Punk-Style Clothes … Coming To a GAP Near You! 
By Shawn 


What the fuck happened to the punk style??? 
 
Ok - I go to shows, not as often as I used to, but I have noticed that in the last four years the 
style of punk has really changed. Back when I was a young punk rocker, I used to wear jeans 
and a t-shirt. The jeans were worn every day and they would wear out. And when they did, we 
would put patches on them to cover up the holes - with dental floss, no less.   
 
The t-shirts were usually shirts of our favorite bands. The punk accessories" would consist of 
bondage or studded belts that we would make ourselves.  This would also go for bracelets too. 
Safety pins were used to hold thing together or on to clothing.  We would put our hair up in 
spikes whether it is a mohawk, liberty spikes or whatever. This was usually done for shows and 
sometimes day to day.  
 
Nowadays, when I go out to shows, I see this new breed of Punk Rock Kids - the mall punk 
kids. These are kids that bought everything they own - at the MALL - already punked out. Pre-
punked clothing to-go?! These kids have the usual band shirts, but here is were it gets weird: 
they have these shirts that say "Punk Rock, Punk Princess, Punk's Not Dead, Punk as Fuck, 
Punk King, Punk Queen," or just the word Punk on it. Some of these shirts have a British flag 
on them. This I do not understand, these kids will wear a British flag, a country they have never 
been to but will also on the same jacket wear an upside down US flag--the flag of the country 
that they were born in and live in. The worst of it - some of the shirts do not have real safety 
pins… but printed on safety pins! What the FUCK?! 
 
Mall-punk "punk accessories" consist of belts that are pre-studded. Back in my day, these did 
not exist. We had to make our own! The same with the bondage belts and bracelets. The hair is 
still spiked the same, but the hair dye is not real - it is just that spray-on crap that washes out. If 
you're gonna be a punk - commit yourself to it! COMMIT GODDAMN IT! Punk is not a 
weekend thing -punk is a way of life. 
 
About a month ago, me and some friends were out and we saw this guy and his friend with 
baggy-ass-pants, a bright silver shirt that said Punk Rock, a chain wallet that came down to his 
knees, and a Beverly Hills 90210 hair cut that was sprayed-on blue. This jack-ass was sweating 
blue because the dye was bleeding out.  
 
I guess what I am trying to say is that nowadays it is just not that hard to dress like a punk. Any 
Tommy Hill yuppie can just walk into any Hot Topic or any mall punk store with $300.00 (that 
is about how much it will cost) and walk out looking like a modern day Punk Rocker. Just add 
attitude - and voila - you too can be punk. Is this just a sign of the times?  A sign of how things 
have just gotten easier - like TV dinners instead of a home-cooked meal. I really don't have the 
answer to this. Maybe someone out there will.