Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Contemporary pop punk fashion, sometimes called scene fashion, originally consisted of black or tartan baggy pants (sometimes fitted with studs and eyelets), band hoodies, wristbands, patrol caps, pyramid stud belts, dress shirts with thin ties or scarves, blazers, and spiky hair or fohawks — a look that sometimes overlaps with skater punk fashion. In the mid-2000s, influenced by indie rock, hip hop and emo fashions, it evolved to include cartoon print hoodies, Converse shoes, keffiyehs and skinny jeans, and by the 2010s pop punk fans had taken on a more hardcore look with shorter hair, plain hoodies and straight-leg jeans.
Learn more about various punk fashion styles from the main page of this section.
Pop punk is the most commercially exposed of the punk styles, and its fashion changes fastest because it absorbs whatever surrounds it. The original scene look borrowed the skater's baggy silhouette and the dress shirt and thin tie of mod and ska dress, then punk-coded them with pyramid studs and band hoodies. Each later shift is a record of a neighboring scene's influence: indie rock and emo brought the fringe and the skinny jean, hip hop kept the hoodie central, and hardcore eventually pulled the whole wardrobe plainer and the hair shorter.
The dress shirt, thin tie and blazer deserve attention because they are pop punk's most distinctive borrowings. Worn with baggy tartan pants and a studded belt, school-uniform pieces become ironic — formal clothing deliberately mismatched with punk hardware. Later versions kept the joke but changed the fit: as trousers went skinny and then straight-leg, the blazer-and-tie combination faded, and the plain hoodie became the style's default top.
Black or tartan baggy pants, sometimes with studs and eyelets, band hoodies, wristbands, patrol caps, pyramid stud belts, dress shirts with thin ties or scarves, blazers, and spiky hair or fohawks.
Under the influence of indie rock, hip hop and emo fashion, it added cartoon print hoodies, Converse shoes, keffiyehs and skinny jeans, while spiky hair was gradually replaced by skater styles with long fringes or bangs.
Fans took on a more hardcore look: shorter hair — including Liberty spikes and a wide Mohawk combined with a fringe — plain hoodies and straight-leg jeans.