Scrapbook: Sunless '97 Flip Through Their Old Photo Albums

‪ Sunless ’97 won’t tell you what the deal is with the 1997. When I first talked to them last year they said: “There are many things that happened in 1997 that are significant, some of them are closer to our chest than others…” Cryptic. Along with bassist Matthew McGough, the trio do have one foot firmly rooted in the era: Current single “Aurora II” is a cut of woozily euphoric, pop-tronica with shades of early 90s house. (British DJ Luke Solomon pushing “Aurora II” into darker territories on his flipside remix is worth a spin too.)

I made the members of Sunless '97 go through their photo albums to map their fashion fails and triumphs through the years. Although the band recently made merch on Hypercolor t-shirts—you know, the shirts that show exactly where on your body you’re sweating bullets—the trio's looks and visual references are much broader than their namesake decade.

Ed Eke: Here I am flexing this two-piece tracksuit and zebra print fur hat in a naturally relaxed pose on window ledge. It must have been the craze in the early 90s because as you can see in the inset photo, I’m taking an identical stance on a different day. The film canister is just an accessory.

Matt McGough: As a child I seem to have been nearly exclusively dressed in fancy dress. [That’s British for costumes.] I can’t find a picture where I’m not dressed up as a Romanian folk singer, pirate, or more worryingly, a ballerina.

Alice Davies: Here I am at one with nature and with trusted dungarees [overalls]. I remember this outing well—my big sister was wearing a very large Bon Jovi Keep the Faith t-shirt and my mum had this really smooth American student visiting who took all these pictures of us casually observing swans and such.

In the picture on the right we were on a family holiday in Italy when I was thirteen with my friend Tali. She was into metal and I liked punk mainly, but overall we were “grungers” so could communicate with each other, but not with anyone else.

Ed: This was from my hardline college [high school] days. Big choices. I was 16 and kept dying my hair. I ended up looking like a skunk. When Alice and I first met, I had this Hackett top with a flag on it—football hooligan attire—and she painted all over it with really colorful acrylic paints. In my juvenile, uneven mid-teen stupor I thought there was something quite poetic about that and wore it all the time.
Alice: I’m 16 here, the age Ed and I became friends. We sort of came from different teenage worlds. Ed loved UK garage and he wore all these over-the-top designer clothes. Like those ugly toe glove Nike slipper things and a leather Lucky Strike jacket. He had this mad black and white hair, mine was dyed a range of stupid colors. I was coming out of my punk phase and felt like I was ready to open my mind some more. I was dressing like a messy ballerina, making my clothes from drapes of material or second hand clothes.

Matt: I spent a year in America in my early 20s. Free of the shackles of English judgement, I wore stupid clothes such as the ones in the picture. In the Bay Area there was a hip-hop scene called Hyphy which involved a fashion of wearing huge, crazy patterned hoodies. I was in no way part of the scene but I bought a couple of the hoodies and wore them. I was the last person who should have done so.

Ed: In my early 20s I went through a Blixa Bargeld phase (of Einstürzenden Neubauten). I wore old black suits tucked into huge boots and the music I was making at the time was heavily influenced by Neubauten’s German industrial vibes. The clothes were very much part of that niche. I’m not sure if Blixa wore a cap though, I think that was my own touch.

Alice: I’m sure a lot of girls have periods of wanting to be Patti Smith or at least dressing a lot like her. I did that in my early 20s. Everything about her young self in New York—full of energy with a thirst for everything exotic and poetic—was just very inspiring and almost reassuring somehow. Sometimes if you dress a certain way you can channel some good energy and be in a good mindset and therefore be productive.

Ed: In our early 20s we used to live with the producer Palmistry (also known as Shrimp Boy/Triad God) and he and I both went through an obsession with River Phoenix when he plays the gay street hustler in My Own Private Idaho. We battled for ages over who could find the jacket and then who could wear the jacket, but some things should be left just for River.

Matt: I spent some time in South Africa recently. I made friends with a local tailor and bought lots of outfits from him. Some worked and some failed. The tailor was sad that local young people didn’t wear African patterns but instead opted for American styles. He was a wise sage and summed it up as: “The African people never realize what they have.” Deep. When I got back to London, I reverted to muted tones. These trousers don’t suit snow. I miss this vibe.

Alice: At about the 24 mark decided I wanted to channel my inner Tibetan Punk, these girls are so damn cool with their 70s shirts over polo necks.

Ed: Two enduring style icons for me today are Jah Wobble and Don Cherry. Don was so colorful and emitted real joy. Jah is such a smooth guy, heavily suited but with a t-shirt underneath. There’s always a sense of humor to him. Recently I found this intense blue beret that I really love. I think about it along the Wobble/Cherry lines, but so far I've been called Citizen Smith and the other day someone called me a White Panther!
Alice: If Ed is going to be Don then I want to summon Neneh Cherry’s style from 80s. She is a serious avant-soul diva.
Ed: I don’t think we take style that seriously. As with most things in life it should be approached with a good amount of humor, but I also see it as an extension of you and a good way to express yourself.
Alice: It’s a great chance to be playful and creative on a daily basis. Clothes are good fun.

Style Stage is an ongoing partnership between Noisey & Garnier Fructis celebrating music, hair, and style.