But the modern spin on 1970’s punk and 1980’s new wave hasn’t exactly given up on couture. It seems those oversized Chanel shades and overpriced Balenciagas may in fact match perfectly with a pair of leggings and a skull incrusted wrist cuff.

In reality the essence of Punk fashion is no more. The days of Vivienne Westwood and style rebels have passed leaving us only with a fleeting homage to the scene. The Punk fashion movement was born in the mid 70’s becoming a subculture as a reaction to England’s poor economic and socio-political conditions. Vivienne Westwood and her partner Malcolm McLaren were greatly responsible for bringing Punk style to the world.

McLaren, while living in Manhattan and managing the New York Dolls noticed that New York trends were also reacting to socio-economic conditions as a form of rebellion. When he returned to England to manage the Sex Pistols he brought what he had learned in the US to the London scene. Originally his store on King’s Road in Chelsea was called “Let it Rock” and sold vintage fifties designs in the height of the hippie movement, afterwards the shop redecorated and its name changed to “Too Fast to Live, Too Young To Die” catering more to rockers and black urban culture.

But McLaren decided in 1974 after his time in New York to change the store’s name to “Sex”, selling T-shirts with pornographic texts and pictures as well as S&M gear. This ignited the Punk trend bringing its style fusion to the masses. Proving that fashion and music have a major effect on each other.

A more watered down version of Punk-chic crossed over into the eighties, giving a pop spin on deconstructionist fashion. A product as well as a victim of capitalism, it became so over commercialized and mass marketed that the message was somehow lost in the high price tags and department store imitations.

Aside from that there was a return to conservatism in America and self-expression through style seemed to be fading. Traditional values and consumerism were sweeping prior trends away, making room for a 50’s social outlook. But by mid-decade street fashion would once again dictate our style. Combining ripped jeans and spiked hair with more elegant accessories and designer clothing. Punks and yuppies found away to co-exist through fashion fusions.

With MTV in 1981 came an entirely new way of emulating fashion and style. New Wave, born from the post punk movement was a more pop sounding style of music that again sparked a fashion trend. Neck ties and Mod culture from the sixties and seventies were once again revived. Plastic and contemporary synthetic materials played a major role in our use of spandex and other accessories. Then of course with MTV came Madonna, who would come to play a major role in dictating our trends for the next twenty five years.

A fashion chameleon, her style was a form of self-expression, always controversial and ever changing. Showing the world the trends they were about to follow, then abandoning it for something newer and more exciting. Constantly a step ahead of the rest of us Madonna’s mix of East Village punk with sophisticated pop sent the youth market running to stores around the world searching for rubber bracelets to wear and T-shirts to thrash. Shoulder pads were stacking higher as a result of power dressing.

The women’s movement in the sixties and seventies had more women in the workplace and a greater demand for business suits and male inspired attire. But pop-fashion was overtly feminine and embraced sexuality as a form of power adorned with bright colors and framed with giant earrings.

Today’s fashion seems to have once again returned to this punk pop fusion. As music continues to spark subcultures their aesthetic will never fail to ignite trends. Things have changed politically and socially yet style rebellion is a recycled form of self-expression and need to be individual. It was a long road through 90’s grunge and boho chic but you can’t exactly get to the end without going through the middle. It just leaves you wondering where we could possibly be going next.