2. • Sub-cultural Style
• Appropriated Sub-Cultures
• From Other to Another
• Personal Study: Singapore
• Case-study: Mash-Up
• Marketing and Commodification
4. Ted Polhemus
“Style isn’t just a superficial phenomenon but a
visible tip of something much greater.”
5. “The tribal imperative is and always will be a fundamental
part of human nature.”
-Ted Polhemus, Street Style
6.
7. –Dick Hebdige, Subcultures and the meaning of style, page 23
“Subculture provides a way of handling the
experience of ambiguity and contradictions, the
painful questions of identity. Each subculture
provides its members with style, an imaginary
coherence, a clear-cut ready-made identity which
coalesces around certain chosen objects (a safety
pin, a pair of winkle-pickers, a two-tone mohair suit).
Together, these chosen objects form a whole; a
recognisable aesthetic which in turn stands for a
whole set of values and attitudes.”
12. Hiroshi Narumi, Street Style and its meaning in Post-war Japan, page 423
In terms of social behavior the futen-zoku was not
an active tribe. They did little beyond making
appearances in their chosen locations. Looking
vaguely at passers-by, members of the futen-zoku
simply sat in public squares, parks, and in the
underground passages of Shinjuku train station
(Mabuchi 1989: 167). The Futen-zoku danced in
clubs and listened to Jazz at night and participated
very little in politics, art, shopping, or country life. In
spite of the influence of the American Hippies, the
futen- zoku was an urban tribe, that had merely
appropriated the Hippie style.
15. Though similar to British Rockers and American
Hell’s Angels with regard to motorbike riding, the
bôsô-zoku were considerably younger than their
European and American counterparts. The bôsô-
zoku subculture also developed an original style of
dress that was quite different from other biker looks.
Though their appearances are quite diverse,
behavioral similarities exist between the bôsô-
zoku and the Punk subculture. Both were
antagonistic towards the dull, middle- class
character of society in the 1970s.
Hiroshi Narumi, Street Style and its meaning in Post-war Japan, page 425
36. CLIMATE FOR SUB-CULTURE
2006-2008
● RISE OF ELECTRO MUSIC
● INDIE MUSIC MASH-UPS
● NEW RAVE
● RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: BLOGGERS,
FACEHUNTER, MYSPACE
● SCENESTERS, THE HORRORS, INDIE ROCK
● HEDI SLIMANE
● ANDROGYNY
39. PERSONAL STUDY: SUB-CULTURES
IN SINGAPORE 2006-2010
● INFLUENCE OF BRITISH ROCK
● NU RAVE
● ELECTRO MUSIC
● LEGAL DRINKING AGE
● ART SCHOOL BACKGROUND
● GROWING ARTS SCENE: JUICE, CATALOG
● ART SCHOOL BUDGETS
● RISE OF MYSPACE, BLOGS
47. - Yuniya Kawamura, Fashion-ology, page 100
“…sometimes youth cultures create their own
styles with their own definitions of fashions. I
would call this another type of fashion
system. The sources of fashion are becoming
diverse, and a growing number of younger
designers worldwide are emerging out of
street culture and designing distinct street
fashion.”
”
72. –vogue.co.uk
“"There's an exhaustion with trying to seem
different. People are genuinely tired by the fact
that to achieve status you need to be different
from everyone else around you." You can see
her point. Fast fashion and the retailer's ever-
growing ability to track trends from street to
runway and back again means subcultures
can barely exist beyond the brands. Punk,
indie, hipster - are all sold off-the-peg from
Primark to Saint Laurent. Not only is youth
culture big business (LVMH profits are on a par
with Google), it's everywhere.”
73.
74. @SIBELONDEK
“To most, it would be generalised as what
seems to be “vapour wave” or early 2000s, for
me I’m just inspired by the youthfulness, being
surrounded by post-modern art, boredom of
trends taking over the art of a culture so moving
on to the next crazy thing that hasn’t been
done- maybe it’s being in NYC where being an
individual is cool and finding “cool” in yourself.
We are almost performing an art piece of
growing tired of what’s “new”, what’s “next” and
going back to the 2000s where there was a nice
balance of technology and freedom.”
75.
76. @SIBELONDEK
“I mean a lot of magazines has covered it or
made some sort of “joke” about it. So probably
it’s going to move on to the next thing soon
when it gets overdone and when F21 starts
displaying it.”
78. Fashion-ology, page 77
“There is a view that the centralized fashion system
has been replaced by another system, and
according to Crane (1999) fashion designers in
several countries create designs for small publics in
global markets. Trends are now set by fashion
forecasters, fashion editors, and department store
buyers. Industrial manufacturers are consumer
driven, and market trends originate in many types of
social groups, including adolescent urban
subcultures, and consequently, fashion emanates
from many sources and diffuses in various ways to
different publics (Crane 1999: 13). At the same time,
the distinction between production and consumption
is becoming increasingly hazy and blurry.”
