FASHION

SUBCULTURES

BRIEF STUDY

SUBMITTED BY:
GUNJAN BHUTANI
KD VII
M/KD/07/1
 GOTHIC FASHION
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth
subculture, known as Goths. It is stereotyped as a dark, sometimes
morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical gothic fashion
includes dyed black hair, dark eyeliner, black fingernails, black
clothes, spikes, piercings (such as flesh tunnels or surface to surface)
and chains. Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethans and
Victorians. The extent to which goths hold to this stereotype varies,
though virtually all Goths wear some of these elements.
Gothic Fashion as extension of identity

Gothic fashion is a part of the identity practices of the goth

subculture. As such, a person's style (including their clothing, hair,
makeup, and accessories), is a major factor in determining whether
the person will be perceived as "authentic" by others in the
subculture. This is not particular to goth; rather, it is a feature of
many subcultures. Members of the subculture may and often do
have different ideas about what constitutes gothic fashion than
members of the population at large, and some styles which read as
"goth" to many people are seen as "outsider" by those in the scene. In
his book Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture (Berg Publishers Ltd.,
Oxford, 2002), Paul Hodkinson talks about goths using their fashion
choices to demonstrate commitment to the subculture. In particular,
he asserts that more extreme, less easily concealed choices - such as
dyeing one's hair or shaving part of it off - demonstrate greater
commitment.

Typical look and colours

Typical goth dress usually consists of black clothing accessorized

with silver and/or pewter, but can vary in the colour-schemes. The
stereotypical gothic outfit, sometimes referred to as the "romantic"
look, is limited only by what the wearer thinks he\or she can pull
off, and can (and frequently does) include elaborate gowns and
corsets, veils, eyeliner, black fingernails, fishnets, and styles
borrowed from the Elizabethans and Victorians and anything with
buckles or spikes on it. The nature of the event will to some degree
dictate the dress code, but expression of personal style is generally
more important, and it's not unusual for several club-goers on a
given night to appear dressed very formally or elaborately in a way
unrelated to the specific event. But a goth is definately not limited to
the above discription. All that is required is black clothing and the
understanding of the culture.

Variation and Cross-Influences

The simplicity of the style lends itself to variation, and it is often

seen combined with elements of other styles (typically BDSM
fashion). Various piercings and/or tattoos are not uncommon (though
this is primarily a 1990s addition to gothic fashion), and both males
and females often wear elaborate makeup. Hair is often dyed black.
There are a few similarities between goth fashion and the more
masculine black metal fashion, which can make it difficult for
someone unfamiliar with either fashion to discern the subculture of
the individual. Like the punk subculture it grew out of, early goth
fashion had a strong emphasis on the DIY ethic.

Post-Victorian Influence

The elegant, historically-inspired side of the subculture, often

involving chiffon petticoats, antique lace, intricate brocades, and
corsetry is another prominent style of gothic fashion. This is
sometimes known as "romantic goth." Most variants of gothic
fashion incorporate some facet of this classic style.

Goth Fashion Aesthetic

Goth style's rejection of mainstream values, emphasis on freedom of

expression, and challenging taboos makes it difficult to define its
aesthetic principles. Goth fashion emphasizes transformation of the
body, elements of beauty, order, conscious eroticism and 'otherness'
that flouts conventions.

While a member of the Goth subculture may or may not embrace

nihilism, many are drawn to the fashion or music due to a sense of
alienation, which may explain the style's fascination with morbidity
or vampire style. Wearing black eyeshadow and shroud-like clothing
that refers to the dead or undead, expresses grief, despair, mourning
or deathwish. However, this is not necessarily an anti-life attitude.
Rather, Goth fashion can be a positive transformation from
alienation through self-expression via beauty and fashion, and
through a sense of belonging to a community that shares the same
sense of alienation. Alternately, the choice to embrace this fashion
may simply rise from a far less complicated psychology, and reflect
an attraction to Eros through Thanatos, an attraction to the 'darker'
side of sexuality. The wearer may find the extremity, intensity or
'otherness' of the dark Goth look or preoccupations to be sexy or
empowering.

For women, Goth fashion embraces all body types, unlike

mainstream fashion that relies on a hierarchy of beauty superiority
based on body and hair type. Goth fashion privileges
voluptuousness, sensuality and sexuality through its referral to
fashions and even individuals of other eras that also prized these
qualities.

Like the Urban Primitive movement, the goth subculture rejects

mainstream conventions and encourages reinventing oneself by
transformation or physical modification. That one may take total
control of one's image is a powerful individual response to a society
dominated by Photoshop images that prescribe a rarely attainable
ideal of a faked 'natural' beauty. With its obviously dyed hair, pale
skin, and differently-defined physical aesthetic, Goth fashion is a
calculated rebellious response to the unattainable.

Goth fashion can be recognized by its stark black clothing (or hair or
makeup), often contrasted with boldly coloured clothing, hair and
makeup in strong shades of deep reds, purples or blues, in fabrics
and styles that evoke romantic eras as well as morbidity, that
usually combine style elements that flow and drape as well as
restrict or emphasize and sexualize a body part (i.e. corsetry or tight
sleeves or trousers). Goth fashion further emphasizes the personal
power of an individual, as the calculated juxtapositions of elements
of the rugged accessories(i.e. metallic and leather), to that of the
vulnerable, fragile and sensual restriction of body parts(i.e. lace,
silks, high heels for either gender) communicate the will of the
wearer to make conscious choices, and awareness that their non-
"natural" fashion choices are gauged to elicit a strong response from
non-Goth others. This form of dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized
fashion, along with the pale, untanned skin of the wearer,
immediately identifies one as "Goth."

