street fashion and subculture: past present and future
TRANSCRIPT
We are the only species which consciously, deliberately alters its appearance. This has been true throughout human history and will always be so because bodily expression can
communicate things which words never can. Far from a superficial, insignificant medium of
expression, the customized body lies at the heart of human nature and capability.
– Ted Polhemus
P A I N …
ATTITUDE …
RITUAL …
IDENTITY …
PERSONAL VISION …
Human beings have always used their appearance as personal advertising - a calling card signaling who we are and where we are at.
As our world grows ever more complex and fragmented, the importance of appearance grows
ever greater: our visible differences and similarities facilitating interaction and
relationships….
Hence the STYLETRIBES appear
STREET FASHIONSUBCULTURES
& STYLETRIBES
PAST…PRESENT…FUTURE
[email protected]+994 117 117 3www.nift.com
Streetstyles are born in street (and suburbs) and hibernates in street (and suburbs).
The followers may change their mind …but the styles and attitudes will not.
Where the Styles originate?
The urge of being authentic creates a subculture
Oozing through their cloths, hairstyles, make-ups, tattoos & accessories are the attitude. This attitude shows their commitments to the styletribe or subculture they belong to, and this subcultures by anyway, never changes their looks with ever changing moods or
modes of mainstream fashion.
Why people joins in a subculture:
“We are authentic”
“our club”
“Hate Government”
“Fight against common odds”
“secrecy and dark side”
“creative addiction”
“craze”
What inspires to develop a subculture:Society
Economy
Movies Animations Comic strips
intellectual and cultural climate
Music movements
Addiction
Fantasy Myth
Innovation / Discovery
DisasterCalamity
Why a certain number of GANG MEMBERSgather in to form a Styletribe or Subculture :
Because, their AIO matches.
AIO = Attitude + Interests+ Opinions
Innovators Early Adopters Majority Late Adopters Laggards
FASHION LEADERS FASHION FOLLOWERS
T I M E
NumberOf
Adopters
DIFFUSION CURVE : SPREAD OF INNOVATION THROUGH A SOCIAL OR SUBCULTURAL SYSTEM
How long a subculture exists:
“FOREVER”sometimes ahead of fashion…
Sometimes in fashion…
Sometimes out of fashion…
But it exists FOREVER
Afrocentrism
Black Metal Inner Circle
Bohemianism
Conspiracy theorists
Deaf culture
Backpackers
Fandom
Furry fandom
Otaku
Trekkie
folkies
Freak scene
Gamer
Greens
Hacker
US Rave culture)
Graffiti artists
Import scene
Nerd
Cybers
Demoscene
Disco
Emo
Goths
Greasers
Grungers
Hip hop culture
Thugs/Gangstas
B-boys
Graffiti artists
Blingers
Hippies
Hipsters
Metalheads
Nazi-metalheads
Mods
New Romantics
Pachuco
Punk subculture
Rude boys
Skate punks
Raggare
Rave scene
Rivetheads
Trojan Skinheads
Gay skinheads
Nazi-Skinheads
Straight edge
Hard-liners
Swing Kids
Teds
Zazou
Swinging
Chavs
Sloanes
Townie
Urbanites
Computer art scene
Bills
New Age culture
Nudists
Biker gangs such as the Hell's Angels
Body modification and tattoo subcultures
vampire subculture
Vegans
Vegetarians
BDSM subculture
Queer culture
Sexual fetish subculture
Leather subculture
Rockabillies
Psychobillies
Rockers
Scooterboys
Skinheads
Anarcho-skinheads
Punk-skinheads
Red-Skinheads
What is style surfing:
“ Not belonging to one subculture forever”
“Earlier I was Punk…Now being Goth…
Tomorrow I may be seen with Primitives…”
A remarkable social and cultural inversion has occurred in the last fifty years: where
once culture was the monopoly of the upper classes, it now, more often than not, bubbles
up from those on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’. This transformation has been
especially evident in the world of style - with the authenticity of streetstyle challenging and
then toppling the dictatorship of High Fashion.
NOW…
Tell me who’s Authentic…
Couture or Street?
DIY
The true is made false, the symbolic is made arbitrary and the authentic is made into
fashion
Ted Polhemus
PAST
Zooties
Cowboys
Bikers
BIKER GATHERING1998
Beats
Teddy boys
Rockabilly
Surfers
Mods
Folkies
Rockers
Psychedelics
Hippies
Skin heads
Funk
Glam
Rastafarians
Headbangers
Skaters
Punk
Goth
Casuals
Punks2003
Psychobillies
Pervs
Raggamuffins & Bhangra style
New Age Travelers
Ravers
Acid Jazz
Environmental Protest Group
Modern Primitives
Hiphop
Hiphop
PRESENT
As in pop music, the predominant tendency in appearance style today relies upon sampling & mixing diverse, eclectic,
often contradictory elements into a unique, personal statement. Celebrating the confusion and diversity of our age, we surf through both history and geography to find
our own reality - in the mix.
Grunge
Islaja (27) and Lussu (28)
Islaja: "I'm wearing my mother's old wedding dress. The bag is a souvenir from Moscow. Cycling wearing a mini-skirt and French soundtracks inspire me."Lussu: "I love all my treasures found at second hand markets. Last week I made real findings at a dust-bin. Like a dress with church tower prints."
"I like all colors. I don't like tight trousers or too short skirts.I think there's no point in buying new clothes.In five years I'll still have the same look."
Henna (18)
"I'm wearing exceptionally lots of second hand now. The shoes used to belong to my grandmother. I like black-and-white, it clarifies the style. Before I liked bright colours but now I'm into darker tints. The Pope is stylish. I like the pompous style of the Roman Catholic Church."
