I love bess

Sorry, how can I talk about Doc's and not tell you about BESS!??!

Next time you are over on Lafayette Avenue go to Bess. The morbid shop, located in the same spot where Keith Haring's Pop Shop used to be (it's still the same shop, without the Haring wall paintings!!). BTW, I was very pleased to see this specific shop set up there after the departure of Pop. At least it was not a Starbucks or a Duane Reade!! Wewh!

...the bess store front, it's the inside that counts...


...carl posey cover shot of the the alkaholiks taken for rap pages inside keith haring's pop shop in 1995, a classic!

They, of course have whatever your punk heart desires. At a high price, it's understood, but if you are not savvy in studding up your own boots, you get a perfectly original version here...

(Note to Damien Hirst: this might actually be the spot where to purchase an original The Clash t-shirt or other true punk fare - if you must -, it's real here. Why opt to spend $200.000 on the net, where it's fake? I am still not over that stupidity.) Read my post about how Damien Hirst got punked...



I adore this shop, needless to say. I even walk by at night and am intrigued to take some pics of the windows...




..they got a whole bunch of curiosities... these studded moccasins are going to be the hit of this Summer, I am sure.



...especially since some very famous clientele has started wearing that stuff...

Here is model and style icon Erin Wasson:

...erin in one of bess's motorcycle jackets...

...and I saw lou dillon with one of these jackets the other day...

So, yeah Bess rocks, no matter what all the haters say (..too expensive and all, get outta here!) Be happy that someone is knowledgeable about this stuff and actually sells it to you! (They will actually tell you they are sold out if you keep bugging them about the price) And hey, you should know me, I got a challenge for y'all: why don't you stud your own jacket and boots... you can buy the studs here... good luck!

damien hirst got punk'd

Yes, we all don't want punk to be dead and we all wish a time as true to itself as this, will come back soon as we could use a fresh and free movement that has no boundaries, but here's the awful truth my dear readers, you can't fake the real thing, I mean it undermines the whole point of the punk movement NOT to be fake and NOT to be commercial.

So here is this tale I have been hearing about fake punk gear, supposedly from Sex + Seditionaries, the boutique founded by McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, circulating the art market.


I can't help but NOT feel sorry for the dumbish museums and galeries as well as Damien Hirst, who went ahead and bought that fake stuff up for about $200'000.- on the internet. As if someone actually owning the genuine items would get rid of them...?!

Someone greedy with an eye and knowledge of the real thing, created distressed punk clothes and put it on the market. An asshole yes, but the ones that bought it even more. This example is a sign of the time and really shows that punk IS dead, as at this rate it cannot come back even if it wanted. Thanks to dummsies like these...

So let me finish the story, Damien was planning to put the collection on display until Mclaren declared the bounty to be fakes. Thanks goodness, Malcom! Thanks for saving us a punk exhibition, which would have undoubteldly been hard to take in it's commercialism.

Damien you're a punk, but not a geniune one! You miss the point and you put shame on our generation (aren't you one of the most successful artists of our time?) as you wanted to sell us out by exhibiting clothes from a subversive movement a few decades ago that garnered such high prices! Shame on you!

Punk still exists in it's pure form, yes, sometimes it still lives in a personality here and there, but only in a few places, genuine relics? Mostly right at home of a punk, at his home in the cellar.


I for once took a picture of my original (and originally distressed by actually wearing it) The Damned shirt, and I won't sell it to you Damien.