Street Style Research Articles

Street Style and Its Meaning in Postwar Japan

The aim of this article is to analyze the meaning of Japanese youth subculture in the postwar period, looking at both the styles and the locations in which they appeared. The subject is approached through a semiotic analysis through which we shall compare Japanese and British subcultures. Considering the geographic distance and the cultural difference, it is surprising to find that British and Japanese subcultures share a common system of semiotic meaning.We shall examine five Japanese subcultures: Roppongi-zoku, Miyuki-zoku, Harajuku-zoku, Futen-zoku, and Bôsô-zoku. It is possible to classify each of these tribes, or zoku, according to the moment of their appearance and to sartorial similarities with British subcultures. The Roppongi-zoku, Miyuki-zoku, and Harajuku-zoku were typified by a similar authentic code, which was close to the Mods. The Futen-zoku corresponded to the Hippie. The Bôsô-zoku had a semiotic equilibrium with Punk subculture.As we shall discover, features of subcultural style in Japan appear to conform to the notion of “subcultural bricolage.” Though not every aspect of British cultural studies theory can be directly applied to subculture in Japan, the theoretical framework, which defines subcultural style as a signifying practice and symbolic struggle, is appropriate. The framework shall be reconsidered in the course of our investigation.

Troubling Subcultural Theories on Race, Gender, the Street, and Resistance

The article examines the linkage made between the urban street, racial authenticity, resistance, and black style within fashion and subcultural theories. A conceptualization that has located the urban street as a site of racial and political authenticity for the black subject; making a series of political and visual associations between the urban street, formations of race and resistance and concepts of black style. This article traces the development of this linkage by drawing upon three case studies: Tom Wolfe's essay “Radical Chic” (1989[1970]), the media image of the Black Panthers, and fashion images from Harper's Bazaar (UK) 1968- 9. These case studies illustrate how fashion commentary, fashion theory, documentary photography, and social protest impacted upon the visualization of the black body within 1960s fashion photography and subsequently. Furthermore, this linkage, between the street authenticity and black style is premised by drawing upon the work of British subcultural theorists—on the assumption of a masculine political subject. In accepting uncritically this discursive positioning the author asserts that subcultural and fashion theorists continue to structurally exclude black woman. By drawing upon the work of Judith Butler and Jacques Derrida, the author questions the continuing use of the concepts of race, resistance, and black body stylization to analyze concepts of black femininity with fashion theory and fashion photography.

The Myth of Street Style

The phrase “street style” is present in multiple sites, ranging from magazines, exhibitions, blogs, academic texts, and in popular parlance; its association with quirky individuality is one that arises out of its own mythologized and popularized histories. This article aims to interrogate what the current myth of street style is and the relationship this has to the everyday practices of assemblage. It is based upon an ongoing mass fashion observation (MFO) of young people in Nottingham which, through photographs and interviews, aims to document what the various style groupings are, and how these change over time. By taking the approach of documenting street style as an everyday practice, this article makes a case for considering “street style” not solely in terms of the histories of street style, but also considering fashion magazines, clothing sold on the high street, localized style groupings, and how individuals assemble their own outfits. The article points to a shift in street style towards subtly differentiated style groupings which incorporate mainstream, high street fashions. In looking at how styles change over time, it also challenges the use of “fast fashion” in relation to the purchasing and wearing of clothing, as this conceals the complexities of practice.

American Men and Identity: Contemporary African‐American and Latino Style

African-American and Latino men adorn and wear clothing as an integral part of personal iden- tity. Their styles, fashions, and popular music have impacted American culture during both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Ironically, there is little written about these two groups as innovators of male fashion style responsible for such looks as zoot suits, mambo, rhythm and blues (RB therefore, they cannot be categorized into one neat label. Confirming these same notions of individuality, Helen Bradley Foster contends that while the clothing of American blacks has traditionally been clustered into one style, it possesses many unique looks and qualities that reflect the dichotomy between American and African. She also argues that while African Americans have traditionally the prevailing cultural dress of each period, their style often sets them apart (Foster 16). She notes that American fashions came from Europe until the 1950s; however, black styles began to inspire the fashions of white American dress as well. Many items from both Latino and black style have been adopted as mass fashion, including sneakers that minority athletes have worn first, doo rags popular by African Americans and Latinos during the late 1960s, Yamamoto Kansai sweaters (also known as Bill Cosby sweaters), and hip-hop and reggaeton apparel (Foster 16). However, it is the zoot suit that launches the associations of minority men to fashion in the United States. Suits and Pachucos In the early 1940s, African-American and Mexican-American youths adopted the zoot suit, a fashion connected with the swing jazz craze and interpreted through such dances as the Lindy hop, swing, and jitterbug in halls and clubs across the United States (Alvarez 303; Pagan 466-68; Tortora and Eubank 415). Besides its connection with music, this dandified suit was a statement of defiance by a generation of young men negotiating their place in society. As noted in Street Style: From Sidewalk to Catwalk, the zoot suit, with its lavish fabrics (e.g., sharkskin) and accessories was the vehicle for minority youths to advertise, I've got it made (Polhemus 17; Zoot Suit Riots). The zoot suit is an extreme version of the 1930s and 1940s English drape suit (Figure 1) and the sack suit for men (Candelaria 265; FarrellBeck and Parsons 103; Pickens 339; Tortora and Eubank 465). 1 It consists of a long, almost kneelength single- or double-breasted coat with wide shoulders and lapels as well as fingertip-length sleeves. The trousers are very baggy, with reat (exaggerated) pleats, fitting high on the waist, tapering to extremely narrow cuffs and held in place with suspenders. The zoot suit attire is accessorized with a wide-brimmed pancake or porkpie hat, a necktie or bow tie, a very long watch chain, and thick-soled shoes (Escobar 897-98; Webb 231-33, 235-36). …

