Monday, May 4, 2009
Street Styles
Street Fashion is more than a sartorial statement, it is the bearer of a complex and contradictory history.Throughout the decades different youth generations expressed themselves and their values ‘on the streets’ opposing mainstream society by creating culture and fashion of their own.Today many designers look back to youth movements for inspirations of rebellious fashion and spirits.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Zoot Suit
Late 1930s and 1940s United States
Zoot suits were first popularized among youth minority groups,especially African Americans, Filipino, and Hispanic American men know as "Pachucos" in Los Angeles, people who had no voice, who were pushed to the “margins” of society in the late 30s and 40s.The zoot-suit was more than the drape-shape of 1940s fashion, more than a colourful stage-costume worn by Jazz musicians, it was, in the most direct and obvious ways, an emblem of ethnicity and a way of negotiating an identity.During World War II exaggerated suit was seen as deliberately flouting cloth rationing regulations and as being anti-patriotic, disrupting the social order,which was a factor in the series of violent eruptions of Zoot Suit Riots.
Men in police line-up wearing zoot suits.Life magazine 1942.Photographer:Peter Stackpole.
Poster for play Zoot Suit which ran in 1978.In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events when a group of young Mexican-Americans were wrongfully charged with murder--and the Zoot Suit Riots.
Designers hit the brakes on the ‘slim’ trend and reversed direction in creating a bigger, wider silhouette. Baggy and flowing pants in the style of 30’s ‘zoot suits’ were present in nearly every show.Dior Homme Spring 2009.
The “Pachuca,” the female counterpart of the Pachuco, had as strong an aesthetic sensibility as the male zoot suiter. 1942 female Zoot suit gang being taken away by the police.
John Galliano Spring 2002 collection inspired by zoot suits.
Zoot suits were first popularized among youth minority groups,especially African Americans, Filipino, and Hispanic American men know as "Pachucos" in Los Angeles, people who had no voice, who were pushed to the “margins” of society in the late 30s and 40s.The zoot-suit was more than the drape-shape of 1940s fashion, more than a colourful stage-costume worn by Jazz musicians, it was, in the most direct and obvious ways, an emblem of ethnicity and a way of negotiating an identity.During World War II exaggerated suit was seen as deliberately flouting cloth rationing regulations and as being anti-patriotic, disrupting the social order,which was a factor in the series of violent eruptions of Zoot Suit Riots.
Men in police line-up wearing zoot suits.Life magazine 1942.Photographer:Peter Stackpole.
Poster for play Zoot Suit which ran in 1978.In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events when a group of young Mexican-Americans were wrongfully charged with murder--and the Zoot Suit Riots.
Designers hit the brakes on the ‘slim’ trend and reversed direction in creating a bigger, wider silhouette. Baggy and flowing pants in the style of 30’s ‘zoot suits’ were present in nearly every show.Dior Homme Spring 2009.
The “Pachuca,” the female counterpart of the Pachuco, had as strong an aesthetic sensibility as the male zoot suiter. 1942 female Zoot suit gang being taken away by the police.
John Galliano Spring 2002 collection inspired by zoot suits.
Beatniks
The Beat Generation is a term used to describe a group of American writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they wrote about. Central elements of "Beat" culture include a rejection of mainstream American values, experimentation with drugs and alternate forms of sexuality, and an interest in Eastern spirituality.
Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat generation originally released on LP January 1960.
Since 1958, the term, Beatnik has been used to describe an anti-materialistic literary movement that began with Kerouac in 1948, stretching on into the 1960's. Many historians have asserted that the beatnik philosophy of anti-materialism, combined with its fundamental soul-searching ethos, may have influenced some of the lyrics of popular 1960's musical groups such as The Beatles, and was the precursor of the Hippie generation.
A charter member of beat generation.1959 Southern California.
Photo+by+Larry+Keenan.jpeg)
Beat Generation & Counterculture members Peter Orlovski,Robbie Robertson, and Bob Dylan in City Lights Bookstore basement,San Francisco 1965(detail)Photo by Larry Keenan.William Smith,a beatnik candidate for president at Ninth Circle Bar,1960.Photo by Fred W.McDarrah
Emblematic of this new stereotype were men wearing goatees and berets,dark sunglasses indoors, rolling their own cigarettes, and playing bongos. Fashions for women included black leotards and wearing their hair long, straight, and unadorned. This was a rebellion against the middle-class standards of the time which expected women to get permanent treatments for their hair.
Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2008
BCBG Max Azria Fall 2006.
Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat generation originally released on LP January 1960.
Since 1958, the term, Beatnik has been used to describe an anti-materialistic literary movement that began with Kerouac in 1948, stretching on into the 1960's. Many historians have asserted that the beatnik philosophy of anti-materialism, combined with its fundamental soul-searching ethos, may have influenced some of the lyrics of popular 1960's musical groups such as The Beatles, and was the precursor of the Hippie generation.
A charter member of beat generation.1959 Southern California.
Photo+by+Larry+Keenan.jpeg)
Beat Generation & Counterculture members Peter Orlovski,Robbie Robertson, and Bob Dylan in City Lights Bookstore basement,San Francisco 1965(detail)Photo by Larry Keenan.William Smith,a beatnik candidate for president at Ninth Circle Bar,1960.Photo by Fred W.McDarrah
Emblematic of this new stereotype were men wearing goatees and berets,dark sunglasses indoors, rolling their own cigarettes, and playing bongos. Fashions for women included black leotards and wearing their hair long, straight, and unadorned. This was a rebellion against the middle-class standards of the time which expected women to get permanent treatments for their hair.
Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2008
BCBG Max Azria Fall 2006.
Teddy Boys
The subculture started in London in the 1950s and rapidly spread across the UK as a reaction to the austerity imposed by the socialist government in the years following the War. Young men inspired by American rock and roll music of the time and the styles of the Edwardian period attempted to scandalize their parents with wasteful fashions that were far too camp for working class sensibilities.Rebellion and looking cool was all a major part of the teddy boy trend. The name came from a shortened version of "Edwardian", because the teddy boy fashions first began with everyone wearing Edwardian period style suits and this look was important, along with plenty of grease in the hair, slicked back with a big quiff or 'kiss curl' in the middle of the forehead. The teds hung out in gangs and dated "teddy girls" and often rioted amongst the rockers.
The movement found such devotees as John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison and eventually evolved into rockabillies in the 70s which is still very much around.
A Teddy boy shows off his tattoo at a gathering of Teddy boys, Manchester, c1983
Largely overlooked teenage teddy girls also took their look from the Edwardians' cameo brooches and high collars, their boyish short haircuts, trousers and even jeans set the blueprint for generations of tomboys to follow.Ken Russell's 1955 Photo Essay on London's Teddy Girls.
Comme des Garçons incorporated new takes on the Teddy Boy classic in Fall 2009 show.
Christian Dior Fall 2004.The collection, John Galliano explained, was inspired by illustrated Vogue covers from the 1900s, using them as a route through to the Edwardiana/teddy boy revival of the 1950s.
The movement found such devotees as John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison and eventually evolved into rockabillies in the 70s which is still very much around.
A Teddy boy shows off his tattoo at a gathering of Teddy boys, Manchester, c1983
Largely overlooked teenage teddy girls also took their look from the Edwardians' cameo brooches and high collars, their boyish short haircuts, trousers and even jeans set the blueprint for generations of tomboys to follow.Ken Russell's 1955 Photo Essay on London's Teddy Girls.
Comme des Garçons incorporated new takes on the Teddy Boy classic in Fall 2009 show.
Christian Dior Fall 2004.The collection, John Galliano explained, was inspired by illustrated Vogue covers from the 1900s, using them as a route through to the Edwardiana/teddy boy revival of the 1950s.
Mods
60s England
Mod subculture a "fashion-obsessed and hedonistic cult of the hyper-cool" young adults who lived in metropolitan London and emerged in the late 1950s and hit its peak in the mid-60s. By this time teenagers were bored with what they deemed as the dull, uninspired British culture around them, repressed and riddled with British class system. The Mod rebellious lifestyle revolved around consuming pleasures such as Italian suits and French fashion,night-clubs and amphetamine,Italian motor-scooters,collecting records and listening to the music such as African-American soul, Jamaican ska, British beat music and R&B.By doing so the youth subculture rejected the class system and grueling nine-to-five working week that gotten their parents nowhere.An opposition to Mods were Rockers,who viewed the vanity and clothes-obsession of the mods as un-masculine.The conflicts between them often led to riots.
