Subcultures - A form of defiance?

The Question in which I am going to answer is, why is style / fashion seen as a form of defiance or political protest? Ideas in which I needed to explore to answer the question were. How was fashion seen as a form of defiance? Were there any examples of this? And if so, how did they defy the ‘norm’?

Style / Fashion is a statement of an individual or group. The clothes in which we are wearing today represent our emotions. In some cases it may be just because we are lazy, that this was the only thing clean, or we bought something on the weekend and wanted to try it out etc. Slogan t-shirts are a perfect example of political protest, even though the t-shirt is considered as part of the ‘norm’, the message in which it displays can create controversy.

“Sub-cultural groups could create friction against establishment definitions of the ‘norm’, of acceptable appearance or behaviour”. (One: Status, Power and Display, Page 13). This quote is all about resisting a pre-conformed idea in which we are able to create something authentic. How are we as individuals able to express ourselves as being unique if we are constrained by the social view of the ‘norm’?

A group in which defied the ‘norm’ and was credited for helping to establish the sub-culture of punk was the outrageous group: The Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols formed in 1975. It consisted of Johnny rotten (John Lyndon), Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glenn Matlock who was later replace by Sid Vicious (Simon John Ritchie).

The Sex pistols created controversy with England through their actions which in turn complimented their music. Their lack of respect for personal hygiene reflected through their clothing and in turn reflected their opinion towards the state. They dressed in ripped, stained garments and if ever felt the need to repair their clothing would simply do it with safety pins.

Their behaviour, as much as their music, brought them national attention. On the 1st of December 1976, the band and members of the Bromley Contingent created a storm of publicity by swearing during an early evening live broadcast of Thames Television's Today programme. Appearing as last-minute replacements for fellow EMI artists Queen, the band and entourage took full advantage of the green room facilities, consuming significant amounts of alcohol. During the interview, Rotten used the word "shit", and host Bill Grundy, apparently drunk provoked the situation.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTM3CdzB4Vs) URL related to paragraph above.

As you can see the sex pistols showed resistance to the idea of ‘normal’. As time has passed Punk isn’t seen as outrageous as when it was first established because it has been socially accepted. This will continue happening sub-culture after sub-culture.