Dear Shaded Viewers and Diane,
Punk is said to celebrate its 40th anniversary this year, and in all of its festive spirit, London’s been walking a bit of a tightrope between the jolly impulse to throw a mohawk on anything and celebrate what might just be the greatest youth culture movement of all time, and the responsibility to try and preserve, or salvage, its original underground sensibility and anti-establishment views. More people seem to like the idea of punk today than they can actually stomach, and that the aesthetic we’ve grown so familiar with occasionally still proves able to shock, comes as nothing if not a relief. Take Pam Hogg at the Brit Awards earlier this week, for which she was fittingly asked to design the trophies this year – the statuettes looked like miniatures of her fall 2016 models, black and gold and glitter catsuits painted upon them and topped with tiny nipple stars. She brought as her guest model Sadie Pinn, wearing the same sheer outfits she wore at her show a few days prior, and the tabloids had a field day with her, Pam Hogg’s “scantily-clad friend”. But Pam’s never been one to play things safe, and her latest collection should have cued them in: for fall, everything got substantially darker, goth make-up, inky latex, pitch-black platform heels or glossy tight-high boots. Girls swung ball-shaped full skirts lined with tulle, velveteen coats that spelled HOGG COUTURE or DIVINE DELIQUENT in studs, and lots of spot-on spikes, head to knickers. Other than sheer, her signature catsuits came in a new blue and white Pollockian print with golden drops, or slices of multiple colours, and more golden foil as tight and shiny as a candy bar wrapper.
Later,
Silvia
