Throughout music history, each genre has not just been defined by its sound, but has also been informed by the communities that embrace the music. Within these communities comes a distinct approach to expression and identity. Initially, country music was written by and for predominantly Southern, blue-collar populations. When hip-hop began to rise in the early ‘70s, it defined itself as both a musical genre and a culture within the Bronx, combining funk and R&B compositions with spoken word and conveying themes of empowerment for marginalized communities.
With each musical subculture comes its own history, sound and even look. Whether it’s the battle vests of the metalheads or the clubwear of rave culture, each musical genre establishes specific fashion statements that set them apart from the rest. One fashion statement that has withstood the test of time and made its way across a variety of music subcultures is one single shoe: Dr. Martens.
The boot’s origins began in 1945, decades before it would make its way into alternative music scenes. Suffering from a broken foot after returning from war, 25-year-old Dr. Klaus Maertens wanted to make a shoe that would be comfortable for him. After showing a prototype with a unique air-cushioned sole to engineer and longtime friend Dr. Herbert Funk, the two went into business together in 1947 to continue making the shoes, initially crafting them from old military supplies.
After nearly a decade of selling their boots, Dr. Maertens and Dr. Funk decided to take the business overseas in 1959, and ultimately found a company named Griggs through ads in a shoe trade magazine. The Griggs company had been making shoes in England since 1901, and came on board to license, manufacture and sell the boots. After making some slight adjustments — including adding distinctive yellow stitching, a more rounded toe and “bouncing soles” — the shoes were branded as “Airwair.” By April 1, 1960, the eight-holed, 1460 Dr. Martens boot was born.
While it was initially meant to serve as a comfortable work boot, the shoe had arrived at the dawn of a decade full of immense cultural change. It wasn’t long before certain subcultures utilized the shoe, turning it into a fashion statement symbolizing non-conformity. Dr. Martens were first worn primarily by England’s working class, but they were soon adopted by skinheads, a punk subculture consisting of working-class youth.
Debra Parr, an associate professor in Columbia College Chicago’s art history department, teaches courses on the history of modern art and design, including Image and Object: Post-punk, which focuses on the intersection of punk music with fashion and art.
“Pete Townshend had worn them,” Parr says. “[He was] not punk at all, but he started wearing them when he was performing with The Who, and he said that for him it was really kind of a signifier of his solidarity with the working class, which is where he came from. And he said they were super comfortable to perform in…There were a lot of groups with working class roots, particularly skinheads and those attracted to ska and two-tone, [who] also were really interested in pulling Docs forward in the same way that Townshend had been.”
Throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, Dr. Martens continued to become a fashion staple in rock music with key figures such as Sid Vicious, Joe Strummer, Vivienne Westwood and Viv Albertine donning them. Dr. Martens were also known for their steel-toe structure. “He got me into so many fights, he was the reason I started wearing Dr. Martens,” Albertine once said of her living with Vicious.
However, in the ‘80s, something began to shift in Dr. Martens’ sales, and the company realized the shoe had finally reached a new market.
“Interestingly, girls began buying them in the early 1980s,” Parr says. “The company noticed that they were selling out of the smaller men’s sizes. They hadn’t been made in women’s sizes prior to the 1980s.”
For anyone who wore the shoe, it was a way for them to not only express solidarity with a particular group, but also a way for them to rebel against society’s expectation of how they ought to dress. For women and femmes, Dr. Martens took on a new meaning.
“You think of Kathleen Hanna wearing Dr. Martens, but I think that for girls it was a way of signifying another sort of appropriation,” Parr explains. “Girls began to feed back to the culture the opposite look that they were expected to adopt. So, if you think about the classic girl groups with their sound and their perfectly curled hair, this is a defiance of all of that, and I think the real feminist gesture.”
While numerous articles and books discuss the history of Dr. Martens boots and their relationship with music and culture, not much research has been done on what the boots represent for the LGBTQ+ punk community.
“If I were going to write something, it would be down that path, because I don’t think much research has been done quite yet,” Parr says. “I know just a few years ago, maybe just right before the pandemic, it became really clear that…[there was a] queer culture that was really declaring a solidarity with lesbians and queer folks that were part of the punk scene, but also having a specific identity within that sphere.”
No matter which group chooses to embrace the boot, what makes this particular fashion staple stand out is that the Dr. Marten can serve as a blank slate for the wearer, offering the ability for one to add their own twist to the shoe.
“Everybody has access to the commodity culture that we swim in,” Parr says. “And the appropriation of a commodity and turning it into a signifier for one’s own identity, that’s a very common practice for a whole range of groups, not just people who wear Dr. Martens, so I think the Dr. Marten phenomenon is super cool…I think taking a pair of boots from a particular subculture, mixing it with something else and then altering the meaning yet again keeps things fresh, but also opens up the possibility for more interpretations.”
Throughout the ‘90s, grunge and nu-metal continued to keep Dr. Martens alive, and the shoe’s presence bled into the 2000s emo scene. But today, Dr. Martens are no longer limited to the niche alternative subcultures that popularized them. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Bella Hadid and Olivia Rodrigo have worn the boot, and Dr. Martens has had numerous collaborations over the years with popular brands such as Bratz, Marc Jacobs, Supreme, and Sanrio.
“You wonder what it means when Dr Martens collaborates with Hello Kitty,” Parr laughs. “I love it on one level, but on the other, I’m absolutely horrified…I think that there’s a really interesting problem there; however, we live in a capitalist culture, and capitalism is known for being able to absorb all kinds of resistance. So if Dr. Martens had that meaning attached to it, say, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it doesn’t take long for capitalism to begin to absorb that and turn it into a desirable commodity for those outside of the culture.”
Now, there is a question of what the Dr. Martens boot represents today. Is its initial non-conformist identity gone for good? Or is that spark still there?
“Maybe right now anybody can wear it and look great in it, and it’s still got that little shiver of revolution or resistance or alternative desire,” Parr says. “Maybe it will have to become super [over]saturated, and then everyone will get sick of it. Then, 10 years from now, maybe it will be your children who will bring it back in a different mode.”
While the future of the boot is uncertain, its history remains relevant. The beauty of the boot lies in the fact that any individual or group can take on the shoe and turn it into something uniquely their own. It is for this reason that the shoe has remained timeless.
“It’s highly recognizable,” Parr says. “I mean, the yellow welting on the sole is just so distinctive, and everybody knows what it is. And I think every generation maybe looks at it as a way of not only connecting with the past, but also to put their own stamp on this really recognizably iconic footwear.”
Although Dr. Martens are now more mainstream and no longer limited to the working-class punks who initially wore them, their sense of non-conformity is still present. While it served as a symbol for punk attitude and feminist advocacy during its heyday, the best part about this historic combat boot may be the fact that it does not judge. All are welcome to wear it, no matter who you are.
“It appeals to a diverse group of different ideologies, tastes, music, gender,” Parr notes. “I think that’s quite encouraging to me in this moment when it seems that, at least under this current regime, we’re being asked to rethink the value of diversity.”
