Before Vivienne Westwood and the Sex Pistols, Sue Blane Invented Punk

Across the world, people of all ages wait until midnight to put on their most dramatic makeup and homemade costumes before heading to their local theater to watch a rendition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which made its silver screen debut on this day in 1975. Since its release, the cult musical-turned-film has garnered a fandom that surpasses country borders and generational gaps. And while the camp film is accredited with influencing culture in a number of forms, one overlooked impact is the role the movie's wardrobe played in laying foundation for the punk movement. So let's do the time warp again to 1971 London.

Blane and Curry in the early 1970s Pinterest

Costume designer Sue Blane graduated from what is now Central Saint Martins–an English arts and design college with a long list of accomplished alumni such as Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. The young costumier had already worked on a Glasgow theater production of The Maids, during which time she met actor Tim Curry. This connection would be her big break, as Blane would dress the English actor again on The Rocky Horror Show. The “Picture” part was not added until it was made into a film, for which Blane also designed the costumes.

The show features a series of exaggerated looks, specifically for Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his crew. Frank-N-Furter, played by Curry in the original stage production and the film, makes his first performance in a glittery, black lace-up lingerie set with garters and a pearl necklace. The character appears in dramatized makeup, sealed with an unmissable red lip. The good doctor is a self-proclaimed pansexual transvestite, and his costume reflects the fluidity of his sexual and gender orientation. In a time when mainstream ideas of sex and gender abided by a strict binary, Frank-N-Furter challenged the mainstream through his identity and how he fashioned it.

Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter © 20th Century Fox

In the early 1970s, fashion could be summed up by bohemian halter tops à la Olivia Newton-John for women and The Jackson 5’s bell bottom pants and suede button-down coats for the well-dressed man. While the rest of the world embraced these funky styles, the youth culture in London, which Blane was involved in, was heavily invested in the trends coinciding with rock music. Teddy Boys and Girls, a cultural stop on the road to punk fashion (as rock was to punk music), were in high concentration. These dapperly dressed individuals were defined by their coiffed hair and Edwardian coats, and while this look sounds formal, it was practically required for entry to rock concerts.

The Jackson 5 dressed in mainstream Michael Ochs Archives Getty Images

During this time, the styles of emerging punk origins still maintained a gendered dichotomy—girls and boys within the same subculture adopted different pieces, sharing the same overall aesthetic. However, the height of the punk movement would feature a variety of silhouettes and styles embraced by everyone—men in makeup and skinny jeans and women with shaved heads and oversized jackets. And it all began with Blane.

Teddy Boys and Girls at a rock concert Michael Webb Getty Images

While the punk subculture was beginning to embrace the hardened look of leather jackets and heavy eyeliner, Blane’s creations asserted an image of punk rock fashion that subverted gender norms and embraced extremity. Even as the musical sees itself revived with new casts and iterations, the costumes for Rocky Horror, for the most part, maintain the same punk-promoting essence. In almost every version, Frank-N-Furter and his friends appear in dark and dramatic make-up, while many of the female ensemble cast members are dressed in three-piece suits. Blane’s unapologetically androgynous costumes were the shadowy, genderless designs that punk rock fashion would come to celebrate. She brought gender fluidity to punk, breaking binaries before punks knew they existed.

Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter Michael Ochs Archives Getty Images

Around the same time, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood opened her own King’s Road shop called Sex that sold clothes for Teddy Boys and Girls. Her close association with the Sex Pistols and the British youth culture of that moment put Westwood at the forefront of the punk movement in the mid-1970s. However, at the time of Rocky Horror's release, Westwood had not yet delved into punk motifs such as fishnets and leather bustiers, which Blane had already sent out on stage. Although Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier are two of the designers most widely credited with the birth of punk fashion, Blane’s iconic costume work can also be attributed to punk’s rise and success.

Vivienne Westwood and Sid Vicious of the the Sex Pistols Ian Dickson Getty Images

In recent seasons, punk-inspired runway collections have reinitiated the conversation about subversive fashion. For Christian Dior's Fall/Winter 2019 collection, Maria Grazia Chiuri took a page from the Teddy Girl handbook, putting forth formal pieces with androgynous silhouettes. In the same season, Sarah Burton gave the audience a series of romantic, punk designs, full of metal accoutrements and patent leather combat boots in Alexander McQueen's collection. As a whole, punk style–from the Teds' formal look to the rough and casual ensembles worn by the stereotypical punks–blurred the gender binary in fashion. As contemporaries continue to look to the likes of Westwood and Gaultier for creativity, they are also nodding to Blane's legacy, as it bleeds into future generations through the punk-inspired pieces.

Alexandr McQueen Fall/Winter 2019 Victor VIRGILE Getty Images

More than anything, punk, as a movement, is about pushing back against the mainstream. The essence of the punk is contingent on rebellion and rejection of the ordinary. Frank-N-Furter, in every way, is punk. He doesn’t look like Brad and Janet, the two straight-edge preps who embody status quo lifestyles and fashion, nor does he subscribe to conventional ideas of sex and gender. By creating the external look of a character with such internal punk qualities, Blane, ostensibly, gave the world the first true-to-form punk.

Frank-N-Furter meeting Brad and Janet Michael Ochs Archives Getty Images

Blane has gone on to design costumes for films and stage performances across Europe, but her work on Rocky Horror continues to touch-a, touch-a, touch-a, touch fans. The show has been adapted a myriad of times for stage, film, and television. However, the most intriguing development of the show's many revivals is that they extend far beyond the off-Broadway tours and made-for-TV productions. Around the world, local theaters host midnight showings where audience members are invited to dress up as their favorite characters. The cultural milieu of Rocky Horror no longer exists within a specific subculture, but among the larger population of entertainment enthusiasts.

Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection Getty Images

For punks, Rocky Horror, whether they knew it or not, was the beginning of something revolutionary. Blane's vision sought not to limit one's identity, but to take them on a strange journey of self-expression and antici...pation.