Anni (14)
"I bought my shoes from a shop and decorated them with pearls. When you make clothes yourself or customize them, you get exactly the clothes you want. I'm coming from Comics Festival. That inspired me to dress up colorfully. Japanese street styles inspire me, too. I would like to be a fashion designer or an artist."
Sanna (21) and Jussi (20)
Sanna: "My favorite brands are Tiia Vanhatapio, House of Björnberg, Dior Homme and Acne. Vintage is my obsession. I like strong, even exaggerated contrasts: old/new, cheap/expensive, black/white..."Jussi: "I'm wearing a hand made sweater from UFF, self made printed tank top and J.Lindeberg jeans. Lately I was inspired by boredom: It made me design the print on my top."
“NOW ANTI-FASHION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FASHION”
“ I do read lots of fashion magazines - from all over the world. But fashion ain’t what it used to be. Today new trends are at least as
likely to ‘bubble up’ from street level as they are to ‘trickle down’ from High Fashion. The implications of this for marketing and advertising are obvious - demanding a more unbiased and
sociological approach than that typically provided by the fashion/style/design media. “
NEAR-FUTURE
Techno punk
Cyber punk
Metal is off-course better than meat
CYBORG
Cyberpunk is a sub-genre, noted for its focus on "high tech and low life" and taking its name from the combination of cybernetics and punk. It features advanced science such as
information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or a radical
change in the social order.
Postcyberpunk…
Postcyberpunk describes a subgenre of science fiction which some critics suggest has evolved from classic cyberpunk. Like its predecessor, postcyberpunk focuses on technological developments in near-future societies, typically examining the social effects of an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, genetic engineering and modification of the human body, and the continued impact of perpetual technological change. Unlike "classic" cyberpunk, however, the works in this category feature characters who act to improve social conditions or at least protect the status quo from further decay.
FUTURE
Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human cognitive and physical abilities and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as disease and aging. Transhumanist thinkers study the possibilities and consequences of developing and using human enhancement techniques and other emerging technologies for these purposes. Possible dangers, as well as benefits, of powerful new technologies that might radically change the conditions of human life are also of concern to the transhumanist movement
Bio punk...
Mutants
Differences between Cyber punk and Bio punk :
Unlike cyberpunk,Bio punk builds not on information technology but on biology.
Individuals are enhanced not by mechanical means, but by human genetic engineering.
• Videodrome (1983)
· Innerspace (1987)
· Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1988)
• Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)
· Naked Lunch (1991)
· Genocyber (1993) anime
· Crash (1996)
· MD Geist (1996) anime
· Gattaca (1997)
· eXistenz (1999)
· Minority Report (2002) -- The precogs were the result of genetic mistakes
· Resident Evil (2002)
· Code 46 (2003)
· Aeon Flux (2005)
· UltraViolet (2006)
· Children of Men (2006)…not yet released
Movies… inspired by the Biopunk theory :
ThanksFor not sleeping…
NO SLIDES TO BE COPIED PRESENTED OR PUBLISHED IN ANY ELECTRONIC OR PRINT MEDIA WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION FROM
KAUSTAV SENGUPTA
UNAUTHORISED COPY WILL ATTRACT LEGAL ACTION UNDER INDIAN AND USA COPYRIGHT LAW
FURTHER REFERENCES
WEBSITES :
Japanese street fashion
www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/ fashion/japanese_street_fashion.html
Selected street fashion from Helsinki, Finland.
www.hel-looks.com
Toronto street fashion photos, fashion news and trends, fashion industry forum and Toronto event listings...
www.torontostreetfashion.com
Shop street fashion trendy clothing urban clothing tops, tees, tanks, shirts, skirts, beauty products, makeup and accessories from Japan, Hong Kong, Korea.
www.onatoko.com
London designer interviews and runway archive, photo shoots, street style, weekly updated news and a fashion clinic.
www.fuk.co.uk
Selected Readings :
MAGAZINES
• Fashion News – Tokyo, Japan• The Face – London• Duo – London• Baaschix – Florida, USA• Blow – London• Dazed & Confused – London• G Spot : the electronic lifestyle magazine – London• i-D Magazine – London• U.H.F – USA• Zeitgeist – London• Blue – Sydney• Groovy Britains Magazine – London• Sin Magazine – Melbourne, Australia• Don’t tell it – USA• Village – Italy• Skin II - USA
Selected Readings :
BOOKS
• The Black Leather Jacket- Mick Farren, London 1985• Fashion & Anti Fashion- Lynn Procter, London 1978• Skinheads- Nick Knight, London 1982• Urban Rhythms: Pop music and popular culture- Lian Chambers, London 1985• A History of Men’s Fashion- Farid Chenoune, Paris 1993• Today there are no gentleman- Cohn Nick, London 1989• Mods! – Barnes Richard, London 1991• Subculture: The Meaning of Style- Lain Chambers, London 1979• Futura Shock –Jim McClellan, NYC 1992• Postmodernism: The Twilight of the Real- Neville Wakefield, London 1990 • Rebirth of Punk – StudioVoice - Tokyo
With special thanks to Ted who has helped me through out the span of my street life to find out the actual meaning of STREET
Kaustav SenGuptaAsst. Professor & Centre Coordinator
Department of Fashion & Lifestyle AccessoriesNational Institute of Fashion Technology
Chennai
Regional Representative (South)Leather Design Centre
CLE-ILGA-NIFT project
Internal Design Consultant (IDC)Design Studio- SGSY Cluster
PART OF THIS PRESENTATION IS PUBLISHED IN SKIN II MAGAZINE USA – ISSUE 102