Street Trends & High Fashion

Historical Street Trends: Then & Now

1. Zoot Suits- High-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed trousers and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. Zoot suiters often wore a felt hat with a long feather and pointy styled shoes.

1943, Mexican Zoot suiters

Current day looks inspired by Zoot Suits
Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Costume National
Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Adam Kimmel.

2. Teddy Boys: Teddy Boy clothing consisted of long draped jackets, usually in dark shades, sometimes with velvet trim collar and pocket flaps, high-waisted , often trousers showing brightly colored socks. Footwear were chunky, large crepe-soled shoes, often suede. Plus a high-necked loose collar on a white shirt, and a narrow tie, and a brocade waistcoat.

1963, Teddy Boys

Current day looks inspired by Teddy Boys
Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Rag & Bone
Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Adam Kimmel

3. Beatniks: During the 1960s there was a trend among young college students who adopted the beatnik stereotype, with men wearing goatees and berets, rolling their own cigarettes and playing bongos. 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.

1950-1960, Beatniks

Current day looks inspired by Beatniks
Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Y-3
Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Etro

4. Mods: The mod subculture were fashion-obsessed youths during the 1960s who lived in metropolitan London or the new towns of the south. Increasingly short miniskirts were in fashion. The beatnik and Teddy Boy subcultures helped pave the way for the mod style.

1960s, "Twiggy" Mod

Current day looks inspired by Mods
Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Preen
Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Azzaro

5. Hippies: Appearance and clothing was one of the immediate legacies of hippies worldwide. During the 1960s and 1970s, mustaches, beards and long hair became more commonplace and colorful, while multi-ethnic clothing dominated the fashion world. A wide range of personal appearance options and clothing styles, including nudity, have become more widely acceptable, all of which was uncommon before the hippie era. Hippies also inspired the decline in popularity of business clothing, which had been unavoidable for men during the 1950s and early 1960s.

1966, Hippies in a Haight-Ashbury Clinic, San Francisco, CA

Current day looks inspired by Hippies
Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Erdem

Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Chloe

6. Disco: During the 1970s, disco fashion consisted of all sorts of skirt lengths from micro, mini to maxi, lighter weight clothes, ethnic fashion and style trends as a result of broader travel experiences, Kaftans, flared trousers, platform shoes, tank tops and mix and match coordinated knitwear.

1970s disco look (actual date of photo unknown)

Current day looks inspired by Disco

Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Issa

Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Issa

7. Punk: Early punk fashion consisted of ripped clothing held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape. They used ordinary clothing "punk" by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint; a black trash bag becomes a dress, shirt or skirt or safety pins and razor blades get used as jewelry. Leather, rubber, and vinyl clothing were also popular, possibly due in part to the fact that the general public associates it with sexual acts like S&M and bondage. Punks sometimes wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, Plaid pants, t-shits with risqué images,rocker jackets that were often decorated by painting band logos, adorning the lapels and pocket flaps with pins and buttons, and covering sections of the jacket, especially the back and sleeves of the jacket, in large numbers of carefully placed studs or spikes. Punks wore footwear such as Converse sneakers or Dr. Martins boots.

1980's, Punk Rock Style

Current day looks inspired by Punk

Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer G Star

Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Gareth Pugh

8. Hip Hop: The hip hop style has evolved through time, starting in the early 1980s where brightly colored track suits and sporting wear was worn to achieve the hip hop look. Baggy jeans and over sized jerseys and sweatshirts (hoodies) was also a look in the hip hop culture. And now, many urban clothing designers continue to change the face of hip hop fashion by introducing looks from various periods of clothing styles combined with retro hip hop fashion.

1980's Retro Hip Hop Fashion

Current day looks inspired by Punk

Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Y-3

Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Iceberg

NEW TRENDS

1. Neck Scarves: This is a trend where people wear long strands of fabric draped around their necks, usually pairing it with a t-shirt, jeans and a jacket.

Current Neck Scarves trend

Current day looks inspired by Neck Scarves

Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer DKNY

Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Burberry

2. Elite Grunge: This style, also known as "scenester" or "hipster" syles in certain cities is a look that usually incorporates skinny pants, baggy or lose fitting shirt or sweater, knitted beret/rhastafarian type head covering, a jacket, and sun glasses.

