Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Garage punk bands of the 1970s — MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, the Flamin' Groovies and the Ramones among them — often wore secondhand clothing from the mid-to-late 1960s: velvet jackets, slim-fitting grey suits, black leather jackets, winklepickers and drainpipe jeans. The look was a reaction to the flared trousers worn by hippies and disco fans. Hair was generally worn long, as was then fashionable, though some fans opted for buzzcuts or Caesar cuts, previously associated with hard mods and bootboys.
Garage punk bands of the 1970s like MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, the Flamin' Groovies and the Ramones often wore secondhand clothing from the mid-late 1960s, such as velvet jackets, slim-fitting grey suits, black leather jackets, winklepickers and drainpipe jeans, in reaction to the flared trousers worn by hippies and disco fans.
Their hair was generally worn long, as was then fashionable in the 1970s, but some fans opted for buzzcuts or Caesar cuts, previously associated with hard mods and bootboys.
Following the 1980s garage rock revival, garage punk bands tended to dress more casually, with less overtly 1960s clothing. However, the original garage punk look remained a big influence among British indie rock groups during the mid and late-2000s.
Learn more about various punk fashion
styles from the main page of this section.
The 1960s clothing was not nostalgia. In the 1970s, mid-1960s suits and drainpipe jeans were simply what secondhand shops held, and wearing them slim and sharp set garage bands against both the flared silhouette of hippie and disco dress and the theatrical costumes of mainstream rock. A slim grey suit or a velvet jacket bought used made the point cheaply and clearly: the band dressed like the sharp amateur groups of a decade earlier because that was the music they wanted to sound like.
The casual turn after the 1980s revival might have ended the style as a uniform, but the silhouette survived as an influence. When British indie rock groups of the mid and late 2000s reached for slim suits, leather jackets and drainpipe cuts, they were borrowing the garage punk wardrobe at one remove. The style's afterlife shows in how ordinary its elements now seem — the slim secondhand suit reads as a default rock band outfit precisely because garage punk wore it first as a refusal.
Secondhand clothing from the mid-late 1960s: velvet jackets, slim-fitting grey suits, black leather jackets, winklepickers and drainpipe jeans — worn in reaction to the flared trousers of hippies and disco fans.
Following the 1980s garage rock revival, garage punk bands tended to dress more casually, with less overtly 1960s clothing. The original look nonetheless remained a big influence on British indie rock groups during the mid and late 2000s.
Hair was generally worn long, as fashionable in the 1970s, but some fans chose buzzcuts or Caesar cuts, cuts previously associated with hard mods and bootboys.