They stood for anarchy, rebellion and the questioning of authority. And it was written across their face in scrawly make-up. But, what happens when the original punks hit middle-aged and beyond, faced with the prospect of ageing? Are they transforming and confirming gracefully or sticking two fingers up at the age-defying beauty industry? Bethan Cole investigates...

A few years ago, I met the Slits guitarist Viv Albertine with a music journalist friend at The Roundhouse in Camden. Viv, who has recently starred in the art house film Exhibition and published a memoir, Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys is very much the woman of the moment once more. But meeting her, I was shocked at how un-punk she was, how soignee, how chic, how like an ultra-groomed beauty editor - she was all tasteful blonde highlights and creaseless skin. 

It struck me that not all punks, many now in their mid fifties, are ageing as we expect. Some indeed have stuck to their original beauty aesthetic like Siouxsie Sioux, others have toned it down and become more conventional due to day jobs and in some extreme cases, ex-punks have embraced Botox and plastic surgery and gone full throttle down the hyper-commercial, celebrity route. ‘Punk was a genuine aesthetic, not a fashion fad,’ considers MAC’s director of make-up artistry, Terry Barber ‘It was a belief in something, and that never dies. The interesting thing about Punk is the conviction that they (the punks) were beautiful and convention was ugly. Punks don’t leave that behind; even if the exterior changes, the spirit is still there.’

Perhaps bravest of all are the women who have stuck to that aesthetic without wavering, ever since the late seventies. Sioux is one of them and you can witness her on stage (as recently as Meltdown in 2013) with ironed, black witchy hair and that trademark angular gothic-ky make up (like a deranged 1920s silent movie star), prowling the stage in a white catsuit. Zillah Minx of the band Rubella Ballet, 53, is another ‘76 generation original punk who has stuck with the look, loyally during the last 38 years. 

Back in 76, even before the Sex Pistols appeared on TV she had hacked off her long blonde hair, dyed it Crazy Colour pink and spiked it up with soap and hairspray. She teamed this hair with black eyeliner, mascara and lipstick, dayglo eyeshadow and violent red blusher. Nearly four decades on she is still performing with her band and still kicking against the norm with her beauty routine. ‘I still look very similar now to how I have always looked,’ she proclaims describing her day-glo Mohican (shaved at the sides) and day-glo make up, ‘once a punk, always a punk!’ 

Zillah, who is vehemently anti animal cruelty doesn’t view punk as simply an aesthetic; it is a way of living. She is a raw food vegan and also makes her own skin cream to avoid putting chemicals on her face (her late friend, the punk star Poly Styrene also used to use her creams). What then, does she feel about the constant flow of anti-ageing messaging aimed at women of her age? ‘It's something that, as a punk I've been able to ignore - age is not as relevant in our world. Punks don't discriminate gender, race, disability, sexuality or age. We as punks are not aiming for the same idea of beauty as the mainstream. Punks don't measure their own worth on mainstream ideas of youth and beauty.’ 

She rejects Botox and plastic surgery on the same grounds. But Zillah is probably in a minority in that the demands of a day job and family (and indeed changing tastes) mean that the majority of teenage punks have subsequently mellowed out and become comparatively more mainstream where their hair and make-up is concerned. 

Fuschia Fowke is in her early forties but back in the mid eighties she describes her look at ‘a bit punky, a bit hippy and always very alternative.’ Her look was certainly attention-grabbing back then: she had shocking orange hair spiked up at the front and long at the back and fierce ankhs of liquid black eyeliner round each eye. However now, working as a teacher in Madrid she is more conservative. ‘I am more subdued in the way I present myself these days, although I still have my nose pierced’ she admits. ‘Having a professional job necessitates a more subdued image; also I don’t feel the need to be constantly making a statement about who I am.

‘There will always be a natural evolution of a woman’s look,’ observes Barber, ‘regardless of what it was in her youth. The attitude is still there and the look becomes more cerebral.’ Fuschia may have mellowed but she still feels antipathy towards the way in which women are pressuposed to respond to ageing, rejecting the need for any invasive as well as non-invasive treatments.

‘I think that a lot of us were genuinely interested in alternative ideas and ideologies and are far more likely to have a positive approach to ageing as a result. However we are still part of the society we were born into and inevitably are affected by advertising targeted at women, just as we were when we were young. But I’m sure many of us have fought against this as much as possible and will continue to do so.’

But there are a small minority of ex-punks, however, who are responding to the ageing process with injectables and surgery. Courtney Love, now 49, (and about to stage a reunion of her band Hole) was, in the early 90s, America’s punk or grunge princess; an alt-rock icon famous for her very public rebellion. Yet Courtney has openly admitted to having had a facelift (apparently Goldie Hawn advised her to have it aged 36), which seems like an act of antithesis to her former chaotic, punky self. 

Likewise Brix Smith Start - formerly guitarist in spiky punk/post punk band The Fall – has openly admitted to Botox. But arguably, these two are anomalies in that they are living in the celebrity realm with careers (in film/TV/fashion) that are to a large extent dependent on the way they look. Yet they both, still manage to exude a spirit of sedition nevertheless. Terry Barber sums it up: ‘Women who are very rebellious in their youth tend to prioritise cool over perfection instinctively as they age.’ Punks and ex- punks in their forties and fifties are showing us alternative ways of ageing that are fearless and free.