Bad Boys of Fashion: Style Rebels and Renegades Through the Ages

The author of Bad Girls of Fashion: Style Rebels Through the Ages, (www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol23/no14/badgirlsoffashion.html) Jennifer Croll is back with a look at the guys this time. Bad Boys of Fashion: Style Rebels and Renegades Through the Ages, illustrated by Aneta Pacholska, delves into the fashion choices of 30 male trendsetters, rulebreakers and newsmakers from the 17th through to the 21st century. Starting with Louis XIV, Croll describes the Sun King’s opulent court and his dress code edict that all men at his palace in Versailles were to dress fashionably and without the benefit of foreign made clothing. While Louis’s penchant for high heels, long wigs and “brightly colored, over the top attire” is the stuff of fashion lore, and made evident in the artwork and photos included in the book, the history behind the Sun King’s fashion choices and the impact on France and the world will also appeal to history and trivia buffs. Nelson Mandela and the elaborate custom “Madiba shirts” he created which made him “feel free” and Jawaharlal Nehru with his traditional Indian “Nehru jacket”, a major trend in the 1960s, round out the “Fashion Ruler” chapter.

The “Fashion Aesthete” chapter looks into the complicated and dramatic life of Oscar Wilde, his flamboyant fashion, forbidden love, and ultimate exile and demise marking him as a gay icon and fashion inspiration for generations to come. Croll describes the lesser-known 18th Century dandy Beau Brummell, a British socialite whom she credits with establishing “a new sartorial subculture: dandyism.” Rapper and actor Donald Glover is featured as the “iconic look” in this section.

Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley and James Dean make up the “Fashion Macho” chapter, for obvious reasons, and Malcolm X, Che Guevara and Mao Zedong are the “Fashion Revolutionaries”. These two chapters feature the looks that one could argue are the most mainstream and entrenched in pop culture: Brando’s tee shirt, Dean’s jeans and jacket, Che’s beret and Mao’s suit.

In the “Fashion Artist” section, Croll details Andy Warhol’s unique art, enduring legacy and fashion transformation from dandy artist to “The Pope” clad all in black. New York graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s obsession with high fashion and his premature death due to addiction and artist Takashi Murakami’s unique style in collaboration with fashion designers round out the section. These three bad boys of fashion lead in nicely to designers Karl Lagerfeld and Jean-Paul Gaultier and designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia in the “Fashion Character” section.

Walter “Clyde” Frazier, David Beckham and Andre Agassi are highlighted in the “Fashion Athlete” section. It is noted that Frazier spent $10,000 of his $25,000 salary on clothing his first year with the NBA. A particular wide brim velour hat from that time earned him the nickname “Clyde” from Bonnie and Clyde. Beckham’s famous “metrosexual” style and gay following are also chronicled. Agassi’s “iconic look” featured the bold colours and neon athletic gear he made famous on the tennis court.

Designer, artist and punk impresario Malcolm McLaren, the self-professed “very bad boy”, is a “Fashion Provocateur”. Croll delves into his history and life with designer Vivienne Westwood and his ever evolving style from Teddy Boys to Brando-esque leathers, fetish wear and Nazi punk, to his work with the Sex Pistols. A Sex Pistols fan, the late Kurt Cobain’s interest in gender nonconforming and anti-establishment style is included in this chapter’s “fashion spotlight.” Cobain is credited with creating the “grunge” style as a result of his love of layering secondhand store finds. Front man for The Cure, Robert Smith’s early 80s goth style rounds out the chapter.

David Bowie, Prince and Little Richard are the quintessential “Fashion Role-Players”. Their groundbreaking individual styles left indelible marks on both the fashion and music worlds. Entire generations were influenced by Bowie’s androgynous looks and Prince’s flamboyant and “sexually provocative” outfits featuring the colour purple. Little Richard’s pompadour, makeup and sequins are the “iconic look.”

The final “Fashion Idealist” chapter also includes musicians, hip hop artist Kanye West, Puff Daddy and rapper The Notorious B.I.G. Dubbed an “attention fiend”, West’s style has evolved from preppy fashion to an internship at the Fendi Fashion House to gender fluid attire and his Yeezy fashion line in partnership with Adidas. Rapper and creator of Bad Boy Records, Puff Daddy also created his own successful clothing line, the multicultural “ghetto fabulous” Sean John line. Sean John rakes in over $400 million in sales per year, and Kanye West credits it as a major influence on his work. The late controversial rapper, The Notorious B.I.G is the final fashion icon in this book with his “dapper 1940s gangsters style” featuring expensive haute couture bling and white suits. His was a style that Donatella Versace, herself, credits with an increase in Versace’s brand recognition.

Croll’s guide to “bad boy” fashion, style and pop culture through the ages is interesting, enlightening and highly readable. She seamlessly interweaves history, style, music, sport, politics and fashion in such a way that readers young and old, those with no fashion knowledge, fashion students, history buffs and pop culture junkies will all discover something new. The mix of stylish layout, sidebars, Warhol-esque portraits, graphic cartoon renderings with saturated colours, and authentic photos allow readers to select areas that pique their interest for a quick read or to dive in and become riveted until the end. While the references included at the back of Bad Boys of Fashion provide important citations for those interested in delving further, the birth dates for the “iconic look” features would be a valuable inclusion providing context in future editions. There will be readers who complain about fashion bad boys not included in the book, especially from the music world (where are you Elton John, Steven Tyler and Mick Jagger?). And while a nod to a Canadian icon would have been nice (Pierre Trudeau? Leonard Cohen? Ryan Gosling?), the men selected definitely deserve their place in this work and are aptly categorized. Kudos to Croll and Pacholska for combing through countless trends, eras and popular figures and crafting a true snapshot of bad boy fashion through the ages.