Harry was busy showing as much skin as possible, the Runaways were wearing skintight body suits designed like armor. The only time the Runaways showed much skin was in CREEM Magazine where they were photographed with their surf boards. Three of the girls are in bikinis. Two are in full wetsuits.

Where most women in the biz at the time were busy whoring out their bodies for cash, the Runaways took their sexuality by the horns and made it theirs. Instead of catering to the whims of men with skimpy clothing, they forced men to look at their bodies on their own terms. Most extraordinarily most of the Runaways’ outfits were clothing that draws the eye upwards through the use of converging lines towards their faces. Sexy and rugged, when people get a stiffy from looking at these girls it’s not because they’re looking at their breasts or legs - it’s because you’re looking them in their eyes. Those vicious, heart-piercing eyes. For more on how Joan Jett has effected punk fashion, check out How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 1 - History of Leather Jackets

The X-Ray Spex: 1976 - 1979

Poly Styrene and Lora Logic were not knockout beauties. Just geeky teenagers with a lot of creativity and no money living by themselves in London. Styrene was born to an irresponsible white mother and an absent black dad, making her a serious social outcast with no safety net. Lora’s history is less well known, but she was only a teenager when she grabbed a saxaphone and became a punk rock legend.

Poly Styrene’s penchant for fashion predated her interest in music. Before she placed an ad in the paper looking for band mates, she was supporting herself selling clothing she designed and made by hand in a boutique named “Poly Styrene” in Beaufort Market, King’s Road. She specialized in Day-Glo - a type of neon-colored fabric which is not to be confused with the blacklight ink with the same name. The kinds of clothes she sold were the kinds she would become famous wearing while on stage. The bright, abrasive colors of pink, green, yellow, orange, and red clashed with each other all over her outfits.

On top of that the types of clothes she wore were different in and of themselves. Styrene was overweight, and her large metal braces were of the impossible to ignore variety, so showcasing her face or her curves was simply not wise for an up-and-coming performer and consummate professional. Whereas the Runaways had used their clothing to bring the attention to their bodies, Styrene did the opposite by trying to make her clothing the centerpiece. Bright pink fishnets, a neon yellow tie, a polka-dot Day-Glo skirt, and a combat helmet from WWII allowed the humble-looking Styrene to put on a costume and have her “shoeless hippie” image disappear into a gaudy, raging punk rocker. It’s clear that by putting on the clothing, Styrene was able to really be the person she had always wanted to be.

Sixouxsie Sioux: 1976 - Today

Perhaps the most influential woman in punk rock ever to walk the Earth, Siouxsie Sioux will forever be on the history books for her involvement in the “Sex Pistols TV Scandal”. She was one of a few fans who had breached the Sex Pistols’ inner-circle and become friends with the band members. When, in December of 1976, the Sex Pistols were invited to appear on Bill Grundy’s television interview show, they brought along their young female friend. The interview went badly with the band using filthy language, attacking Grundy’s character, and refusing to answer questions. When Grundy made a remark that appeared to be a pass at Siouxsie, guitarist Steve Jones called Grundy a “dirty fucker”, ending the interview abruptly.

Although she didn’t speak audibly in the interview, she was the impetus for the line that made the interview famous, and would forever be burned into the collective consciousness of Great Britain. By 1978 Siouxsie had assembled a band with her as frontwoman, and their first single roared to the top of the charts.

Her distinctive look comes from her origins. In her formative years Siouxsie Sioux spent a lot of time in leather, fetish, and gay bars. She integrated fetish wear into her every day clothing, making overt statements about her sexuality in the context of something frightening and on the fringe for British mainstream. This kind of shock is what she became addicted to. When people reacted negatively to her appearance, it empowered her because she did not need to fear their reactions. She had planned on their reactions. By controlling what people saw in her, she controlled who she was to everyone else.

During World War II England had been under constant attack from the Nazis, and because the English had to fight German attack on their own soil Nazism became a symbol of evil in their culture - to a much larger extent than here in the US. During the late 70s many young Brits who were not alive during World War II found it easy to shock the older generation with Nazi imagery. People their parents’ age had been around to see Hitler drop bombs on their homes, and the younger generation had no sense of what it was like to live in war time. But using Nazi imagery proved to be the biggest fashion mistake of Siouxsie Sioux’s life. It had gone over well when she had come out on stage, topless, with a swastika painted on her chest in a London pub (notably with Sid Vicious on drums). It wasn’t about to go over as well elsewhere.

