page_title: 1980s in fashion
section_title: Punk
hierarchical_section_title: 1980s in fashion / Subcultures of the 1980s / Punk
caption_attribution_description: English: Wendy Wu, 1980
context_page_description: Fashion of the 1980s placed heavy emphasis on expensive clothes and fashion accessories. Apparel tended to be very bright and vivid in appearance. Women expressed an image of wealth and success through shiny costume jewelry, such as large faux-gold earrings, pearl necklaces, and clothing covered with sequins and diamonds. Punk fashion began as a reaction against both the hippie movement of the past decades and the materialist values of the current decade. The first half of the decade was relatively tame in comparison to the second half, which is when the iconic 1980s color scheme had come into popularity.
  Hair in the 1980s was typically big, curly, bouffant and heavily styled. Television shows such as Dynasty helped popularize the high volume bouffant and glamorous image associated with it. Women from the 1980s wore bright, heavy makeup. Everyday fashion in the 1980s consisted of light-colored lips, dark and thick eyelashes, and pink or red rouge.
context_section_description: Throughout the 1980s, the punk style was popular among people aged 18–22. Characterized by multi-colored mohawks, ripped skinny jeans, worn band tee-shirts, and denim or leather jackets. This style was popular among people who listened to punk music such as The Sex Pistols, and later, (despite the band's self-proclaimed rock'n'roll image) Guns N' Roses. Usually the denim jackets (which became an identity of the group) were adorned by safety pins, buttons, patches, and several other pieces of music or cultural memorabilia. Oftentimes, fans of the punk style would take random bits of fabric and attach them to their other clothes with safety pins. This soon became a popular way of attaching clothing, and it is now known as "pin shirts" with young women. The shirts are, essentially, rectangular pieces of fabric that are pinned on one side with safety pins. In the 1980s, a dressed down look (e.g. buzzed hair, T-shirts, jeans and button up shirts) was also very popular with people involved in punk rock, more specifically the hardcore punk scene. The Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris said "Some of those punk rock kids they interviewed were a little over the top, but the thing historically is – the L.A./Hollywood punk scene was basically based on English fashion. But we had nothing to do with that. Black flag and the Circle Jerks were so far from that. We looked like the kid who worked at the gas station or submarine shop." Punk dress was not simply a fashion statement. It epitomized a way of thinking and seeing oneself as an individual cultural producer and consumer. In this way, punk style led many people to ask further questions about their culture and their politics.
caption: Wendy Wu, lead singer of the British new-wave band The Photos, in 1980.
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