Mods in white suits. Bound for dance, Barry Hall, 17, Ken Todd, 18 and Brian Hemmings, 17 (all with face powder), show off their new suits. 1964
Female modeling Mod Street Style,Richards,1966.
Mods were self-conscious and critical,they customized existing styles, symbols and artefacts such as the Union flag and the Royal Air Force roundel symbol, and put them on their jackets in a pop art-style.Carnaby Tavern Shop ad for Union Jack 'Jam" Jacket.ca.1965. Twiggy an iconic 60s model and the symbol of Mod high-fashion in union-jack dress,designer unknown. Look Magazine, 1967
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Compared with other youth subcultures, mod culture gave young women high visibility and relative autonomy.The emphasis on clothing and a stylized look for women demonstrated the same focus for detail in clothes as their male mod counterparts.Female mod fashion went from an underground style to a more commercialized high-fashion mod look.
Luella Bartley Spring 2007
Philip Lim 3.1 Fall 2009
Mod subculture a "fashion-obsessed and hedonistic cult of the hyper-cool" young adults who lived in metropolitan London and emerged in the late 1950s and hit its peak in the mid-60s. By this time teenagers were bored with what they deemed as the dull, uninspired British culture around them, repressed and riddled with British class system. The Mod rebellious lifestyle revolved around consuming pleasures such as Italian suits and French fashion,night-clubs and amphetamine,Italian motor-scooters,collecting records and listening to the music such as African-American soul, Jamaican ska, British beat music and R&B.By doing so the youth subculture rejected the class system and grueling nine-to-five working week that gotten their parents nowhere.An opposition to Mods were Rockers,who viewed the vanity and clothes-obsession of the mods as un-masculine.The conflicts between them often led to riots.
Mods in white suits. Bound for dance, Barry Hall, 17, Ken Todd, 18 and Brian Hemmings, 17 (all with face powder), show off their new suits. 1964
Female modeling Mod Street Style,Richards,1966.
Mods were self-conscious and critical,they customized existing styles, symbols and artefacts such as the Union flag and the Royal Air Force roundel symbol, and put them on their jackets in a pop art-style.Carnaby Tavern Shop ad for Union Jack 'Jam" Jacket.ca.1965. Twiggy an iconic 60s model and the symbol of Mod high-fashion in union-jack dress,designer unknown. Look Magazine, 1967
.jpg)
Compared with other youth subcultures, mod culture gave young women high visibility and relative autonomy.The emphasis on clothing and a stylized look for women demonstrated the same focus for detail in clothes as their male mod counterparts.Female mod fashion went from an underground style to a more commercialized high-fashion mod look.
Luella Bartley Spring 2007
Philip Lim 3.1 Fall 2009
Hippies
60s
The hippie subculture began as a youth movement that originated in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. These people inherited the countercultural values of the Beat Generation, created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution and aspects of Eastern philosophy, used drugs like cannabis and LSD to explore consciousness.
Hippies rejected established institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War.Using anti-fashion as yet another form of protest against the establishment, they utilized clothing to tell of their plight for social equality and diversity.
Hippies at Haight&Ashbury intersection in San Francisco,CA.1968.
Hippies borrowed clothing from folk cultures, used strong colors, flamboyant styles and a love of humble items such as jeans and other tattered and embellished street wear items to proclaim their non-conformism and thirst from freedom.
Although their behavior was appalling to the mainstream audience, their styles soon entered the mainstream and the world of high fashion.
Woodstock,legendary music and art festival,Hippies dressed in jeans,the symbol of youth,freedom and counter-culture. Bethel, New York.August 1969.Photo by Shelly Rusten
Gucci Fall 2008 Ad Campaign inspired by Summer of Love.
Ethnic motives and hippie luxe at Gucci Resort 2009
Bell bottom tie dye jeans at Balmain Spring 2008.
