Final Project Part 1: Street Trends

ZOOT SUIT

Zoot Suits were a favorite fashion statement among Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, and Filipino-Americans in the 1940’s. The zoot suit was a male macho expression in the east side of L.A.and Watts back then. The shock of this fashion statement was devastating, and in 1943 the Zoot Suit Riots broke out in Los Angelas, involving a series of bloody brawls between U.S. Servicemen on leave and Mexican-American zoot-suiters in ethnic neighborhoods. Today’s Mexican-American lowrider car culture has helped to resurrect the zoot suit as a fashion statement.

TEDDY BOYS

In the 1950’s, teenage boys were modeling themselves on the cult heroes of Hollywood, like Marlon Brando in "The Wild Ones" and James Dean, "Rebel Without a Cause." The anti-social behavior that was depicted was later reflected with the British phenomenon of the Teddy Boys, who came upon the scene with drainpipe trousers, drape Edwardian jackets with velvet collars, slim jims, DA (Duck’s Arse) haircuts and sideburns. Although they were much a minority within British society, there was widespread influence on male teenagers with regard to fashion and appearance.

BEATNIKS

One can trace back the Beatnik history to 1950’s Soho, New York’s Greenwich Village, in the steamy coffee shops and poetry dens. During the 40’s and 50’s the Beat Movement, a literary and social movement, began to grow in response to post war culture and middle class values in America. The Beatniks were those involved in the Beat Movement, and this counterculture was anti-materialistic and focused on improving one’s inner self over one’s material standing in the world. Beatniks challenged conformism and brought more attention to the questioning of traditional values through forms of poetry, music, style, and drug usage, as well as less popular spiritual pursuits.

MODS

Mods were originally modernist and was a subculture that originated in the late 1950’s and peaked through the 1960’s. There were significant elements that were included in a Mod lifestyle: music, dancing, fashion (often tailor made suits), and motor scooters.

HIPPIES

The look of the 1960’s hippie was long hair, parted in the middle for both men and woman, men rarely shaved and tie-die shirts, kaftans and loads of beads, CND pendants and crystal amulets of different kinds. During the infamous "Summer of Love" in 1967, the proper hippy was born, and "Ban the Bomb" and protests for peace became a big part of the whole trend. Buddhism and the Hari Krishna movement is often described as being "hippy". John Lennon and Yoko Ono's infamous "Bed in for Peace" at the Amsterdam Hilton hotel in 1969 as a protest against the Vietnam War is probably the best example of typical hippy activism. Today’s "boho" look is a fashion trend which came from the 1960s hippy movement.

DISCO

In the 1970’s young couples in New York’s Spanish Harlem and Miami’s Little Havana created a new version of the cha cha cha and mambo. When “The Hustle” hit the charts in 1975, the movement in Latin neighborhoods caught on, and disco marked the return of partner dancing, with women furiously spinning to and from their leads. Fashion consisted of polyester suits, wide lapels, and printed shirts. One image forever burned in out psyches is John Travolta in “Stayin’ Alive” and “Saturday Night Fever”.

PUNK

Punk style was influenced by the punk rock music scene in the 1970’s and was an anti-establishment rock genre and movement mostly in the US, United Kingdom, and Australia. The Clash, The Ramones, and the Sex Pistols were the “Vanguard” of the movement. Deliberately offensive shirts were popular in the early punk scene, and other items were intentionally torn and destroyed. A big part of punk fashion history was influenced by the designs of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLauren.

HIP HOP

Hip Hop started in the 1970’s in Brooklyn and the Bronx, in areas that were extremely poor at the time. Hip Hop grew out of the street party scene in MC’s and DJ’s, and many people attribute hip hop’s biggest influence to be Jamaican sounds of the early 1940’s. Afika Bambaata was the first man to call Hip Hop by that name, and as he was one of the most influential leaders in the scene, the name stuck. Grandmaster Flash was one of the more important early DJ’s, and Grand Wizard Theodore was the first to use the technique of scratching, which became a huge part of the Hip Hop sound.