Why do they all look the same?

[Nerf]

The scene aesthetic is stupid all together. It seems as though the girls go out of their way to dress like guys and the guys to dress like girls. Like Skummy said, the people that kill fashions are the people that follow them. I get called scene all the time but my fashion sense changes day to day. Scene is just getting more and more popular like punk did when The Sex Pistols got big, like Indie did when Oasis took off and like Chav did when...when Chavs began? Eventually it'll die out and there'll be some other idiotic fashion, probably guys wearing pink dresses with flip flops and orange sunglasses.

[Darloboy]

I absolutely despise the whole 'scene' look, yet I have no idea why. Probably just seeing every other person at college wearing tight jeans, Converse and with a stupid dyed-black fringe.

[VerbalPuke]

Punk's the most obvious example, because you look at it in the early days, either in New York or in London (London's the obvious example, because of the amount of media coverage and exposure the early punk crowds got, and how recognisable a lot of them are), and everyone dresses completely uniquely, and completely differently. As soon as the Sex Pistols started to get big, punk "fashion" was costing an arm and a leg, and people were turning up to the shows dressed in identikit punk "uniform" of the Sid Vicious leather jacket, torn jeans, spiked hair, piercings, safety pins, etc., while having nothing to do with the roots of it all, or understanding what it was that made it "unique" or "different" in the first place.

A funny story about that is John Lydon's explanation as to why he actually wore the safety pins. They were simply being worn to "keep his pants together as they would fall off of his ass". He was wearing them basically as a means to keep his clothes hole because his family wasn't exactly wealthy. People see big bad Rotten on stage with the safety pins and begin to emulate the look.

I always had more of a fondness for the scenes in California, and the Midwest for the simple fact that the music came before the fashion. In fact, the fashion was limited in most of the area's, though LA had it's share of the wild looking characters. Still, look at most of the concert crowds from those shows and you'll see pretty plain clothed kids, though obviously not clean cut with an occasional mohawk here and there.

I think the UK punk in general was more involved with their fashion as opposed to their American counterparts. Even looking at the two regions versions of hardcore, the liberty spikes, chains, leather, biker boots of D-Beat or UK82 style which was pretty non existent in the states (until now, as I elaborated on in my initial post).

I think a lot of the people involved in the fashion aspect forget that the music was made as a backlash to the current rock and roll and disco scene. Basically they were reviving old rock and roll, making it raw and fun again, ignoring the current trend of the stadium rockers with the contrived solos and concept albums. They were giving rock and roll it's balls again.

[Skummy]

I think a lot of the people involved in the fashion aspect forget that the music was made as a backlash to the current rock and roll and disco scene. Basically they were reviving old rock and roll, making it raw and fun again, ignoring the current trend of the stadium rockers with the contrived solos and concept albums. They were giving rock and roll it's balls again.

Definitely, but in the UK the fashion was just as much a part of it as the music...it was a rejection of the dated glam rock, Teddy Boy and Mod scenes, and a real "cut it up and start again" attitude. Although, as you said, the reason Lydon wore torn clothes and safety pins is because he pretty much needed to, he was coming from a poor London-Irish family and he couldn't afford to go and buy clothes from SEX or anywhere like that, and a lot of the early crowd were the same way, they were just wearing what they could afford, as well as going all-out to shock, be it through androgny, taboo symbolism, overt sexuality, "aggressive" clothing and hairstyles, or just wearing things that you just wouldn't have seen before that. The ideal, fashion-wise, was less of the "start from the beginning" idea of re-injecting traditional DIY rock and roll into music, but more of a "start over" idea, either rejecting old values and styles altogether, or using them in a style as to poke fun at them (like Lydon's occassional foray into Teddy Boy fashion).

[VerbalPuke]

Absolutely good points made. The SEX shop was an interesting subject, as a lot of the idea's for the clothing came fetish and bondage clothing, hence the name SEX. The rubber tops, and bondage pants which are probably most recognizable to some are the obvious, as are the spiked dog collars. But again, as fascinating as some of the clothing became, it also became contrived and ludicrous to look at.

You may already have read this, but I think you'd like Johnny Rotten's biography. It's a great read, and really shows him as a very intelligent man coming across as pretty genuine albeit a bit arrogant. His book is probably the best documentation of Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols that I've ever read. Plus he delves into the fashion aspect of punk, and brings up a lot of similar points you made.

[Skummy]

Yeah, I've read Rotten, it's a fantastic read, although it can sometimes be worth cross-referencing with accounts by other people who were around at the time because, like you said, he has a tendency towards (admittedly well-deserved) arrogance.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Siouxsie Sioux > other goth chicks ever

[Skummy]

He's right, y'know.

[TOG]

I wear tighter pants because I look better in them, but I at least shop in the men's section.

[EndOfAnEra]

I had to put up with scene fucks when I went to an AFI show. Poison The Well was opening, and my biggest gripe with these kids was started right there. It's not the pants, the hair, the make-up, or even the attitude that everyone else is shit if they're not dressed like them...it's the 'moshing'. Floor punching and shadow fighting? Are you fucking serious? They look absolutely retarded trying to out spin-kick eachother.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I've had very positive comments on the look of my (clothed) rear end from gay men in the past, so I wear baggy keks

[Summers]

They dress like that (despite it being "the same") because they want to. & because they like it. You [collectively, everyone.] dress how you want to for the same reason, and you also aren't the only one doing it. The scene is emo. Emo kids are scene. The girls are crazy hot sometimes. A lot of the guys are dickheads. The question isn't really music related, it's fashion related.

& to quote Billie Piper; it's because they want to, because they want to.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Is he like Roddy's cousin or something.

[TheCrippler]

Is he like Roddy's cousin or something.

[Rashid]

I really hate the clothing style of emo/scene. To me it's just a toned down more pathetic version of goth.

I usually don't like following clothing trends, and like sticking out. Though there's nowhere good to shop here, so most of my clothing is generic, which sucks. If I had the money, I'd buy some Samurai outfits online and wear that to school.

[Constellation Funk]

I really hate the clothing style of emo/scene. To me it's just a toned down more pathetic version of goth.

[apsham]

Yes, hair is the definitive thing in determining how alike people are.

[Skummy]

Don't bring up goth. I could be here for hours on subculture if you start going on about goth. There's an awful lot more than "throwing on a trenchcoat and some black make-up".

[Steeb]

goths just wore black makeup, had black hair, and threw on trenchcoats

[YI]

It's not the pants, the hair, the make-up, or even the attitude that everyone else is shit if they're not dressed like them...it's the 'moshing'. Floor punching and shadow fighting? Are you fucking serious? They look absolutely retarded trying to out spin-kick eachother.

Agreed, to the nth degree. There's expressing yourself freely, and then there's this >_>