In 1976 Siouxsie Sioux went with the Sex Pistols to mainland Europe for their tour. When in France, Siouxsie underestimated the importance of Nazi symbolism in the country. France had been torn apart by the war, forced to live under the tyrannical rule of both Nazi Germans and the collaborators, the Nazi French, also known as the Vichy Republic. And unlike the punks of England, the punks of France still felt the sting of Hitler’s whip, even thirty years later. When a French punk (whose identity was never discovered) caught sight of foreigner Siouxsie Sioux walking around his hometown with a black armband emblazoned with the Nazi swastika, he took it upon himself to show the girl that she had made the wrong decision. Although the Frenchman’s cowardly act of beating up a girl in her mid-twenties displayed nothing but a deep personal insecurity, it should act as a warning: if you’re going to play with sacred symbols, be prepared to pay a price.

What did we learn today?

Women in punk rock have had to overcome a lot of obstacles, most notably their own sexuality. The way men perceive women has for a very long time defined interactions between the two sexes. Some women take this power of sex and exploit men’s desire to see them naked for profit. Others completely reject sexuality as a whole, preferring asexual cerebrality to vapid babydollism. But the most successful women refuse to ignore the power of their sexuality while also refusing to play the game according to men’s rules. The three female punk pioneers here would likely all have the same advice for being a girl and looking punk: find what makes you look most like you, and no one else. They each drew upon something deeply person to them. For Joan Jett her leather suits and one-pieces were from her love of riding motorcycles; Poly Styrene wore clothes she had made by hand, a product of her own imagination and soul; and Siouxsie Sioux wore the bondage gear and leather straps that she had been surrounded by in her early years, presumably by people who loved her and took care of her.

To be punk is to be yourself, no matter who that is.

How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 4 - The Early Years

Looking like a punk rocker isn’t easy. The whole premise of punk philosophy is to be yourself and to hell with what people think of you. Expressing yourself, no matter how, is what’s important. But you want people to know what that philosophy is, and you want people to know you’re a punk. Being punk is part of who you are! So let’s take a look back at the beginnings of the genre to see how the first punks made themselves stand out from the crowd.

The Sonics: 1960-1968

They weren’t the dapper young lads that people expected a band to be in the 1960s. Predating the actual punk scene, the Sonics were loud, crashing, abrasive rock and roll that repulsed the masses. They sang songs about the devil, drinking poison, and cruising for chicks in their hometown of Tacoma, Washington. Almost every punk band in existence has listed the Sonics as a primary influence in their sound. But how about their look? At the time it was common for bands to take promotional photographs while wearing slick suits and humble clothing. It had worked for the Beatles when they crossed the pond, so record labels thought it could work for anyone. Rather than wear what they were told the Sonics preferred to wear high collars, sweater vests, plastic sunglasses, and leather jackets. Very few pictures were taken and circulated of the band because the label thought they would be rejected as vulgar by the American public. The Sonics never gained much mainstream success, but their style set off a chain of events.

The New York Dolls: 1971 - 1977

They laid the path for punk rockers. Dee Dee Ramone and Joey Ramone developed their friendship by dressing up in glam and going to New York Dolls shows. Glam Rock like Gary Glitter and David Bowie had been around, but the Dolls were the first to use the glitz and glam to shock the crowd instead of woo them. The Dolls wore way too much make-up and bent their gender to the max. Many 80s metal bands and the entirety of the hairmetal genre tried to rip off the Dolls’ style - teasing their long hair, slipping into shiny one-piece skintight suits, and bashing together other recognizable styles - like a one-piece white suit with tails. Other aspects of their outrageous style got adopted into other parts of punk. British goth-punk band Specimen adopted the heavy makeup and outrageous hair. Seattle-based turn-of-the-century punk band The Briefs shares the Dolls’ love of pink. Leather was a big part of the New York Dolls look. At the time their leather bands and studded belts were not common or popular. The 70s were a time of repression and persecution for people who were gay and/or kinky (the distinction between the two was not made clear for years) and the leather was shocking and considered inherently sexual, adding to their lusty and edgy appeal. Perhaps the biggest contribution to fashion from the New York Dolls was their refusal to be pigeonholed. Throughout their career they were constantly innovating new subtleties to their attire, and creating more depth to their look while still working within their obvious draw: glam, glitter, androgyny, and skintight suits.

