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• June 19, 2008
• Past Perfect

New York Noise: No Wave's Anti-Style

By Gabriel Bell

Left to right: Richard Hell and James Chance. (Image by Julia Gorton)


Last week we joined the book release party for Thurston Moore and Byran Coley's new book No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980 down the block from our office. The careworn survivors of New York's brief, clamorous music scene gathered on the sidewalk in front of KS Art before heading across the street to the Knitting Factory for a one-time reunion of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. As the gaggle of noise-rock pioneers squinted under the sun, dressed and aged much like the 50-somethings they are, we stopped thinking about the musical influence of the movement and started wondering about the sartorial legacy of No Wave.

Left to right: Members of DNA Ikue Mori, Arto Lindsey, and Robin Crutchfield. (Image by Julia Gorton)


Granted, there isn't much you can pin down when you're talking about No Wave. It was anti-everything. Still, if you look through Moore's and Coley's carefully edited book of photos, mostly by Julia Gorton, themes definitely emerge.

(Image by Julia Gorton)


Richard Hell and James Chance, for instance, added '50s themes to their intentional carelessness. Along with the tight T-shirts and slim colored jeans familiar today, biker jackets, secondhand slouchy suits, and pointy dress shoes were everywhere. More adult than the Bowery boys, these fellows were rough but sharp, often keeping their shades on no matter the time of day.

(Image by Julia Gorton)

Today, No Wave's dark anti-style can be found everywhere, from the dark rock-chic of Endovanera, the sneering decadence of Conference of Birds, and the deconstructed suits and sweaters of Patrik Ervell. Throw in a couple pieces from Shipley & Halmos and a pair of Cheap Monday jeans, and you're golden. Even though the members of that short-lived iconoclastic scene might hate to admit it, they're style has become downright iconic.

A collection of posters and magazines from KS Art's exhibit. (Image by Jason WIlson)


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