Goth fashion shows

As the size and sophistication of the goth apparel industry has

grown in many places goth-specific fashion shows have sprung up.
The mainstream fashion world pays little regard to goth fashion, and
therefore independent gothic fashion events, or smaller shows that
are part of broader fashion events, are necessary for goth designers
to show their designs on the catwalk. Edge City, a large
goth/alternative fashion show in Sydney, Australia was run as part
of the Mercedes Australian Fashion Week in 2001, and the last two
Nocturnal Instincts/ Circa Nocturna Melbourne alternative fashion
shows have been run as part of the arts programme of L'Oreal
Melbourne Fashion Week.

While some fashion shows may only feature 5 or 6 designers, others

can be quite large. Edge City (now no longer running) had at its
biggest point 21 designers and 96 models. Attendance at these
events can also be quite large. One of the current big fashion events
in Melbourne, Nocturnal Instincts, can get several hundred in
attendance. Gothique Fashion in Seattle is one of the longest
running shows, and most frequently held, featuring two shows per
year since 2003. Additionally, smaller fashion shows are often held
in goth night clubs.
 SKATERS
Skateboard Fashion Trends are a mixture of punk, metal, and urban
fashion styles. It is commonly known as the clothing worn by
skateboarders. This includes, sneakers, baggy pants, loose t-shirts
and funky hats.
Dressing Like A Skater
So you want to dress like a skateboarder? First begin by purchasing
a cool pair of skater sneakers. The most popular are Vans because of
their slip on nature and rubber sole for good gripping. Second, you'll
want to choose the right pants. For skateboarders, the baggier the
better to keep comfort and flexibility in working the board. One of
the common brands for skater pants is Dickies. Third, pick out your
shirt and add some hoodie flare. Loose fitting t-shirts from Volcom
and sweatshirts from Zoo York are some of the hot brands available.
Skateboarding was, at first, tied to the culture of surfing. As
skateboarding spread across the United States to places unfamiliar
with surfing or surfing culture, it developed an image of its own. For
example, the classic film short Video Days (1991) portrayed
skateboarders as reckless rebels.

The image of the skateboarder as a rebellious, non-conforming youth

has faded in recent years. Certain cities still oppose the building of
skateparks in their neighborhoods, for fear of increased crime and
drugs in the area. The rift between the old image of skateboarding
and a newer one is quite visible: magazines such as Thrasher
portray skateboarding as dirty, rebellious, and still firmly tied to
punk, while other publications, Transworld Skateboarding as an
example, paint a more diverse and controlled picture of
skateboarding. Furthermore, as more professional skaters use hip
hop, reggae, or hard rock music accompaniment in their videos,
many urban youths, hip-hop fans, reggae fans, and hard rock fans
are also drawn to skateboarding, further diluting the sport's punk
image.
Films such as Grind and Lords Of Dogtown, have helped improve
the reputation of skateboarding youth, depicting individuals of this
subculture as having a positive outlook on life, prone to poking
harmless fun at each other, and engaging in healthy sportsman's
competition. According to the film, lack of respect, egotism and
hostility towards fellow skateboarders is generally frowned upon,
albeit each of the characters (and as such, proxies of the
"stereotypical" skateboarder) have a firm disrespect for authority
and for rules in general. Group spirit is supposed to heavily
influence the members of this community. In presentations of this
sort, showcasing of criminal tendencies is absent, and no attempt is
made to tie extreme sports to any kind of illegal activity.
 BOHO-CHIC
Boho-chic is a style of female fashion drawing on various bohemian
and hippie influences, that, at its height in 2004-5, was associated
particularly with actress Sienna Miller and model Kate Moss in the
United Kingdom and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Nicole Richie
in the United States. This trend, which had been going on since late
2000, appeared to be on the wane by early 2009, but some elements
were evident again in 2010.
The boho look, which owed much to the hippie styles that developed
in the middle to late 1960s, became especially popular after Sienna
Miller's appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 2004,[5] although
some of its features were apparent from photographs of her taken in
October 2003[6] and of others living in or around the postal district
of W10 (North Kensington), an area of London associated with
bohemian culture since the mid-1950s.

By the spring of 2005, boho was almost ubiquitous in parts of

London and was invading stores in almost every British high
street.[7] Its adherents were sometimes referred to as "Siennas".[8],
this eponym even being applied to Miller herself: "Sienna's Sienna-
ishness", as Jessica Brinton put it in the Sunday Times in 2007 [9].
Features included "floaty" skirts (notably long white ones), furry
gilets, embroidered tunics, cropped jackets, large faux-coin belts,
sheepskin ("Ugg") boots and cowboy boots, baggy cardigans and
"hobo bags". Demand was so great that there were allegations the
following year of some sub-contractors' having used cheap child
labour in India for zari embroidery and beading.[10]

Footless tights or "leggings", of which Miller was a proponent, were a

contributory factor in the halving of sales of stockings in Britain
between 2003 and 2007.