Making the Black Parade Black
My Emo Phase Wasn’t a Phase
Graphic by: Zara Hasnani
“When we started to do punk, we put all of these things together to create the look of an urban guerilla – a rebel.”
-Vivienne Westwood
Image courtesy of FashionTribes.com
Punk began in Chelsea, London in 1974 on King’s Road when fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and her boyfriend Malcolm McLaren opened a shop called SEX and sold clothes that would become the blueprint for punk fashion. When McLaren founded the Sex Pistols in 1975 , Westwood dressed him in her own designs that featured stylistic choices the world had not seen before: purposeful rips in jeans and shirts, leather jackets, safety pins and outlandish hair. The band’s shocking lyrics coupled with Westwood’s styling perfectly characterized the brewing teenage angst of 1970s Britain. As the Sex Pistols gained popularity, the punk movement was propelled into the rest of Europe where teenagers resonated with the bands’ lyrical and sartorial forms of rebellion. Westwood’s influence remains 45 years later, guaranteeing a place where punk fashion and its subcultures can be viewed as glamorous while simultaneously challenging gender norms and societal beauty standards.
Image courtesy of CR Fashion Book
Punk fashion signified freedom by using fabrics made of leather, PVC and rubber as well as embellishments like rips, studs, chains, safety pins and fishnets. The movement’s core values have withheld the test of time. In 2014, the desire to rebel against society’s claustrophobic boxes caused a punk fashion revival, with fishnets, leather and chokers coming back into style. The resurrection of alternative fashion began with the early 2010’s Tumblr era. Young adults primarily used Tumblr to share collages of their aesthetics, whether that be with music, clothes or even fan art of fictional worlds. One of the most popular Tumblr aesthetics was grunge and alternative, which featured blurred photos, edgy (but now cringy) quotes and an obsession with arson. Teenagers once again had an outlet where they could freely share their angst with each other. As they screamed the lyrics to My Chemical Romance’s “Helena” and their parents thought it was “just a phase,” Tumblr rebirthed punk in a modern era of teenagers growing up amidst the rise of the internet.
Diary of a Punk Black Woman
“The American President may be Black, but as a Black woman, I am still an exception in this business.”
Image courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar
The fashion industry’s lack of diversity is not new, nor is it shocking. Eurocentric beauty standards have ruled the ancient and modern world for centuries, implicitly telling Black women their features are not beautiful. Naomi Campbell directly challenged this notion by becoming one of the most renowned models in fashion history.When she first started modeling in the late ‘80s, she paved the way for Black women to progress in the fashion industry. Now, major fashion houses have slowly begun to feature more Black models on their runways, either because they actually desire diversity or simply want to avoid backlash for not having Black models. Regardless of their true motive, it is a welcome change. Individuals seeing someone who looks like them in a high position is a powerful motivator, and increased visibility in the fashion world encourages them to explore and experiment with their personal style.
Images courtesy of Grunge Aesthetics on Tumblr, @Emo_Lifestyle_ on Twitter, @Fare31465706 on Twitter and Wallpaper Cave
Although more Black women are now represented in high fashion, this representation within the alt-fashion community is still seriously lacking. I never saw a single punk or alt photo of a Black woman in the Tumblr era, and even if there were Black women who were part of the grunge aesthetic community, they were never promoted. Instead, I was constantly exposed to Eurocentric beauty standards and felt like I could not wear fishnets and chains or listen to The 1975 since I did not fit the aesthetic. This experience is universal with all Black girls who feel that they will be judged for wearing clothes that white people are praised for wearing.
The only difference in 2021 is that TikTokhas overtaken Tumblr as a platform for young adults to share their aesthetics. Users of the app have alleged that the algorithm sidesteps Black creators and promotes white creators who steal their content. In June, many Black creators protested the lack of credit they receive on the app, causing a significant reduction in new, original TikTok content. Although most of this anger is primarily concentrated on the dance side of TikTok, the same applies to the fashion side. Alt-fashion Black women are not given the same prominence on the app as white women with similar style. I went through 276 TikToks under the altfashion hashtag to find Black alt-fashion creators and found only five Black women. Within those five, all were light skin, revealing that even within this community, colorism prevents dark skin Black women from getting equal recognition.
Image courtesy of Willow Smith on Instagram
This lack of representation is damaging. The idea that Black people are unworthy of an entire trend is traumatic and difficult to overcome. Before the release of her pop-punk album “lately I feel EVERYTHING,” WILLOW said in an interview that “Black youth get taught that we belong in R&B and rap spaces, and we don't do the research. We're not given the truth. There's no way that we would be able to follow that example because we don't even know it exists.” This media invisibility prevents Black women from forcing their way through the barriers of white-only spaces. However, this invisibility is in its last days as women like WILLOW, famous artists who incorporate elements of punk in their music and fashion, are rising from the shadows.
Punk is Power
“I’ve been imagining spikes in my head since I was 13 years old.”
-Rico Nasty [cq]
Image courtesy of NPR
Image courtesy of Euphoria Zine
WILLOW’s album and the accompanying promotional photos shattered barriers for Black women in the punk music industry the same way Naomi Campbell shattered barriers for Black runway models. Being a Black woman in the alternative community means standing out in every way imaginable. This is hard to deal with, especially for a community that Malcolm X described as the most disrespected in America. The invisibility of alternative Black women exacerbated the isolation they felt. But all of this disappeared once WILLOW’s personal style was heavily publicized. Suddenly, a Black woman was all over Instagram in wild makeup and hair, chains and plaid pants with studded belts and casually hanging out with Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker. And she was celebrated. Her story of being afraid to make punk music but doing it anyway because she wanted to, was the very thing Black women wanted, needed, to overcome their own fears. Then, they saw Rico Nasty wearing Demonia Swing 815s in a Lil Uzi Vert mosh pit, confidently flaunting her punk style. They listened to her music and felt empowered by her raspy voice that sounded exactly like all of the emo bands they grew up listening to. Finally, alternative Black women have role models they can look to for inspiration. A&O Productions’ 2021 Blowout is evidence of this inspiration. At WILLOW and Raveena’s performance, many Black women took inspiration from WILLOW, digging through their closets for every punk article of clothing they could find.
Black women can no longer be ignored. Their powerful and confident presence in all spaces — even if they are told those spaces are not for them — forces people to notice them. No one can turn away. No one can avert their eyes. And if they don’t like it, they can get squashed under the cleated sole of my Dr. Martens.
Image courtesy of @riconasty on Instagram