79. –Fashionology, page 78
“In the second model, the innovators generally
emerge from communities in urban areas that are
seedbeds for other types of innovation, such as
popular music and the arts. To be disseminated to a
larger audience, innovations have to be discovered
and promoted. According to Crane (1999: 16),
innovators tend to be small firms that are created by
individuals who belong to the communities in which
the innovations originate. If the style or fad shows
signs of becoming popular, large firms begin to
produce their versions of it and to market it
aggressively.
”
Bottom-up Dissemination of Fashion
87. OR SUPERMARKET OF STYLE?
“This is not, however, a world devoid of meaning. Indeed, precisely the opposite.
Those who shop at the Supermarket of Style know full well that every garment (a
'target' T-shirt or one with Queen Elizabeth II sporting a safety pin through her
nose) and every accessory on offer (Hippy beads, Psychedelic plastic rings)
comes as part of a complete semiological package deal. “ - Ted Polhemus
88. References
Hebdige, Dick. 1979. Subcultures and the Meaning of Style. London: Methuen.
Narumi, Hiroshi. 2010. Street Style and Its Meaning in Postwar Japan, Fashion Theory, Volume 14, Issue 4, pp.
415-438. Berg.
Kawamura, Y 2005, Fashion-ology: an introduction to fashion studies, Berg, Oxford; New York.
Polhemus, Ted (1994), Street Style, London: Thames and Hudson.
Websites:
The Business Of Fashion
DazedDigital
Health Goth: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/547561/health-goth-the-latest-trend-you-ve-never-heard-of.html
Normcore Fashion: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2014/03/21/normcore-fashion-vogue---definition
Editor's Notes
Youth tribes can tell you a lot about the energy and social issues happening around them. Their concerns, their beliefs, etc.
Youth tribes can tell you a lot about the energy and social issues happening around them. Their concerns, their beliefs, etc.
Youth Tribes have intristic symbols within their groups and are usually volative, keep changing.
Creepers were perfect for walking in snow, used during the war. Then adopted by Teddy Boys, then punks. Now they have come back into popularity and some people consider them ugly which could increase their appeal.
What attitudes and adjectives would you associate with this shoe? What would your doctor say about it? What would your little sibling say about it?
What attitudes and adjectives would you associate with this shoe? What would your doctor say about it? What would your little sibling say about it?
Perfecto leather jacket- has to look a certain way, has come to symbolize rebellion through years of perpetuating this attittudes. (Marlon Brando's The Wild One 1940s, Punks 1960s, Now??)
Body movements:Cycling, not showering, vintage cameras, drink designer coffee, say words like “that's so mainstream” “that's so vintage” Emotions/Attitudes they show: Nostalgia to the past, want to be 'eco' friendly, alternative lifestyles Clothes they wear: vintage, certain type of brands
All of us must agree on the symbols or else the meanings are lost RUN DMC: cool? Fresh? Hope for inner city minorities to 'make it' RAMONES: Punk, don't care, nihilistic MARLON BRANDO: 1940s, rebellion
What makes tribes, tribes? Ethnic and sub-cultural
Psychological thought that this is the hierachy of needs and in our societies where the bases are taken care of, youths especially, look into tribes and sub-cultures to fulfill the top parts of the triangle.
Films like clueless show the cliched cliques/tribes
Begin out of a marginalized group
Based on shared music Emo: emo music, there wwere emo-core, emo-screamo, emo-punk-rock They wear band-tees, hairstyle, skinny jeans, macbeth shoes Raggamuffins: listen to reggae, jamaican music, dancehall fashion
Based on activities, addictions...etc B-boys: Breakdancing, hip hop and funk music Ravers: raves, drugs, techno music Skaters: Skate, skateboards, skate shoes
Based on beliefs and ideals Hippy: peace, love, live and let live Beatniks: existentialism, beat generation- jack kerouac
Based on race or immigrant diasporas Bhangramuffin-Indian or Pakistani descent in Britain, listen to Raggamuffin music, Not just any indian/pakistani, must live in Britain Zooties- Immigrants from Latin America, African Americans or Italian Americans wearing over-sized 'zoot' suits which were seen as un-American/unpatriotic, were worn to assert their masculinity. Fabric rationing meant that this suits were 'illegal', increasing their appeal. Most zooties were immigrants. Jazz musicians, even Malcolm X wore them.
Based on sartorial differences Not just 'any' jeans, or a 'beard'. It has to be 'ironic' or a certain brand etc. This fine differences make the sub-culture unique. System of codes.
The codes/symbols have to be assembled a certain way, if not, you're an outsider, a 'poser' or as this meme says, a 'poser douche'.
