Punk clothing - Unique Gothic, Rock & Punk

Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, often doleful, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Characteristic Gothic fashion includes black dyed and crimped hair and black garments. Both masculine and female goths infrequently wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are typically borrowed from the Punks, Victorians and Elizabethans. BDSM imagery and paraphernalia are also common. Some haute couture designers, especially Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, have been related to the goth aesthetic.

Cintra Wilson declares that "The origins of contemporary goth style are found in the Victorian cult of mourning." Valerie Steele is a professional in the history of the style.

Punk fashion is the styles of clothing, haircuts, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely from Vivienne Westwood styles to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, rude boys, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion. Punk fashion has similarly influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of favored culture. Punks use clothing as a method of making a statement.

Deliberately offensive T-shirts were favored in the early punk scene,eg the infamous DESTROY T-shirt sold at SEX, which featured a reversed cross and a Fascist Swastika. These T-shirts, like other punk clothing items, were often torn purposely. Other items in early UK punk fashion included : Anarchy symbols; brightly-colored or white and black dress shirts at random covered in slogans ( like "Only Anarchists are pretty" ) ; fake blood; patches; and deliberately controversial images (such as portraits of Marx, Stalin and Mussolini) were preferred. Leather rocker jackets and customised blazers were early, and are still a common fixture of punk fashion.

Punk fashion has been very commercialised at numerous times, and many well-established fashion designers - like Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier - have used punk elements in their production. Punk clothing, which was at first hand-crafted, became mass produced and sold in record stores and some smaller specialty clothes shops by the 1980's.

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