The enduring Supersonic style of Oasis
Oasis - that's Liam and Noel Gallagher - have reunited. Despite not being together for 15 years, they've birthed a style that will Live Forever
Words: Zak Maoui
Oasis has finally reunited. After a 15 year hiatus, which has seen Watford FC have 19 managers, the USA have three presidents and Taylor Swift become the most powerful woman in the world, Liam and Noel Gallagher are burying the hatchet.
Announced today, the duo will put on a string of live shows across the UK - Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin included - in line with the 30th anniversary of Oasis's seminal debut album Definitely Maybe. "The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised," the band said via Instagram, also stating that there was "no great revelatory moment", but rather "the gradual realisation that the time is right". Perhaps there is some importance in being idle, because their hiatus has only goaded a celebratory response from fans the world over.
But despite being at loggerheads for the best part of two decades, throwing more verbally abusive bars at one another than other famous feuders in the biz (T Swift and Kanye West, Drake and Kendrick Lamar), the sibling duo have one thing in common: an enduring sense of style that not only dominated the Nineties, but continues to live on today. A style that, with the looming tour, is sure to get even more airtime from Oasis's longterm fans and newbies alike.
To say that Oasis defined a generation is no understatement. The 2016 documentary Supersonic, which looked at the blocked fringed band's career in the Nineties, was evident of that. The Gallaghers riffed on the pre-existing mod style in their own way, pairing fluffy hooded parkas with Kangol bucket hats and football shirts, leather jackets with button-up denim shirts, in turn forming a symbiotic style.
They looked, by choice or subconsciously, to British subcultures including Madchester Baggy, Mod and football casuals. It transcended just one genre and in turn made something that was so uniquely Oasis' own, but also accessible by everybody. A style that has also transcended time like very few other trends. "The boys looked incredible in the early Nineties as they followed on from the Stone Roses in dressing like football casuals," Mark Knox, founder of Instagram page Brit Cult, told Gentleman's Journal on the morning of the Oasis reunion announcement. "But by Heathen Chemistry in 2002 Oasis were decked out in double denim like Mancunian The Strokes. Then today Liam still rocks a parka but he’s always looking modern and fresh by wearing CP Company, Mackintosh, Nigel Cabourn and Barbour."
Driffield-born Danny Lomas, Podcaster, Instagram junkie and one of the best-dressed guys out there, puts its simply. "Oasis were the full 360 band for the everyman, the songs are easy to blurt out sober or 10 pints down and the same goes for their style, they weren’t decked out in couture or custom outfits, they were dressed like your older brothers dealer; a pair of adidas, some baggy denim and whatever you can get your hands on up top," he told us. "Whilst most megastars hire a stylist, for their show at Maine Road 1996 at the peak of their stardom, Liam was wearing a button-down shirt, and as he passed through the Man City locker room before the gig, he nicked one of the Umbro drill tops hanging up and wore it on stage."
With the announcement, you can expect a new wave of TikTokers attempting to grapple with Oasis' style, just like they've done with the now decade old Y2K trend (successfully or not, you decide). But there is a super fine line between replicating Oasis's style correctly and terribly. Too often you'll see wannabes Wonderwall-ers, with straightened sideburns and a parka jacket too small, trying to imitate the inherently Nineties style. "There is nothing more cringe than seeing a flurry of fellas in cheap parkas with their hair cut in the very 00s Paul Weller mod style outside a Liam or Noel Gallagher gig," continues Knox, who has a clear understanding of why they have managed to maintain that same image 20 years on. "Liam and Noel themselves though rarely look like their caricatures. They are always influenced by the looks of the past- the mod look, football casuals, The Stone Roses etc, but they always manage to look fresh and modern in doing so. The reason the Gallagher style is always stylish and fresh is that although the pieces- parkas, jeans, wallabies or adidas trainers - are a constant, the cut, shape and styles are forever changing with the times. The reason this style has endured is that like their music it is always rooted in British heritage, yet also always fresh and modern."
Most importantly for Lomas, it's the way the Gallaghers presented themselves that allowed their style to speak to so many, then and now. "They just dressed like ‘lads from up north’ which you can still see today - cropped schoolboy haircuts, a solid jacket (parka or track jacket) and a pair of 3 stripes to create a no nonsense easily replicable style," he says. "The key was in the attitude, they MADE you believe they were the best dressed on the planet and everyone else looked like shit. And best believe it worked."
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