The Ramones: 1974 - 1996

Big, bad, and terrifying - that’s what most people thought of the Ramones. When they toured Europe, people were afraid of violence because the leather jackets and denim jeans they wore were the uniforms of gangsters in the media. Since the 1950s people had been wearing what is now the classic Ramones look - white tee shirt, blue denim jeans, and black leather jacket. They were called “greasers”, like the main characters from the hit Broadway musical “Grease”, who were renowned for getting into fights, starting gang turf wars, racing customized cars at high speeds, and to a lesser extent doing stimulant drugs like amphetamines. None of the Ramones did much of these things (except getting in fights on occasion, and Dee Dee was a big drug user) but the image was vivid. The Ramones were not terrifying people, and for the most part they were genuinely nice guys, but they put on the image of a tough group of people because it was the image they wanted to convey. And it worked. The combination of fast, loud, raucous music and an outfit to kill in fused the images together and now they are inextricable. For more on the Ramones and the history of leather jackets, visit How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 1 - History of Leather Jackets

The Sex Pistols: 1975 - 1978

Lights that burn bright burn quicker. The Sex Pistols were only around for a measly three years, but their impact on music, philosophy, politics, and society is incalculable. Lyrically they were edgier than their mainstream peers, and although they neither invented nor perfected punk rock, they made it accessible and consumable for the average listener. There was no uniform or image from the Sex Pistols in their clothes. What they did manage to do for fashion was popularize the look of poverty. They made it okay to look like you don’t make very much money, because very few people do. Sid Vicious was famous for his leather jacket not because leather jackets were expensive - which they were - but because it was an old beat-up and heavily modified piece of clothing he’d found in the trash. Looking at photographs from the time it’s obvious Johnny Rotten and Steve Jones would frequently wear one another’s clothing. Both Vicious and Johnny Rotten would wear jeans with the holes in the knees because they couldn’t afford patches, which at the time was a major taboo even for people who worked very hard for their paychecks. Now, however, you have to pay extra for jeans that are already worn down in the right places. The irony is that the Sex Pistols, in their attempt to promote poverty as a lifestyle, have made it very expensive to look poor by making it fashionable.

At their last show ever, in San Fransisco, the Sex Pistols were frayed and dissonant. They had split ideologically, with Rotten and Vicious wanting to maintain the band’s independence from the influence of manager Malcolm McLaren versus Paul Cook and Steve Jones’ desire to make money from their music. Most interestingly this dissonance was expressed in the form of clothing. Vicious wore only leather pants, going shirtless as was common. He was not going to compromise just because they had sold out a show in the States - he was going to dress like it was a pub in London. Rotten came on stage wearing a leather vest and button-down shirt mimicking artists from more mainstream bands like the Runaways and Cheap Trick. Why the sudden interest in high-price fashion? He looked ridiculous, and he wanted his band mates to see, because guitarist Steve Jones had come on stage wearing an extremely expensive red crushed velvet suit jacket and slacks. Jones’ decision to spend a lot of money on clothing had irritated Rotten, and Rotten decided the only thing to do was try to upstage Jones’ silly outfit. Did he succeed? It’s up to you to say. Click here for a YouTube video of that performance.

What did we learn today?

Recap. What do all of these people have in common? The Sonics pioneered a whole new way of thinking about fashion by using it to intimidate and intrigue the audience. The New York Dolls used glam and flashy androgynous outfits to shock the population while remaining non-threatening and fun. Conversely the Ramones used the association between violence and leather jackets to foster an image they had designed. And for the Sex Pistols clothing was a symbol of status, and they (at least in the classical notion of their philosophy) reveled in their poverty.

There is a throughline: no uniform. Punk rock fashion is about taking what’s around you, how you know people react to certain things, and what you like to do and wear and creating something no one else would think of nor have the guts to wear. So if you want to look like a punk, take a page from the original punk rockers - be original.

How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 2 - History of Mohawks

We call them mohawks. In essence it’s any time you shave part of your head and leave only a strip of hair. You can wear them down, you can wear them up; they can be curly and short or straight and long; they can reach from the nape of your neck to your forehead or just the crown to above the hairline. Bleached blond, dyed red green and blue, or just a natural black or brown, mohawks have gone from outrageously shocking to incredibly popular. You don’t need a mohawk to look like a punk, but it sure doesn’t hurt. And nowadays you don’t need to be a punk to sport the fan-like hairdo. So where did they come from

The Mohawk People

In the eighteenth century Europeans first landed on the American continent and began colonizing. Key to all of their colonization efforts - the French, Dutch, and English alike - was either allying with or destroying native populations. Genocide was a favorite for the Spanish as their territories were inhabited by peoples who had low levels of technology and virtually no ability to defend themselves. Those who settled northern lands were not so lucky.

