by Anne Gabriel
The No Values Tour was a punk rock festival extravaganza held at the Pomona Fairgrounds last weekend, and I happened to be one of the lucky 30,000 or so attendees to get tickets. What does that have to do with fishnets and sex? Stay with me here….
Although it was great being able to see some of my favorite bands, watching the bands and being at the venue is not what struck me most—was the amount of fishnet stockings I saw.
Every group, be that work, social, political, sports team fans, etc. has some kind of “uniform” worn by its members to signify that they’re part of the club. Punk rock is no exception. At No Values Festival that “uniform” consisted of and of the following or a combination thereof…
Band tee shirt, Jacket with patches, Jacket with spikes, Boots, Technicolored colored hair, Mohawk, And….
Fishnets, an open diamond weave stretchy textile often worn on the legs as stockings, on the arms as stockings, and across the chest, well, as a much larger stocking, was seen on almost every female in attendance. This is where I wish to spend my time.
How did fishnets become so ingrained in the punk rock counterculture movement? I did some digging and this is what I learned…
A quick google search reveals that fishnets were invented in the late 1800’s in France and worn by Cancan dancers and prostitutes. They tended to be more revealing than standard stockings and by the 1920s were a common alternative trend. They only gained in popularity as they became synonymous with a teasing sexuality and were quickly adopted by sexworkers, burlesque performers, pin up girls, etc as a symbol for sexuality, liberation, and a bit of a tease. Great, but why are they so heavy in the punk rock / alternative subculture?
Some sources point to the Rocky Horror Picture Show as the reason, where a gender-bending main character along with every character clothed in fishnets, further turned fishnets into a subversive fashion staple associated with “deviance” and norm subversion whether that be gender, sexuality, or social—happening at the same time that punk rock was burgeoning with the Sex Pistols and later with Siouxsie Sioux.
Fishnets = sexuality + norm subversion. Check.
That’s why I wore mine too. 🙂
Image: The original uploader was RJFerret at English Wikipedia
