Editorial: May 2014

It's time for another Editorial column... I take it those pained groans I hear are out of sheer excitement. So I'll begin.

This month I'm prompted by a conversation I had with my significant other, Debz, about how the alternative inevitably ends up becoming mainstream. I can think of many times when I've overheard, admittedly younger types, complaining about how their music and style have been co-opted by the same people that ten years ago would have beat them up for looking that way. The obvious examples are in music when pioneering fringe groups innovate and more commercially minded artists repackage it for mass consumption. It can bee seen with rock 'n' roll, synthpop, industrial, punk, goth, acid house etc. ad nauseum.

But it also happens in fashion. For example, in the early years of the millennium the “faux-hawk” began to emerge on the heads of footballers. You remember... that slight Mohawk-like spiking of already short hair... occasionally dyed a bright colour? More recent examples would be the co-opting of occult symbols into high street fashions. Or the fad a couple of years ago for brightly coloured hair and one-sided undercuts popularised by certain pop stars.

It's nothing new, and in fact just goes to show that even as the military look or the goth look, or the 80s look go like a merry-go-round on the high fashion catwalks every few years, so do the little nuances of alternative aesthetics. Especially when you consider punk, goth, steampunk all have big nods to the fashions of decades or centuries gone by. So it's all swings and roundabouts really.

At the end of the day, it isn't what you wear, but how you wear it. A £5 black shirt, £10 slim fit jeans and a pair of old army combat boots is no less valid than an outfit comprised of designer names totalling £200. Clothes don't make the man (or woman for that matter). Wear what you want, do your hair how you want and take solace in the fact that fashion trends come and go, while true style is for life.

Right now that the musings are out of the way, there are a couple of things I need to announce.

1 – from next month I shall be inviting bands/artists to submit to the next edition of the 'Blood Pack' compilation series, which will be release on our second birthday next January.

2 – we are now accepting paid advertisements, which will be displayed on our sidebar. So check out the “About IVM” tab at the top of the page for more details.

3 – make sure you are following us on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr so you don't miss any of our articles!

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