Versace: punk Marc Jacobs: grunge
Kanye West (rapper) collaborates with APC (french cult brand, to create a 'hip hop' oversized t-shirt. From streets (hip hop), to catwalk (APC) back to the street (hip hop heads love luxury labels like APC)but at a higher price tag. People were outraged and said it was a rip-off, commercialization of sub-cultures.
BOF article about how Goth is being 'mined' It speaks in a negative light Is it really?
'Real Goths' Rick Owens, 'Goth Ninja' worn by Kate Moss, catapulted him to fame for his raw and 'grunge/goth' look. Rick Owens himself has a goth aesthetic. NOW: cult brands like Hood By Air use the 'goth' aesthetic, big brands take the 'essence' of goth styling and make it 'pretty'. Missing the point completely
2006 Susie Bubble speaks about Grunge styling and how it completely missed the mark, grunge was 'anti-fashion' and not just about the aesthetic look.
Sex Pistols 'God Save the Queen'
The Economist: Called the Met Ball an 'embarrassment' Fashion misses the point again Is punk dead
Why do some people feel like it 'belongs' to them? Big commitment to some sub-cultures IE Wearing a zoot suit could cost you; marines/ white americans would beat up Zooties as wearing a Zoot suits was un-patriotic and agains the fabric rationing of war time.
Parody? Vogue Italia showing 'chola' style
1980s iD used to document the street sub-cultures, one of the first records of stree styles and tribes in London Real deal?
Art school budget: drink outside clubs, take the bus home, diy clothes, buy vintage 2 nd hand, go to clubs like butter factory, follow other international sub-cultures like neu-rave
Mash-Up designers, we met while partying/studying in Lasalle, referenced different eras and aesthetics
Henry Holland: references 1980s Katherinne Hamnet, who did political slogan t-shirts Cassette Playa: 80s silhoettes, neu-rave Androgyny: Agynnes Deyn
Completely opposite, dark, androgynous, British rock couples like Kate Moss and Pete Doherty condoning the rock-star lifestyle
Personal work in Lasalle
Inspired by Native Americans, 1980s NY downtown art scene
Looks back to 1980s, the hustle, urban, hip hop, sri lankan/ethnic roots, electro
Downtown NY 1980s
Clear show of the 1980s sub-cultures in NY – New Romantics
Tranlating the energy into fabric; bleaching, lace, DIY
Tranlating the energy into fabric; bleaching, lace, DIY
1990s styling, mish-mash (creepers, 'Spice Girls' shoes, 'Chola' make-up But clothes alone without styling, very modern, streetwear
90s 8Bit graphics, silly, moombathon- reggaeton mixed with Dutch House Music
She takes her styling cues from 1990s, TLC left-eye lopes
Strange sub-culture that we observed in the internet, very visual culture, references hippies, 1990s and strange underwater culture.
Influenced our AW12 collection, we used sports/street elements from Basketball and mash-up with Atlantis motifs with Seapunk styling.
Influenced our AW12 collection, we used sports/street elements from Basketball and mash-up with Atlantis motifs with Seapunk styling.
Released after our collection, showed us that the Seapunk movement was gaining momentum if a popular rapper/singer was using it for her video.
Hackers and hacktivism, again the 1990s look. Influenced our SS13 collection
Tribal influences too, moombahton very african inspired..
Translated into the textile work of our SS13 collection
Styling for the runway was inspired by the cyber-punk 1990s culture
AW13 was inspired by this phenomenom in Japan about the Chicano culture. Chicano= Mexican American So if Japanese adopt this culture are they still Chicano??? Rappers would rap in spanish, english and japanese.
Influenced our work, Hokusai waves, bandanas, sumo wrestlers, kimono. Mash-up of different kitsch elements exploring the chicano sub-culture.
Small design collective from Manila, adopted by Kpop celebrities and k-pop fans. They make hand-made bone accessories. Goth aesthetic, makes huge use of social media.
Small design collective from Manila, adopted by Kpop celebrities and k-pop fans. They make hand-made bone accessories. Goth aesthetic, makes huge use of social media. Landscape of sub-cultures is changing, now everyone can do the same thing around the world thanks to social media.
Innovators- usually sub-cultures Marketeers love to spot these so they can spot what will make 'money' during the early majority and late majority area of this chart.
Marketeers don't use the same keyworkds to find certain sub-cultures anymore. Words like Punk have been largely over-used (1 million hits on instagram) but most are not very related...the meanings are changing.
New languages, #BBLU (far right) stands for Bad Bitches Link Up, how would a markeeter have known this?! It refers to a certain lifestyle of 'bad bitches' (females who are very confident and 'bad' in a good way) who 'get money', look good, drink moet etc. Picture in middle words like 'punk' are used for it plus 100 other hashtags, words are losing their old meanings.
Perhaps instead of being meaningless, we're building upon a previous meanings.