Studs, zips & pins

FASHION: The return of 1970s punk-rocker paraphernalia comes with a modern, softer take, writes DEIRDRE McQUILLAN

STUDS, ZIPS, SAFETY pins and a lot of black leather made up punk rocker paraphernalia in the 1970s, defiant adolescent combat gear at a time when healthy, natural outdoor beauty was being promoted in mainstream fashion. Now it’s back in fashion again, but in modern, safer guises.

A far cry from its defiant beginnings, the look today is less hardcore and tough, more soft and forgiving. In current fashion, studs and spikes are not about violence or challenging the status quo, but about decoration and conformism; Louboutin has studded his flats as generously as his killer stilettos and others have followed suit.

The silver spikes on a black hat, the heavy studs on a killer heel, the chain necklaces and skull bracelets no longer look rebellious to the modern conservative eye. Biker and commander armour had been ransacked and tamed for high street taste in all sorts of clever, feminine and commercial ways.

Head to toe hide gives a newer twist to Gothic looks and the revival of black reflected in collections like Mulberry, Haider Ackerman and Versace caught the captive imagination. The winter’s crop of black leather leggings and black jackets have an easygoing rather than a challenging air and silver studs on a black dress discreetly nail the silhouette, while a shadow striped black jacket trims it securely.

Visually a relief from print and brocade, these are dresses and separates – all from Irish designers and boutiques – for a dark winter. They’re street casual and cool, at accessible prices, with up-to-the-minute details whose distinguishing elements recycle the past.