Punk Mainstream?
I pose the question: Has punk trickled into mainstream society? Can punk really be punk if it’s ideals,clothing, behavior, etc. is mimicked by the masses? Is punk soiled or essentially dead because one of the trends is featured in a popular designer’s new fall line? Is it wrong for people to actually like the culture that was created in order to be hated? I bring up these questions with my background of my Tumblr site in mind. Would these fashion designers be culturally acceptable to a group of radical youth in the midst of their “punkture” peak? Though in the fashion world designers like DSquared and Vivienne Westwood are the epitome of “punk fashion”, would an “authentic” punk pay hundreds of dollars for their jeans to be pre-shredded and dyed?
My response if I understand the true essence of “punkture” correctly would be no. I quote Dick Hebdige in saying ” The key to punk style remains elusive. Instead of arriving at the point where we can begin to make sense of the style, we have reached the very place where meaning itself evaporates….” By designers taking the street fashions and emulating them, they are destroying the very essence of this style. Punk is a interesting phenomenon where to create meaning is the culture’s kryptonite. Like Hebdige said “punk style remains elusive” To assign a meaning the paper clip earrings, red spiked hair or even worse, to try and mass produce these ideas and sell them to the average consumer is a direct violation of the “punkture” movement. So my answer is infinitely and indefinitely no, mainstream punk is a myth. While you’re carefully concentrating how your outfit will make people perceive you as a punk, you have already defeated the entire history of the very thing you’re “trying” to be come.
