Lowlife: Men’s style and clothing in the Atlanta Punk scene

From the late 1970s through the late 1980s, Atlanta, Georgia, played host to a thriving Punk scene that developed its own varied and unique way of navigating within both dominant hegemonic southern culture and the established Punk subcultural style. In terms of dress, the Atlanta scene featured elements of global Punk style such as spiked and studded leather jackets and brightly coloured Mohawks alongside regional-style variations. This article aims to shed light on the way the Atlanta Punk scene worked off a balance between the influence of global Punk fashion and locally initiated style trends that responded to the specific characteristics of youth cultures and society in the south of the United States. The beginning of the Atlanta Punk scene may be tied to the US debut of the Sex Pistols, who played the Great Southeast Music Hall on 5 January 1978. At the time of the concert Atlanta Punk rock fans did not yet constitute a particular subculture. After the seminal Sex Pistols concert, however, a Punk scene quickly developed in the neighbourhood of Little Five Points where two major Punk clubs, Metroplex and 688, were located. Newspaper and magazine articles of the period described the clothing choices of performers and fans emphasizing how Atlanta punks differentiated themselves from the conservative southern concert. Punk acts and fans adopted a variety of trends including the do-it-yourself (DIY) culture and a revival of rockabilly fashion, best demonstrated by the home-grown band The Restraints. Perhaps just as telling were specific elements that were absent from the scene such as skinhead motifs and any indication of gender interplay or androgynous clothing. An exception was singer Phreddy Vomit, who often wore feminine make-up and fur. This article narrates the early development and basic characteristics of the Atlanta Punk scene describing some of the venues and the clothing pieces present and absent from some of the local Punk acts and their fans.