New Wave Outpost Forum

A lot of talk here recently of disliking style over substance, but image and style were an undeniably big part of New Wave, although hopefully not over the music itself. So then, who in your opinion had the coolest style or image and why?

I'll cast my vote, as of now at least, for Peter Murphy. His voice, his face, his look...everything was in perfectly dark unison with his music. The dude was/is a pretty damned cool customer!

Human League, Gary Numan, Falco and Devo.

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Those early images of the guys from The Chameleons, I always thought they were great new wave-like images, even if their music was not new wave.

Also that wild look of AFOS was right there with that look.....

Certainly Devo!! [:D]
And probably Siouxsie and the banshees too.

Ahhh.... yeah.. Japan and AFOS too... love those hairs and clothes. [8D]

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Japan, yes.......very new wave with image. Also The Comateens

Flock of Seagulls...not only the hair, but those awesome 80s glasses Paul and Frank wore, as well as those "angular"-looking clothes. To me, those asymetrical, dropped panel-type clothes were way too cool, the epitome of new wave.

I also loved the suits...pastel, skinny, shiny, or dark...as worn by Duran, Japan, Spandau, ABC, etc. Esp. with a skinny tie and some nice jazz flats.

Ditto on Japan. they sort of really helped shape the whole image of New Wave.

A few other images I rather liked (possibly not so smitten with their music, but as an image I thought were fun):

Early Bananarama - I loved those three ratty-haired ragamuffin-looking things. I still think that really big, ratty, floppy, "I just woke up and I am sensuously New Wave" (not big, styled, 80s mall hair!) should make a comeback. Sexy.

Grace Jones - Intimidating gender-fuck. I thought she looked amazingly hot.

The New Romatics - I wasn't one, particularly, but thought the whole froofy Westwood/nouveau pirate thing was cool.

Well, I guess for me it would be BAUHAUS and A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS.

[:)]An apple a day keeps the doctor away!
DSR

Bernard Sumner-New Order ca. 1981
or
David Byrne 1979-81

why?

because!

The Specials had a great retro-look, and the fact that they were a mix of black & white musicians made a powerful statement to me.

I love when an artist creates an image and buys into it lock, stock & barrel. Who would have thought Lene Lovich was some chick from Detroit & not a Bavarian kook who recently escaped from a funeral for cartoon characters?

Lene was raised partly in England, wasn't she? And her family was Eastern European. Her daddy was sick in the head, which is how she landed across the Atlantic with her mom, sibling(s) (can't remember if there was more than one), and that odd half-British accent she has. But yeah, it all added up to sweet, sweet kookiness. Gotta love Ms. Lovich.

I gotta say, as a red-blooded woman, I adore the image presented by the good-looking (predominantly British) chaps of the '80s, from Duran Duran to Spandau Ballet to Japan to Blancmange (yeah, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe were underrated hotties). I felt like Naked Eyes, while not exactly matinee idol gorgeous, had an image that completely fit their music, and they were pretty cute to boot. Other groups whose images completely entrance me:

Shock (OMG they SO rule the whole "image" thing)
Comsat Angels (file under good-looking British chaps, really, especially Stephen Fellowes)
Soft Cell (totally fabulous)
Visage (same)
Human League (OMG I would kill to have Joanne Catherall's looks)
Altered Images (or Claire Grogan's)
Split Enz (when they moved away from the silly costumes, though)
Crowded House (I should just admit that I have a crush on Neil Finn, shouldn't I?)
Pseudo Echo (the pride of Australia)

Um, that's all I can think of at the moment.

I always used to pay attention to image, perhaps a bit less so today, but here are my favorites from the day . . .

Echo & the Bunnyment: loved the long coats, boots, tousled hair, baggy trousers.

The Cure: whatever one might think, the eyeliner, lipstick, hair, black clothes became inextricably linked with the sound of the Cure. The image fit the music to a "T". The brooding melancholy of Smith's vocals were directly reflected in his appearance and image.

Peter Murphy: I agree with Blir. When I saw him last as a solo act in 1988 his appearance perfectly epitomized his sound. His angular, chiseled features, black clothes, bleached hair, gaunt-frailty couldn't have been better matched to his deep, haunting, vast sound. A bit vain, but then he's entitled.

ABC: Does Martin Frye have style or what? I know some think his sound is vacuous and hollow, but those suits, man! He is the quintessential 80's crooner - a performer through and through, and he's cultivated a sense of style that perfectly suits the blue-eyed soul of ABC.

Howard Jones: just a classic, fun, flamboyant New Wave getup. The blonde locks and bright baggy clothes were a perfect compliment to his bubbly optimism. He had the classic New Wave look nailed.

Big Audio Dynamite: I loved the pseudo-western themes, blended with an urban-reggae sound. Realizing BAD weren't in it, anyone see Alex Cox's Straight to Hell? Not a great movie by any stretch but I got a real kick out of the resulting style imagery when old-west meets New Wave/Post Punk - with the Pogues, Joe Strummer, and others. In fact, I'm going to start a new topic about this right freakin' now. [:D]

Toyah Willcox and Debora Harry and if you include Madonna her too. They are all very different but unique in their own ways and alot of girls and women were inspired by them and still are. I also like The Police haircuts, all having bleach blond hair and actually carrying it off, alot of guys can't carry that look off.Sting really can though. And of course Duran Duran in their pixie boots la 'Girls on film'era nothing wrong with pretty boys...Of course the last mention has to go to DEVO, very clever becaause it went with the whole concept of the band...

Devolution is real

The Ramones, Elvis Costello, Nina Hagen, Gary Numan, the Cure, Devo, Blondie, the Specials, the Police, XTC, Bauhaus, the Runaways, Kraftwerk, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Joy Division, X-Ray Spex, the B-52s, Suicide, Patti Smith, etc.