Levi's Vintage Clothing Looks to Louisville's Underground Punk Scene for FW20
Enlivening vintage pieces with ’80s and ’90s-inspired punk prints.
Levi’s Vintage Clothing continues to reproduce fits, fabrics and details from bygone eras with its Fall/Winter 2020 collection, this time around drawing inspiration from the mid-80s punk bands of Louisville, Kentucky.
Louisville rarely appears on the musical map, but in the ’80s it had an underground revolution in the punk scene. Bands such as No Fun paved the way for other punk bands including Squirrel Bait and Slint to succeed, and together these bands helped fashion a grunge scene in the early ’90s.
In celebration of Louisville’s scene, Levi’s Vintage Clothing has created looks that you could mistake for coming straight out this peak punk period. Speaking on the FW20 collection, Paul O’Neill, head designer for Levi’s Vintage Clothing at Levi’s Strauss & Co. says, “The bands had a classic look incorporating Levi’s truckers and 501s and the music often had gothic elements which all influenced how I approached the collection. The scene at the time was very uncompromising in as far as they were making music that interested them and had no great desire for commercial success or fame. It was this authenticity that appealed to me.”
Key pieces from the collection include ’80s-inspired graphic T-shirts adorned with prints of eyeballs and insects, as well as the sweatshirt that features a spider web design all over the front. In true goth-punk style, the color palette is moody thanks to its use of black, purple, burgundy, and burnt orange, but also reflects on playful punk elements with yellow and gold, too.
There is also a limited-edition 1961 557 Type III Trucker Jacket with felt appliqué bats and moon on the back, a remake of the 1970s cord sherpa trucker jacket in purple and tan with rare elements such as the “little e” Levi’s tab, and there’s also the 1960s Spike Pant, appearing in gold denim.
To complement the punk-inspired collection, Levi’s Vintage Clothing has captured all of the pieces in a very apt lookbook. Check out the images above, and expect a release on the Levi’s website and at select stores worldwide imminently.
In case you missed it, take a look at sacai’s layering-focused SS21 collection.
