4.6 out of 5
The term ‘Punk’ was related to a rebel culture that became prominent during the 70s. It eventually transformed and gained value among renowned showbiz personalities and became fashion statements and rock ‘n’ roll identity to a great extent. Some of the well-known and common punk communicado are punk leather jackets. Or more to say punk jackets with patches, cuts and several other accents.
Punk Style
Enthusiasts adopted patch representations from cut-off jackets used by the U.S. aviation personnel, where they collected patches that held value by achievement badges onto their punk jackets and flight suits. This was not just adopted by the punk subculture but also by others like heavy metal and biker gangs.
By the end of the twentieth century, people who qualified to be called punks and metalheads diversified punk style into multipocketed vests to bespoke leather jackets called cut-offs, which bikers have heavily adopted ever since. Television series/movies such as ‘Sons of Anarchy’ clearly and hyper realistically depict the relevance and significance of these jackets among biker clans. One needs to be worthy to deserve a cut or a patch.
Well, where did ‘punk’ come from? New York? London? Or did it all start with an individual proponent who stood for something more than just fashion. The punk culture was originally a result of late capitalism. It has a lot to do with the depressed economic and sociopolitical history of the West, mainly America and England, that are known to be the emergence points of punk style.
Punk Culture
As much as punk culture’s origin is associated with the state of the 70s New York and London's socioeconomic statuses, Derbyshire-born Vivienne Westwood is the face that punk is closely associated with. As the punk culture grew against modern consumerism, it is claimed that Vivienne was key to commercializing the same style in London and is believed to have significantly helped in reappropriating the idea of Punk DIY.
At the same time, New Yorkers were parallelly developing the style to suit protests against promoting an elitist mentality that grew along with the Beatles and Rolling Stones. In short, punk reinvented rock and metal in many ways to date, which helped it stay and evolve for over half a century.
Being Punk
However, there are still several opinions and diverse views regarding being punk . While being punk might not be necessary, the jacket side of fashion is one aspect where it saw huge success along with rock ‘n’ roll. Jackets are long-lasting items that can be modified and altered in several ways. Especially with all the punk elements and patches. The durability factor and the impeccable look it delivers helped punk jackets build an identity of their own.
Find a subtle design with a meaningful amount of punkiness to it; who knows; you might rock it like never before. Maybe it’s even time for a variation of punk called subtle punk. Something like that’s a half biker, half punk. This also has a lot to do with the accessories other pieces of outerwear combined with the jacket. Matching jeans, nicely set hair, classic watches etc.