London Rollergirls' Punk Style
Published 31 months ago
Pulling up their socks for Summer Shovin'.
- Text by Jess Holland
Next month you can expect to find more than a few fashion students and art photographers heading to an East London leisure centre to see the London Rollergirls play their last exhibition bout of the year, Summer Shovin'. Why? To get style tips and action shots of this team of athletes who dress like Tank Girl on skates.
Dazed Digital: Why do you dress up to play roller derby?
Hula Gunn: I
pretty much dress how I do in real life, but for some people the names
and the clothes are totally about escaping the real world and having an
alter ego who can get away with what she likes.
DD: Why are there so many tattoos?
HG: It's
an underground, punk-rock, grassroots kind of sport, so the people who
are more likely to find out about it have more creative lifestyles. I
got most of my tattoos before I started playing derby, but I did add a
winged rollerskate on my side last year.
DD: What's your favourite outfit to play in?
Kamikaze Kitten: I like to wear a customised T-shirt, short skirt, fishnets and knee socks.
HG: When
there are 14 girls wearing the same thing as you, its quite nice to be
able to rock out your own look. I tend to customise my top and then
just add my own accessories and skate socks.
DD: How do you customise your gear?
HG: We
have uniform T-shirts with the London Rollergirls logo on; I've
corseted the sides of mine with neon green ribbon. I've stencilled
things on my skirts like "Essex Outlaw" (I've got huge amount of Essex
pride) and "Pogue Mahone" (Irish for "kiss my arse "). On my helmet
I've got different stickers of bands and skateboard companies and my
name stencilled on with spray paint.
KK: I like to
cut up my top and add zippers, corset tape, patterned tape, contrasting
side panels, buttons, anything that's in my sewing box. My husband
customises my helmets too, using spray paint and frisk film. My current
helmet is sprayed bright pink with a "sakura"-style graduated skull
motif in pale pink and my number 9 logo on the back.
DD: Who are your style heroes?
KK: Tank Girl, Noodle (from the Gorillaz), Gwen Stefani, Dita Von Teese, any larger-than-life tough girls.
HG: My
mum! She always looks amazing and taught me how to sew, customise and
make things from scratch when I was younger. She is totally rad.
DD: New York team the Brooklyn Bombshells play in awesome sailor dresses and stripy tights. What's your favourite derby uniform?
KK: I adored the skeleton dresses (with matching skeleton socks!) worn by the New Zealand team "Dead Wreckoning".
DD: Is there more to roller derby than looking good?
HG: We
train damn hard, and we play even harder. It's as real as any other
sport: disappointing when you lose and euphoric when you win.
DD: Is the rollergirl style going to take off?
HG: Hell
yeah! We already have a following of awesome supporters and every game
we have played has sold out. As derby gets bigger in the UK, so will
everyone's obsession with it.
KK: It's going to get
way more popular when [upcoming Ellen Page/Drew Barrymore roller derby
movie] 'Whip It!' comes out. But I'm not sure how comfortable it would
be to go shopping wearing knee-pads.
Buy tickets for the London Rollergirls' next bout and find out more at www.londonrollergirls.com. Summer Shovin' is at the Tottenham Green Leisure Centre, Philip Lane, N16, Sat 19th July, 5pm, £8 adv/£10 door (price includes afterparty).