What is now upstate New York and southern Quebec was once the home of the Mohawk Nation. As part of the Iroquois League, the Mohawks were one of two warrior cultures in the larger confederacy. The Iroquois League was a federalized government of independent Indian tribes, and its organization was a large inspiration to America’s founding fathers. The Mohawks called themselves the “Keepers of the Eastern Door” because they were the easternmost of the tribes in the League. Their warriors protected the Iroquois from eastern invasion, which included the pale-faced men who were stealing their land.

The white man fought many wars with the Iroquois League, and for many years it looked like the Indians might have been able to successfully defend their territory with their tenacious combat tactics and ferocious culture. The Mohawk warriors would wear their hair in a small strip atop their head so that they could identify one another in combat, and also so that their hair could not become caught or pulled while fighting. This, combined with their howling battle cry and legendary war paint made them a terrifying sight for Dutch, French, and English colonists. They were not trying to look punk. In the eyes of early American settlers, they looked like terrifying demons. To each other, they were proud warriors defending their home from a foreign invader.

Eventually the colonial powers would destroy the Iroquois League with superior technology and underhanded tactics. One of the last Iroquois chiefs was assassinated, shot in the back, by an Englishman that had been asked to come for peace talks. Although the Mohawks continued to resist White imperialism for years, the League never recovered. The Mohawk people and their style of hair dress fell into the annals of history as first American culture demonized the Indian as a savage, and later as they tried to hide the shame of the blood America was built on.

Revival 1942

Just like most punk rock fashions, the mohawk haircut has its modern popularity based in World War II’s fighting men. The legendary 101st Airborne, the US Army’s premiere fighting force in the European Theater, gained renowned for their participation in the Battle of the Bulge in which Americans advanced through a German forest in the middle of a frozen winter while being heavily shelled by German artillery. The bravery and tenacity of these soldiers was depicted in the Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks joint venture “Band of Brothers”.

What is not as popularly known is that one of the squads in the 101st Airborne began wearing the mohawk haircut during their advancement from France to Germany. Images of American Indians were exotic and terrifying to Europeans at the time, who had little understanding of the Mohawk people other than their fierce reputation. As such American soldiers used this image to intimidate and terrify Axis soldiers, who spread rumors of Americans using Indian “war chiefs” to fight in Europe. This instilled fear into Nazi hearts.

When the men of the 101st returned home from the war they left the haircuts behind with them. The haircut would not become popular again in its home country for a while, and it would take Brits to repopularize it.

1977 in London

Without a doubt the single person who most influenced punk hairstyle in all of history is the famous - or infamous - Soo Catwoman. Her image is emblazoned in every visual history of punk. A friend of the Sex Pistols, she was a central player in the first days of punk rock, defining the punk look.

The “Catwoman” haircut is a mohawk, though not the kind we’ve become accustomed to. The sides, except for the temples, are shaved. The hair from the temples is spiked up while the top is short-cropped and bleached. Citing her “skill, style, and bravery” Johnny Rotten singled her out as one of the most influential people in the early London punk scene. She quickly had many admirers, and almost as many imitators.

It wasn’t long after Soo Catwoman debuted her haircut that people began experimenting with their own hair. Who was the first punk rocker to wear their hair up in a single strip in the fashion we now associate with the word “mohawk”? No one agrees, but it almost certainly originated in England. After a few years, though, the clothing and styles of both East Coast American punk and English punk were being traded at lightning speed over the Atlantic. By 1979 the style was widespread throughout the US, England, and parts of continental Europe.

Modern Times

Nowadays the mohawk is a common sight. The different variations of it that have been established through time have opened up the style and made it accessible to people from all different factions or sub-cultures.

In the 1980s, when teased hair became extremely popular, Jonny Slut of English goth punk band Specimen sported the first deathhawk, a version of a mohawk that is extremely long and stays up through excessive back combing. American punks began styling their mohawks into long straight points, calling them liberty spikes as they resembled the points of the Statue of Liberty’s crown. Many people have begun doing bihawks or trihawks where there is two or three (respectively) mohawks on the same head. Originating in the Hoxton neighborhood of London, the fauxhawk or Hoxton fin is a version of a mohawk where the sides are between a half inch to an inch long while the top ridge is up to a foot long (though commonly much shorter). English soccer star David Beckham famously wore a fauxhawk, as did Angelina Jolie’s adopted son Maddox.

But how do I look punk?

With so many people from such diverse backgrounds sporting the look, how do you know if your haircut is conveying the message you want it to? After all, your appearance is personal expression - it’s how everyone sees you. And after all, using symbols invented by other people isn’t necessarily bad. The fact that mohawks are associated with Iroquois Indians, US soldiers, first-wave punk rockers, and now almost everyone else doesn’t limit you if you’re willing to be creative.

