OUT OF THEIR CLOSETS
Noah Kahan, Lorde, Fontaines D.C.+
When the entertainment world is increasingly produced, curated, trimmed, nipped, tucked, and tailored, anonymity becomes a superpower. The ability to stride from tour bus to press junket to stage to afterparty without fuss is an endangered craft, and that’s exactly why we appreciate the guileless beauty of performers who sport their own everyday clothes onstage.
Sure, you can hire a team of stylists and production directors to create a brand and maintain your image – but have you ever appreciated the rumpled, radical self-acceptance of normcore Dickies that have been beaten half to death? Or the comfort and joy of a waffle-knit tee that’s been slept in and loved for years?
In terms of intimacy, it’s next to nakedness.
Artists wearing their own clothes on stage is nothing new, but it does feel more and more radical as we grow accustomed to seeing so many entertainers focused on creating an identifiable brand. Musical acts are nailing their own broken-in looks with unabashed confidence, regardless of how polished and perfected social media demands celebrities be, and we’re here for it.
Take Vicky Sometani, the indie artist whose look in the video for “Black & Blue” had us reeling. It’s peaceful. It’s unfussy. The easy white baseball cap, the well-loved denim shorts, all set against the backdrop of wind-carved canyons is a rugged reminder that we can still find solid gold in a sea of vermeil.
The singers from IDLES, the massive fuck-the-king punk band from Bristol, England, have built a cult following of fans who sport plain white undershirts, workman’s pants and combat boots to shows in solidarity with the working class. Wearing your own clothes onstage is a more common practice in countercultural music, but that doesn’t make it any less exceptional in the modern landscape.
Is there anything sexier than a great pair of glutes strutting around in one’s own perfectly-broken-in Dickies? The answer is, no. There is not.
From Kurt Cobain and Alanis Morissette to Noah Kahan and Lorde, the world can always use the fresh oxygen generated by musicians who bring their full, complete, unedited selves to their audiences. Here at PROVOKR, we fully support letting your personal freak flag fly.