Bin Liners – Punk Fashion
One of the more unusual fashions thrown up by punk (and there were a fricken lot of them) was the wearing of bin liners (bin bags).
…punk style was defined principally through the violence of its ‘cut ups’. Like Duchamp’s ‘ready mades’ — manufactured objects which qualified as art because he chose to call them such, the most unremarkable and inappropriate items — a pin, a plastic clothes peg, a television component, a razor blade, a tampon — could be brought within the province of punk (un)fashion. Anything within or without reason could be turned into part of what Vivien Westwood called ‘confrontation dressing’ so long as the rupture between ‘natural’ and constructed context was clearly visible (i.e. the rule would seem to be: if the cap doesn’t fit, wear it).
Objects borrowed from the most sordid of contexts found a place in the punks’ ensembles: lavatory chains were draped in graceful arcs across chests encased in plastic bin-liners. Safety pins were taken out of their domestic ‘utility’ context and worn as gruesome ornaments through the cheek, ear or lip.
Ah the bin liner. Cheap, readily customisable and an affront to decency by using a common refuse sack as clothing. The ultimate instant ready-made.
Bob Noble (Sahara Farm) My mate, like everyone else outside the Punk scene, thought that all Punks dressed in black bin liners, so he would as well. The problem was that he had had a few drinks, went into the [Roxy Club] gents and returned with a black bin liner on and nothing else. To top it off he went up to a girl and asked her if she wanted to dance. The look on her face and just about everyone else who saw him was just amazing. Paul Marko, The Roxy Club WC2
Robin Farquhar-Thomson (Roxygoer) Fantastic anti-fashion clothes. This was before the Punk uniform of leather jackets. Not much Vivienne Westwood; more homemade clothes. My brother enjoyed sporting a black bin liner and many of the boys wore pretty badly applied make-up. The feeling was one of intense excitement – it was really quite dangerous to wear that stuff at that time. Paul Marko, The Roxy Club WC2
The bin liner look was soon ripped off more commercially and sold by mail order through the weekly music papers as shown in the advert on the right.
Even Boy George customised plastic bags though in this case it was a Tesco shopping bag
The music at the Black Prince was mainly disco and funk with a bit of Roxy Music and Bowie thrown in. Most of the crowd were into the soul look: Smith’s American jeans, bright-coloured combed-out mohair jumpers, wrap-around shades, and winkle pickers. Some of the more full-on types were starting to wear plastic bags and trousers, feather earrings, safety pins on their clothes and in their ears…I copied Jayne and made myself a cut-price outfit out of a Tesco carrier bag and wore it as a vest with a baby’s dummy round my neck. Boy George, Take It Like A Man
And the papers in the wake of the Bill Grundy incident focussed on punk rock and its fashion to give some quality advice. Here’s the Sunday Mirror from December 1976 giving a breakdown of costs for a punk look and showing a variety of models rocking that crazeee punk look!
Tot up the cost of their outfits this way: Launderette bags 15p, dustbin liners 10p, safety pins, 15p a packet; small paper clips, 15p a packet of 30; large, 25p a packet. From stationery shops anywhere. Lavatory chains from 59p, at larger Woolworth’s.
The popularity of bin liners (bin bags) soon waned probably because t shirts and cheaper punk clothing became more commonplace.
I bet you’re thinking this is ridiculous! But here’s an article from 2021 by Lucy Britnell on the Fashion North website entitled:
Bin liner couture: how to look good in a trash bag – A rubbish look? I think not.
Need a last minute outfit? No need to rely on next day delivery when you could be a crafty fashionista and turn your household items into a stunning outfit.
A perk of using households items is it won’t break the bank, for just £1 you could create this classic monochrome look. Drape a black bin bag around your body, adjusting the length to suit you which makes it fit the body perfectly. The ruched detailing makes it really flattering as well as keeping it on trend.
The little black dress (LBD) is a classic so why not give it a upgrade with a white bin bag over the shoulder for some mesh detailing which keeps it very on trend.
For accessories, take two white bin bags and wrap them around your wrists into a bow detail which matches the mesh detailing.
TalkPunk
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