LEGENDARY CLASH STYLE | FROM PUNK ROCK ROUGH TO SARTORIAL SMOOTH

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Joe Strummer of The Clash, LA 1983. (Photo by Ann Summa/Getty Images)

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I don’t know if there’s a band that has inspired me over the years in terms of style more than The Clash. The way they could effortlessly mix punk and street style with sartorial flair and make it look so effortless and cool was intoxicating.  The mix of tailored suits with suede creepers, Doc Marten boots (back when they were a symbol of rebellion, rather than conformity) funky accessories and headwear was pure art.

The Clash definitely pioneered rock & roll fashion during the 80s and kept things tasty when the rock and fashion world was getting, well, wierd.  The true master of style in the band,  in my humble opinion, was not Joe Strummer or Mick Jones– it was the cool cat bass player, Paul Simonon.

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The Clash, legends of music and 1980’s rocker fashion. *

Simonon provided the film star glamour to an otherwise motley bunch of home-made haircuts and bad dental work: it was he who developed the band’s early paint-splattered Pollock-inspired look and whose fascination with guns and outlaw culture led to their mid-period black military look — all straps, angular zips and reinforced gussets. Riot gear. Street-fighting togs. And, later, with London Calling and beyond again it was Simonon who looked effortlessly natural in their Golden Age Hollywood suits, hats and overcoats. In the words of Mick Jones, “He was just there, looking fantastic…the bastard.”

–from 3am Magazine

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“It’s all about poise. If you don’t have poise – definition: ‘balance; a dignified and self-assured manner’ — in rock ‘n’ roll, you’re nothing. Paul Simonon had it in abundance.  And still does.  Look at any footage of The Clash and you’re struck by the aesthetic perfection of their bassist; the way in which he just hung there, cool but coiled, aloof but ready.  Joe Strummer had the politico credentials and Mick Jones had the Keith Richards flash and swagger and natural musical ability, but Simonon had poise.”

–from 3am Magazine

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Joe Strummer Photo by Photoreporters Inc. / Rex USA ( 88672I )

Anarchy or no Anarchy– Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and the rest of The Clash all had a burning passion for fashion.  Their look, style and attitude was carefully crafted, even controlled, by the fellow bandmates and particularly by their manager Bernard Rhodes–  to great effect.

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Super-smooth Paul Simonon of The clash, 1980. © Faux Catherine/Dalle APRF/CONTRAST

“Paul Simonon–well, he’d have to be the driveshaft, because it was his aesthetic sense, his knowledge of painting, his use of sculpture (especially the slabs of Carreran marble that characterized his bass playing) and pliocene sensuality–that visualized the band’s look and touch.”

— Lenny Kaye, Americlash, Fall 1991

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Joe Strummer and The Clash performing in concert, June 1983 outside of Los Angeles. (Photo by Ann Summa/Getty Images)

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“The Clash, you see, were the only punk band with groove, the first to realise that if you got people to move their arse then their minds would follow, embracing dub, funk, rocksteady and hip-hop long before any other rock band. They worked with Lee Scratch Perry, inspired Bob Marley to write Punky Reggae Party, and became one of the best loved and most influential bands of their era in the process.”

—Scott Rowley

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Joe Strummer of The Clash, circa 1981. (Photo by Lisa Haun/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Joe Strummer and Mick Jones shared most of the writing duties—”Joe would give me the words and I would make a song out of them”, Jones later said. Sometimes they would meet in the office over their Camden rehearsal studio to collaborate directly. According to Strummer, Bernie Rhodes would say– “An issue, an issue. Don’t write about love, write about what’s affecting you, what’s important.” On August 13th, 1976, The Clash—sporting an impressive, paint-spattered “Jackson Pollock” look—played before a small, invitation-only audience in their Camden studio. Among those in attendance was Sounds critic Giovanni Dadamo. His review described the band as a “runaway train…so powerful, they’re the first new group to come along who can really scare the Sex Pistols sh*tless.”

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Another great shot of Paul Simonon of The Clash, photo by ZEITLHOFER / Rex USA ( 88672D )

“Paul Simonon plays bass, smiles a lot, lopes around like a grossly underfed gorilla on a vitamin B and methedrine cure for malnutrition and catches the fancy of more women than the rest of the band put together – Patti Smith, for example.”

–Pete Silverton, The Clash: Greatness From Garageland

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Mick Jones, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of The Clash

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Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash

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