The Skull Design
The Jolly Roger or ‘Jolie Roger’ is predominantly associated with the Caribbean in the 16th to the 18th centuries. Mentioning it creates an image in the mind of the classic white skull-and-cross-bones on a black background, the most significant pirate emblem. It has become a representation of rebellion and ‘edginess’ throughout the world and during the last four decades the symbolic significance has had a huge impact on the fashion world too.
Vivienne Westwood is credited with injecting the skull design into her collections first; she filtered the pirate-chic concept into her collections during the 1970’s and 1980’s creating the uniform for the ultimate rock/punk look, perfectly blending the rebellion and design aspects of the image. The 1980’s is a strong focal point in the fashion world at present and the skull-and-cross-bone based motif was propelled back onto the scene in 2003 by Alexander McQueen who printed the design most notably onto scarves.
The look is more subtle today in comparison to 25 years ago, but it is definitely not a trend to ignore. The skull has since diffused throughout designer collections and down to the high street, used on many different garments and accessories. The popularity of McQueen’s scarves has given rise to the skull design getting adopted and worn by many icons such as Jamie Foxx, Spike Lee alongside the numerous rock bands on the scene at the moment. The same perception of rebellion that originally popularized the skull are relevant again now.
Jewellery designers Barry Kieselstein-Cord and Tracy Dara Kamenstein have both used the skull design in their work selling for thousands of dollars and even Chanel has jumped on the band wagon by creating skull bracelets. Inspired by the Mexican day-of-the-dead, the design has created dramatic and monumental accessories. It is still seen as edgy but also incredibly desirable; you don’t need to look any further than Damien Hurst’s diamond-encrusted skull, currently on sale for £50m, and you can see the phenomenal allure of this tenacious fashion logo.
Enter ‘Skull’ in the Search box above for items on equip.co.uk with Skulls in the design.