There is always something that someone hasn’t tried, and that’s what punk is - being on the cutting edge. Take a look at what people are doing to their hair these days, and try to draw some inspiration. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your hair in all kinds of ways, or have friends experiment on your hair for you. Hair always grows back. The great thing about being a punk rocker is that there is no uniform except originality.

Eire Go Bragh - Irish Bog Mummy Mohawk

In 2006 Irish anthropologists discovered the oldest mohawk ever recorded - on a murdered Irishman that had been mummified in a peat moss bog for the last 2300 years. Does this make the Mohawk people posers? No. It just makes the mohawk one of the most popular hair cuts in all of human history.

For more on the Irish bog mummy with the mohawk, check out the article Conyclavan man proves Irish were first punk rockers.

How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 1 - History of Leather Jackets

In 1977 the Ramones released their first album, a self-titled LP that revolutionized music, that depicted them all wearing matching leather jackets on the cover. Since then the black leather and massive steel zippers have defined the image of punk in the public opinion. But there were leather jackets before the Ramones. And they were not the only punks to wear them. So you want to look like a punk? You had better know a thing or two about what you’re wearing. So I’m going to tell you how.

Originally people began making clothing out of leather as armor. Cows hides are already nearly impossible to damage without using excessive force, so tanning and treating that hide can make a comfortable and durable piece of clothing. Leather armor was the forefront of military technology in the bronze age, and was the Kevlar of its time.

In World War II the leather jacket dominated the images and iconography of the American war effort. Aviators were heroes of the public eye, strapping themselves to lawn chairs that flew and risking life and limb to protect their country from the airborne menace of both Tojo and Hitler. Pilots like Norman “Bud” Fortier, who is pictured to the left, were the toughest, bravest Americans at the time, and saying otherwise was likely to get your face bashed in anywhere in the country.

By now the leather jacket had accumulated both the implication of being armor for barbarians, and uniforms for the tough-as-nails servicemen who returned from war victorious.

The next people to proudly display the jacket in front of the world were James Dean and Marlon Brando. Both pristine example of American masculinity, James Dean wore his brown leather jacket off screen because of his of racing cars- a habit that eventually killed him. Brando instead wore his leather exclusively on the silver screen in the legendary film “The Wild One”. Both contributed to the ascending popularity of the article of clothing.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s leather jackets became associated with greasers, a subculture in the US and UK that was focused on rock and roll music, powerful cars, girls, and violence. As a precursor to punk, greaser subculture was heavily emulated in the early days of punk rock. The beginning of leather jackets as a symbol of rock stardom, though, was actually the Beatles. Before they came to the United States with matching haircuts and neat suits they were rocking the working-class pubs of Liverpool wearing leather.

In the 1970s punk was born. The ragingly popular TV show “Happy Days” depicted Henry Winkler as tough-as-nails smooth-talking Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli, and perennially popular John Travolta sported one all through the Hollywood blockbuster “Grease”. This all happened around the first bursts of punk.

For a while the Ramones had a monopoly on leather jackets in punk rock. The Sex Pistols, the only other punk band making headlines around the world at the time, had actively avoided the look. Thus, during the 1970s wearing a leather jacket was still retro, and that retro aspect is what gave the Ramones a distinctive look. But then Sid Vicious joined the Sex Pistols, and his iconic overly-studded jacket became integral to the aesthetic of the genre. With the leather jacket a central theme in the look of both of the titans of punk rock in the late 1970s, it was not difficult to see the next logical step in the progression of punk fashion. Leather jackets were everywhere, modified with railroad spikes, patches, or safety pins. For more on how the Ramones and Sex Pistols effected punk fashion, check out How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 4 - The Early Years

Nowadays, though, it’s not so much the jacket as the leather. If you want to look like a punk, don’t just emulate what other people have been wearing. That’s a real good way to look like a poser. Instead, try thinking up new ways to wear leather that evokes the same kind of imagery, without looking like just another jerk wearing a cliche. Joan Jett, for example, popularized the leather vest, an awesome variation on the leather jacket trend. There are lots of attributes to leather jackets that convey different images. Wearing one with a sheepskin collar will remind people of pilots and Indiana Jones, whereas one covered with studs is more reminiscent of the Los Angeles punk scene. Long leather tassels are distinctly American biker. Larger padding and thicker material is typical of leather jackets designed for utility whereas fashion designers prefer the slimmer, sleeker models.

Overall if you want to look punk come up with your own style. That doesn’t mean you can’t borrow ideas from other people or build off of other peoples looks, but make sure that the end product is one hundred percent you.