Sunday , June 13, 2010
To Go: Afro Punk Festival + The Dudes of Dub, A Pictorial Extravaganza
New Yorkers, if you hurry, you can catch the tail end of the film part of the Afro Punk Festival, taking place mostly at BAM Rose Cinemas. Afro Punk is a multi-day cultural event celebrating black rebellion through art, music and film; it's always a good time and full of well-curated awesomeness that will get you thinking and dancing and all sorts of fun things. I already missed gems like The Upsetter: The Music and Genius of Lee Scratch Perry, a documentary on the man I consider one of the most fascinating in music, but you can still catch films like the New York premiere (tonight!) of the much talked about romantic comedy I'm Through With White Girls and White Lies, Black Sheep on Sunday, both of which detail the experiences of hipsters of color within a predominantly white subculture. Cineastes will also relish the opportunity to screen rarely seen gems like the Jules Dassin-directed Up Tight! (1968), about a group of black militants who steal ammunition from a warehouse, and the absurdist The Landlord (1970), directed by Hal Ashby, about a white landlord in Park Slope.
I'm bummed I missed a movie about Lee Scratch Perry, but to atone, I've decided to post awesome pictures of the dudes of dub, along with some cheeky yet totally loving and affectionate fashion analysis. Here's the thing: there are SO MANY dub producers and singers that have totally killer style. Look at enough pictures of Perry and his colleagues/rivals such as King Tubby, Keith Hudson and many more, and you realize that these men knew their way around the sartorial side of things. Some of them may have been all Rasta and nonmaterialist and all that, but they still were pretty sharp in the wardrobe department.
To make a half-assed fashion analysis, there seems to be a few strands of thinking operating in dub dude style. There is what I call the "tank top" school of dressing, a sporty-casual take on clothing. This school favors t-shirts and tanks, often livened with well-chosen, eccentrically-loved necklaces. Practitioners of this school include our man Lee Perry, as seen above and here below rocking a very cool t-shirt. There really should be a whole book devoted to his style -- it's truly avant yet totally organic and rooted in tradition. Clearly he is very excited about something:
And here is his great friend and rival in the annals of dub history, King Tubby, who has a more clean, minimal take on the tank top. Really, when you have your own monster musical equipment emblazoned with your name, you need little else:
Another side of dub/reggae dude dressing is a particularly natty take on the suit. There might be a little experimentation with a wide lapel or collar, but the dub take on a suit is still sharp and totally non-disheveled. There seems to be a sort of tribute or echo to the British suit tradition in this strand of dub/reggae style. Witness, for example, the stylings of reggae singer Gregory Isaacs, who really did love a suit:
And here, dub vocalist Linval Thompson does a clean, tailored take on casual wear. I love the red pants with his shoes. The whole effect is sharp and precise, which actually reflects the elasticity and precision of phrasing as a vocalist:
But the creme de la creme of dub/reggae dude style at its pinnacle concentrates on the head, whether it be awesome hair or an incredibly stylish piece of headgear. Larry McDonald, a legendary dub percussionist, here relies on his hair to create the drama in his fashion concept:
Naturally, hats are a huge accessory in this aesthetic. There is the simple knit hat type of headgear, as worn here by Augustus Pablo, a dub/roots reggae musician known for the East Asian influences in his music, and the way he popularized the melodica:
Then here is Keith Hudson, who wears a particularly eye-catching white fedora type of hat, despite being nicknamed "the dark prince of reggae":
And finally we return to King Tubby, whose moniker indicates a fondness for an actual crown. Only the truly audacious could get away with this:
Tags: afro punk, dub, dub dudes, events, film, film festivals, hipsters of color, men's fashion
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2 Comments!!
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Wow, these pictures are awesome! Thanks for sharing....
By Ms. Fab on July 7, 2008 3:54 PM
I am so glad to see some discussion of rasta/reggae/jamaican fashion!
you should check out the movie "Rockers" both because it is great but also because the fashion is simply amazing. Especially the men's styles. Men not afraid of hats, vests, jewelry, pins, bright color, decoration, layers, etc... I just love to look, but it could use closer attention by skilled fashion-readers.
By ripley on July 7, 2008 4:33 PM