Here's my question:
I like to think of myself as one of those punks who isn't in it for the image. Sometimes I'll get dressed up for a show or to party, but most of the time, I'd rather just wear fuzzy sweaters (it's cold here in New England, and ripped fishnets just don't insulate).
In any case, I do have a few accessories other than my body mods that I wear all the time to let people know where I'm coming from. I have a sweet pair of giant star earrings and a good colection of t-shirts from concerts.
I also have a Kenneth Cole studded watch that I wear every day, and yesterday I aquired my first pair of eyeglasses - I'm getting old. They were covered through my insurance company (I'm a unionized grad student - workers unite!), and so I got a fairly pricey pair for cheap, I just couldn't resist. Geeky Buddy-Holly-black-plastic with little stars on the sides that match my earrings and my neck tats.
My moral dilemma? They're Prada.
So the question, now that you've got the back story, is whether or not it's both punk and socially acceptible to wear these glasses. I mean, Prada stands for gratuitous consumerism, a major cause of the world's problems. On the other hand, I paid practically nothing for them, they've got real flair, and I need to see.
How do we balance all these pressures? We've got Punk, telling us to tell the world to shove it, but we can't do that without using some of what the outside world creates. We've got Hot Topic and every major designer incorporating our cultural markers - studs, black leather, tattoos, rips and safety pins, etc - into their Madison Avenue/Rodeo Drive inventories, so we have easy access to items that hep us send our message, if we're willing to give financial support to the institutions we're working against.
i think the issue here shold be whether or not Prada is a company you wanna be supporting in any way, including by wearing these glasses, even if they're cheap. Whether or not you "look" punk just doesn't matter to people working their asses off to make the world a viable place for local music, art, and politics.
See discussion on front page for more, though—although again, apologies for the vitriol there, it wasn't aimed at you, it's just a convenient device to aid the discussion.