Current "Elite Grunge" street look

Current day looks inspired by Elite Grunge

Top: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Twenty8Twelve

Bottom: 2009 Fall RTW collection from designer Shipley & Holmes

Genealogy of Neckwear

The first neck wear is traced back to Ancient Egypt (3150 BCE-30BCE). Egyptians who were in the upper/higher classes wore collars and neck wear to display their status .

In 1934, actress Claudette Colbert played in a roll as Cleopatra and wore a gown that was designed with the same style collar. The dress is elegant and tasteful. Designer unknown.

During the mid 16th century to mid seventeenth century, upper class and royalty in Western Europe wore Ruffs. Unlike neckwear in later times, ruffs were worn by both men and women. The evolution of the egyptian collar changed by now wrapping completely around the neck, becoming raised up and created using rows of ruffles. Later, the ruff began to open up the woman's neckline. The image below is of Queen Elizabeth wearing a neck ruff.

This modern ruff was designed by Junya Watanabe for his fall/winter 2000 collection.


France in the mid 17th to early 18th century, adapted a new style of neck wear. Parisians began wearing what is known in fashion history as the cravat. Men wore a variety of different styled cravats. Some were tied in bows, and some were made of lace.


The cravat evolved into what is known as the Steinkirk during the late 17th century. The Steinkirk was basically a cravat that was stuck through soilders button holes on their military jackets during battle, since they did not have time to tie their curvats. Steinkirks were usually made of fine quality lace.


From the mid 19th century, long neckties evolved from the curvat and steinkirk. This style tie is still worn today primarily by men for business or formal occasions. This type of neck wear is usually made of silk and is worn with a collared dress shirt.

Another type of modern day neck wear that can be traced back to the historical neck wear I mentioned above is the scarf. In today's society, scarves are worn for environmental protection as well as for style.

Historical Draped/Tailored Garments

Draped Graments from Greece, India, and Africa (Circa Ancient Greek-20th Century)
Draped garments were created using large pieces of fabric and draped around the body. This fashion style is used in warmer regions of the world because the draped fabric allows for air to circulate better around the body. Greece, India, and Africa are very warm climate regions, and this style/silhouette is typical in these countries.



Tailored Garments from Europe and America (Circa 19th and 20th century)
Tailored garments consist of clothes that are made to fit the body using pattern pieces and cut fabric sewn together. Europe and America are countries where this style is predominant due to the colder climates and versatility of the garments.

The 6 Functions of Dress

In Module 3, "The Second Skin, Functions, and Social Implications of Clothing" we learn that the 6 functions of dress include:

1) Environmental Protection- The woman in the image is wearing a fur coat with fur muff to depict the fashion during 1885 in small-town Wisconsin, where the weather was extremely cold and a fur coat was necessary to keep warm when one was out on the town. flickr.com/photos/10310410@N06/1732706168/


2) Decoration-The image below depicts the Ndebele tribe from Africa wearing skirts and leg decorations.
Image from: http://pro.corbis.com/images


3) Gender Differentiation- For many decades, certain clothing pieces were made to distinguish the male gender from the female gender. The image here depicts a Chinese Cheongsam, which is a snug fitting dress made for women in China during the 17th century.
Image from: www.cheongsamboutique.com/


4) Group Membership- During the 1920's, the "Flapper Style" became a well know style of dress for women who were flaunting their feminist freedoms by no longer wearing long skirts that covered their legs. This style of dress was a form of group membership.
Image from: ffwdmag.co.uk/140/Flapper-Skirts-As-Feminist


5) Ceremonial- This type of dress is usually worn during special occasions such as weddings or religious ceremonies. In the image below, Crown Prince Gustav VI of Sweden and Princess Margaret are wearing traditional royal wedding attire in 1905 with their bridesmaids.
Image from: http://pro.corbis.com/images/HU034437.jpg


6) Sexual Enhancement- The image below is Betty Grable, who was a pin-up model in 1942 wearing pumps with a bathing suit to appear more sexy for her male audience that was fighting the battle of WWII. This sexy image gave American soldiers something to fight for.
Image from: www.worldsfamousphotos.com/betty-grable-1942.html