Bricolage

Bricolage

Bricolage is a post modern term to represent taking elements and regurgitating them to create something new. This was used a lot in the Punk subculture. 

In his essay "Subculture: The Meaning of Style", Dick Hebdige discusses how an individual can be identified as a bricoleur when they "appropriated another range of commodities by placing them in a symbolic ensemble which served to erase or subvert their original straight meanings". The fashion industry uses bricolage-like styles by incorporating items typically utilised for other purposes. This has happened ever since Punks created DIY fashion.

The Safety Pin is a great example of how items were used for other purposes than what they were intended. During emergence of Punk Rock in the late seventies, safety pins became associated with the genre, its followers and fashion. Some claim the look was taken originally from Richard Hell who the British punks saw in pictures, and whose style they adopted. (Cultural Elite) This is disputed by a number of artists from the first wave of British punks, most notably Johnny Rotten, who insists that safety pins were originally incorporated for more practical reasons. British punk fans, after seeing the clothing worn by such punk forerunners, then incorporated safety pins into their own wardrobe as clothing decoration or as piercings, shifting the purpose of the pins from practicality to fashion. The safety pin subsequently has become an image associated with Punk rock by media and pop-culture outlets.