The hippie subculture began as a youth movement that originated in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. These people inherited the countercultural values of the Beat Generation, created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution and aspects of Eastern philosophy, used drugs like cannabis and LSD to explore consciousness.
Hippies rejected established institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War.Using anti-fashion as yet another form of protest against the establishment, they utilized clothing to tell of their plight for social equality and diversity.
Hippies at Haight&Ashbury intersection in San Francisco,CA.1968. Hippies borrowed clothing from folk cultures, used strong colors, flamboyant styles and a love of humble items such as jeans and other tattered and embellished street wear items to proclaim their non-conformism and thirst from freedom.
Although their behavior was appalling to the mainstream audience, their styles soon entered the mainstream and the world of high fashion.
Woodstock,legendary music and art festival,Hippies dressed in jeans,the symbol of youth,freedom and counter-culture. Bethel, New York.August 1969.Photo by Shelly Rusten
Gucci Fall 2008 Ad Campaign inspired by Summer of Love.
Ethnic motives and hippie luxe at Gucci Resort 2009
Bell bottom tie dye jeans at Balmain Spring 2008.
Disco
70s
Disco is a dance music that originated in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Loud music and the flashing lights,dance,fashion and a thriving drug culture describes disco club scene of the 70s.
Disco-goer generation created a venue for a new kind of clothing called disco wear which was based on stretch clothes and light reflecting fabrics that shone under disco lighting.There was so much going on - lots of metallics, glitter, skin tight pants and stretch halter jumpsuits.Polyester shirts for men with pointy collars, preferably open at the chest, often worn with double-knit suit jackets.
There was no more thrilling nightlife than the dance at the legendary Studio 54.It was favorite amongst many celebrities like Diana Ross,Gloria Estefan, Bianca and Mick Jagger,Liza Minelli,Andy Warhol and many more.Fabulous Liza Minnelli was a frequent Studio 54 Disco dancer! Liza’s sequins are styled by Halston.Australian Women’s Weekly, 5/9/1973.No designer symbolizes the 70’s Disco like Halston. Disco dresses, halter tops, beads, and sequins.
Films like Saturday Night Fever of 1977 as John Travolta illustrates in the header, emphasised how important it was to release all the pent up energy of the working week on the weekend. Posing clothes designed to show off the body and made in materials like figure moulding stretch Lycra were ideal.
Claudia Schiffer modeling sequin jumpsuit for Yves Saint Laurent's Advertising campaign,Spring Summer 2009.
Metallic top and high waist trouser combo just screams disco!Tibi Spring/Summer 2008
Fluid jersey dresses inspired by disco era at Versace spring 2009.
Disco is a dance music that originated in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Loud music and the flashing lights,dance,fashion and a thriving drug culture describes disco club scene of the 70s.
Disco-goer generation created a venue for a new kind of clothing called disco wear which was based on stretch clothes and light reflecting fabrics that shone under disco lighting.There was so much going on - lots of metallics, glitter, skin tight pants and stretch halter jumpsuits.Polyester shirts for men with pointy collars, preferably open at the chest, often worn with double-knit suit jackets.
There was no more thrilling nightlife than the dance at the legendary Studio 54.It was favorite amongst many celebrities like Diana Ross,Gloria Estefan, Bianca and Mick Jagger,Liza Minelli,Andy Warhol and many more.Fabulous Liza Minnelli was a frequent Studio 54 Disco dancer! Liza’s sequins are styled by Halston.Australian Women’s Weekly, 5/9/1973.No designer symbolizes the 70’s Disco like Halston. Disco dresses, halter tops, beads, and sequins.
Films like Saturday Night Fever of 1977 as John Travolta illustrates in the header, emphasised how important it was to release all the pent up energy of the working week on the weekend. Posing clothes designed to show off the body and made in materials like figure moulding stretch Lycra were ideal.
Claudia Schiffer modeling sequin jumpsuit for Yves Saint Laurent's Advertising campaign,Spring Summer 2009.
Metallic top and high waist trouser combo just screams disco!Tibi Spring/Summer 2008
Fluid jersey dresses inspired by disco era at Versace spring 2009.
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