Black Studded Belts

The dyed platinum hair looks electrified, as though Billy Idol plugged his amp into the wrong outlet. The pouty sneer suggests more sinister currents, as do the biker leathers, black studded belts and the chain-link ornaments a modest Mr. T might wear. You can relax though. Billy Idol may look like a Road Warrior leftover, but that punk patina is strictly business. "I use my image to attract people," says the London native. "Hell, everybody does. We're in heavy competition here."

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Idol conducts his business on a rock 'n' roll stage, of course, and his competition for fans is going well. Less than four years after arriving in New York with scarcely any fanfare--or plane fare--he has pumped three albums onto the Billboard charts and become, thanks to his puckishly villainous video roles, one of the more popular players on cable's MTV. Black studded belts to promote his newest album, Rebel Yell, he has taken his act onto Saturday Night Live and to SRO audiences across the country. The fan Idol-atry hasn't yet put him into Madison Square Garden, but he has come a long way.

The '80s signature rock-star accessory, the studded belt, is a hit again. Brittany Murphy and Cameron Diaz sport the classic wide version with a bit of attitude, while Brooke Shields chooses a double-wrapped style to give an uptown blazer a downtown edge. Just "don't overdo it," says Murphy's stylist Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig. "Piling on spiked accessories looks dominatrix-like." Take a cue from Famke Janssen, who pairs a streamlined belt with minis for four chart-topping looks. Rock on!

With Aucoin firmly on his side, black studded belts, Idol teamed up with guitarist Steve Stevens, now his co-writer, and formed a new band. Ironically, one of their first hit singles was a warmed-over Generation X tune titled Dancing With Myself, bolstered this time around by a video from director Tobe Hooper of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame. In it, Idol plays his usual chest thumper, sporting more studs than a set of snow tires. It is a stage role he clearly relishes--profitably. As for nonbelievers in the punk pinup-boy image, "They can laugh if they think I look stupid," says Billy magnanimously. "If they get a laugh out of it, that's kinda cool."

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In 1976 Idol formed his own band, Generation X, and hit upon his nom de punk, a device to twit rock's cult of celebrity. "I can be an idol just by calling myself one; that's how filmsy it all is," he reasoned. But after three Gen X albums Idol jumped ship and headed for the New York offices of impresario Bill Aucion, the man who had managed Kiss to stardom. If celebrity was foolishness, it was the kind of foolishness Idol wanted, and his approach impressed Aucoin. "A lot of times when you meet artists, it's like you're talking to someone who should be behind a desk," the manager notes. "The first day I met him, he was Billy Idol, no question about it." See also studded punk belts