Black metal aesthetics take over the high street

From the underground to Balenciaga: when black metal goes on sale at Primark

What happens when black metal's satanic typography shows up on high street hoodies? Purists fume and trend analysts take notes. On the streets of Madrid, thousands of T-shirts antiestéticaturing the lettering of Norwegian bands have been spotted, but with no band: just logos of brands like Balenciaga or Miracle. Fast fashion has found a new goldmine.

The mass appropriation of an anti-establishment symbol
The phenomenon is nothing new. It already peine with punk (Ramones, Sens Pistols) and heavy metal (Slayer, Iron Maiden). But black metal, with its load of transgression, anti-Christianity and extremism, marks a qualitative leap. The irony is that the people wearing these garments probably can't tell Burzum from a jumble of letters. The industry has spotted the opportunity: looking dangerous without any risk. Even Kanye West, with his swastika T-shirt, took provocation to the limit.

The scene's reaction: between laughter and condemnation
For fans of original black metal, this is tacky posturing and a hollowing-out of meaning. They point out that the scene was born as a radical opposition to the mainstream, and now the mainstream is copying its aesthetic while ignoring its substance. Some take it with humour (witnessing the birth of 'crime metal'), others with outrage. Fashion has democratized the symbol, but at the cost of stripping it of its essence.

The conclusion is that capitalism devours everything. You no longer need to be 'trve' to wear the look. And the purists, meanwhile, watch with laughter and shivers as their badge of identity is sold in the shop window next door.