Heavy metal fashion refers to the fashion, clothing habits, and general appearance of heavy metal fans. It typically consists of black clothes, t-shirts sporting a logo of a heavy metal band, album covers, or images of the band itself, jeans (sometimes ripped) or leather pants, leather biker jackets or denim jackets (sometimes both, with the leather on first, then, the denim, usually with the sleeves removed, on top), spikes, chains, tattoos, body jewelry (often silver), sometimes black eyeliner (black nail polish is also not uncommon), and long, ragged hair. Footwear is often combat boots, "biker boots", or construction boots, rather than the more stylized footwear of Goths. Traditional heavy metal fashion has some crossovers with Goth and grunge clothing, particularly in colors, and excessive body piercing.
Heavy metal fashion has seen a recent resurgence in the UK (and to some extent in the US). Mainstream 'pop' fashion retailers have picked up what is accurately labeled as a cross between heavy metal fashion and skater fashion and are successfully marketing it under the labels 'Goth' or 'rock' fashion. This typically consists of t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts with heavy metal, nu-metal, or punk logos, paired with baggy 'skater' jeans, chains, and dark colours. This is largely the result of the increasing popularity of nu-metal and skateboarding in the UK.
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