Street Trends

Fashion does not always originate on the runways. Until the French Revolution, fashion trends began with powerful people: the aristocracy and the wealthy elite. In 1789, this all changed with revolutionary Parisian commoners who introduced the simple style of peasants.

During the 20th century, many fashion trends have arisen from the streets reflecting the attitudes and politics of a particular time. These trends still have an effect on today's styles.

Zoot Suits

The zoot suit (sometimes called the zuit suit) was popularized by African Americans and Mexican Americans during the 1920s and 1930s. The zoot suit style was high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders often with a feathered felt hat and dangling watch chain. Wearing the oversized suit was a declaration of freedom and self-determination, even rebelliousness.

Cab Calloway in Zoot Suit

Stormy Weather, 1943

Ohne Titel
Spring 2008 RTW

John Galliano
Fall 2004 RTW

Beatniks

Novelist Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948, generalizing the underground, anticonformist youth gathering in New York at that time. "Beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen combining this phrase and Sputnik, the name of the Russian satellite, the first of which to circle the world. The fashions associated with this trend included men wearing black and white striped shirts/sweaters, berets, baker boy hats, ballet flats, black stockings/leotards, sunglasses indoors, striped scarves and skinny black pants. Fashions for women included black leotards and wearing their hair long, straight and unadorned in a rebellion against the middle class culture of beauty salons. The overall fashion statement was "less is more".

Beatniks

Unknown, circa 1960

Karen Walker
Spring 2010 RTW

Kai Kuhne
Fall 2008 RTW

Teddy Boys

The Teddy Boy subculture started in London in the 1950s and rapidly spread across the United Kingdon, soon becoming strongly associated with American rock and roll music of the period. Teddy Boys made it acceptable for young people to care about what they looked like and to dress for show instead of having work or school clothes and Sunday-best. The style featured long drape jackets, usually in dark shades, sometimes with velvet trim collar and pocket flaps; high-waist "drainpipe" trousers, often showing brightly coloured socks. Teddy Girls wore items drape jackets, hobble skirts, long plaits, straw boater hats, cameo brooches, espadrilles and coolie hats.

Teddy Boys

1962

Topshop Unique
Spring 2009 RTW

Anne Valerie Hash
Fall 2004 Couture

Mods

The term Mod derives from modernist, which was a term used in the 1950s to describe modern jazz musicians and fans. The Mods roots grew from both the beatnik and teddy boy eras. The Mod fashion can be hard to pin down since it was prone to constant reinvention, but generally it consisted of a very tailored look sometimes bordering on androgynous. Male mods adopted a smooth, sophisticated look that emphasized tailor-made Italian suits with narrow lapels, mohair clothes, thin ties, button-down collar shirts, wool or cashmere sweaters, and pointed-toe leather shoes. Female mods dressed more androgynously, with short haircuts, men's trousers or shirts, miniskirts, flats, and little makeup. The use of scooters for transportation is often associated with Mods.

The Yardbirds
Early 1960s

Twiggy
Circa 1960s

Balenciaga

Spring 2010

Versace
Pre-Fall 2010

Hippies

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that began 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. Hippie fashions and values had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature, and the arts. Fashion styles were essentially a revival of the Flapper silhouette with a new interest in boxy, waistless dress and tunic gowns. Hippies often chose brightly colored clothing and wore unusual styles, such as bell-bottom pants, vests, tie-dyed garments, dashikis, peasant blouses, long, full skirts, and non-Western inspired clothing with Native American, Asian, Indian, African and Latin American motifs.

Hippies - unknown source
Circa 1960s

Gucci
Resort 2009

Blumarine
Spring 2010 RTW

Disco

Disco has its roots in New York City gay culture as a rejection of both rock music and the decline of dance music during the late 1960s early 1970s. The timing of the advent of Disco was the same as the introduction of polyester, which was perfect for the dance movements required by disco dancing. Fashions were tight, shiny and sparkly.

Disco fashion

Circa 1970

Luca Luca
Spring 2010 RTW

Stella McCartney
Resort 2010

Punk

The Punk subculture is centered around listening to an aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock. The origin of punk rock is debated and arose in the US, UK and Australia around the same time in the mid-1970s. Punk fashion seeks to shock and outrage others by using adapted everyday objects for aesthetic effect: ripped clothing held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; embellishing ordinary clothing with markers or adorning it with paint; and the usage of household items as clothing (e.g., garbage bags).

Berlin Punks
Circa 1970s

Tao
Spring 2010 RTW

Rodarte
Spring 2010 RTW

Hip Hop

In the late 1970s an underground urban movement known as "hip-hop" began to develop in the South Bronx area of New York City. The movement embraced graffiti art, break dancing, rap music, and fashion, hip-hop and became the dominant cultural movement of the African American and Hispanic communities in the 1980s. Hip hop fashion origins were in brightly colored name-brand tracksuits, sheepskin, leather bomber jackets, tennis shoes, and gold chains.

Hip hop fashion

Circa 1980s

L.A.M.B.
Spring 2007 RTW

Unique
Spring 2010 RTW

Grunge

Grunge emerged during the mid-1980s in Seattle, Washington. Grunge became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. The word grunge is believed to be a back-formation from the US slang adjective grungy, which originated in about 1965 as a slang term for "dirty" or "filthy." The fashion style consists primarily of consisted of thrift store items and the typical outdoor clothing (most notably flannel shirts) of the region, as well as a general unkempt appearance.

Grunge fashion

Circa 1990

Unique
Spring 2010 RTW

Christopher Kane
Fall 2009 RTW

Emo

The exact origins of the term "emo" are uncertain, but date back to at least 1985. According to Andy Greenwald, author of Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo, "The origins of the term Emo are shrouded in mystery, but it first came into common practice in 1985." Emo remained in relatively obscurity for years and finally broke into the mainstream media in the summer of 2002 with the success of Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American and Dashboard Confessional's Screaming Infidelities. Emo fashion is associated with wearing skinny jeans, sometimes in bright colors, and tight t-shirts (usually short-sleeved) which often bear the names of Emo bands. Studded belts and black wristbands are common accessories in emo fashion. Black Converse sneakers and skate shoes, such as Vans, are popularly worn among people of the emo fashion. Some males also wear thick, black horn-rimmed glasses.

Emo fashion
Circa 2009

Balmain
Fall 2008 RTW

Gap
Spring 2009 RTW