FX’s new limited-series Pistol chronicles the evolution of the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols in a six-episode run (all out now). Based on the memoir of founding member and guitarist Steve Jones, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, the new binge-worthy watch centers around Jones’ journey. Following the loud and scrappy working-class ruffians who would go on to change music forever, the series also features the style renegades responsible for molding their bad-boy image.
Directed by Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle, the show stars Toby Wallace as Jones, Anson Boon as John Lyndon (the lead vocalist known as Johnny Rotten), Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Christian Lees as the band’s bassist Glen Matlock, and Jacob Slater as the drummer Paul Cook.
Catalysts of the punk movement, the Sex Pistols were integral to the anti-establishment aesthetic that took hold in the ’70s. The sound came first but their image and attitude proved to be integral to their meteoric rise. Dressed by the still-reigning grand Dame of fashion, designer Vivienne Westwood instilled an aura of unabashed rebellion, and stylish anarchy that helped put the group on the map.
In the first episode, Jones’ character is seen shoplifting from Westwood’s iconic Sex boutique in Chelsea where he meets the pre-Pretenders rock legend Chrissie Hynde, portrayed by actress Sydney Chandler. Hynde acted as an adviser to the series’ development.
Westwood (played by Talulah Riley) owns the shop with her partner Malcolm McLaren (played by The Queen’s Gambit actor Thomas Brodie Sangster), who goes on to be the manager of the Sex Pistols.
Another fashion icon seen in the show is Pamela Rooke, who’s portrayed by Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams. With gravity defying, stark white hair, Rooke’s signature hairstyle reached new heights with spikes or an upstanding bouffant. A pioneer of the British punk style, Rooke’s provocative and subversive looks were always further amplified by her artistic face paint and dramatic eyeliner.
With the wardrobe expertly curated by Liza Bracey, the costume designer told Vogue, “Joe Corré [Westwood and McLaren’s son] lent us some things, which was great. And we had Murray Blewett, who works for Vivienne Westwood and has worked for her for a long time and has archived a lot of her clothes.” Attempting to exactly replicated many looks of those heady days, Bracey even tracked down a raincoat once worn by Hynde.
While there’s a lot of fashion Easter eggs to spot, the FX series also charts the band’s swift downfall and the ill-fated relationship between member Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Vicious was accused of stabbing to death in Manhattan’s Chelsea Hotel in the late ’70s (you may remember Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker dressed up as the infamous couple for Halloween). Vicious, less than four months later at age 21, died of a heroin overdose.
Chaotic and groundbreaking, there’s no doubt the Sex Pistols sparked a revolution — along with the fashion luminaries that helped them along the way.