2007년 여름 중국(中國) 대련(大連)시 여성 스트리트 패션 분석

On 2008, China comes to be an era of opening the market for 30 years, being both the 4th economically biggest country and 2nd ranked clothing export country in the world. China plays a huge consuming market for the world, along with the competition arena for the numerous world fashion brands while more than 100 kinds of Korean fashion ones being launched into the China. By applying the analysis and investigation of preferred street style. in local area to the development of fashion items and design, the synergistic effect of university and industrial corporation might also be expected. This study aims to provide the basic resources for the development of fashion design on behalf of the Korean fashion brands launched into China and moreover to anticipate the requirement on the part of Chinese consumers by way of understanding the preferred fashion styles, through analysis and investigation of the street fashion in Dalian, northeastern area of China. Conclusively, in terms of clothing style, 80.5% of casual style and 19.5% of formal style were notified. The jean casual, and easy casual being dominant in the former, feminine style in the later. In view of the high frequency of T-shirt, sleeveless on the top, full-length pants and 7/9 length pants on the bottom. The simple and cool style seems to be favored, making them easy through the hot summer. The upper clothes exposed in body part of back, chest and shoulder, were frequently shown. In light of colours. white, black, red were preferred on top, blue and black were preferred on bottom. To deal with accessories, the shoulder bag mostly preferred among bags, the sandal, slippers, snickers in sequential order among shoes, the hair pins and rubber band(tied or, held up style), in hair accessories. Other items of hat, belt, and sunglasses, which could give a point to the summer style, were identified low frequency.

The London look: fashion from street to catwalk

From Savile Row to Carnaby Street, from the bohemian dress of the Oscar Wilde circle in the nineteenth century to the punk street styles of recent years, has been a significant source of fashion style. This stunning book, a rich and stimulating history of two hundred years of fashion, explores the circumstances and characteristics that have made the London look distinctive. Focusing on the design, production, marketing, and consumption of clothing during this period, the authors place these activities in the context of social, cultural, and economic change in the capital. They move chronologically, discussing the rise of the West End as a center of fashionable life; the era of imperial fashion when dominated the world politically and economically; the increasing democratization of fashionable dress; the challenges and conflicts of modernity; the school of couturiers that emerged midcentury; and the rise of the independent fashion designer and small boutiques. Finally they describe the punks who, toward the end of the twentieth century, theatricalized the street in a mood of social and sartorial dissent and paved the way for postmodern styles. Lavishly illustrated, the book draws on photographs of the Museum of London's remarkable collection of objects and images, and material from the Institute.

Design of paediatricians’ uni-sex clothes for hospital wear

Child patients may feel nervous and stressful during hospitalization, due to dealing with strangers and the rehabilitation environment. A relaxed atmosphere can reduce stress and fear indeed. This study was carried out to determine its psychological and physical needs of the child patients, their parents and the paediatricians in designing the collection of the paediatiricans’ uni-sex clothes for hospital wear. A preliminary study was carried out with 61 child patients, 113 child patients’ parents and 24 paediatricins on the existing hospital gown and the ideal one. The results of the preliminary survey showed that identification of paediatricians and childfriendly styles should be highlighted. Therefore, traditional styles, causal hospital styles and causal street styles were then developed. A hospital trial was also made in order to gain direct feedback during the interview in the hospital. The result of preliminary survey was generally accepted. Some design features needed to be changed; such as the le...

Professional Chinese Opera Troupes and Street Opera Performance in Singapore

and amateur opera troupes. These groups differ in terms of their history, ideology, structure, and performance practice, and more importantly, in their status within the contemporary social matrix in Singapore. Professional troupes perform street opera, or jiexi, exclusively in religious contexts, while amateur troupes perform mainly in indoor theaters, and occasionally in the street opera style, in the context of cultural tourism for local Singaporeans and foreign visitors. Street opera essentially refers to Chinese opera performed on temporary stages located in open spaces, and there are significant differences in its performance function and meanings as practiced by the professional and amateur troupes. In Singapore today, street opera performance by professional opera troupes is generally considered apathetic, and their performers are perceived to be dispassionate about Chinese opera, performing only to make a living out of it. On the other hand, amateur opera troupes enjoy the privilege of sponsorships from private, as well as national art and cultural institutions, and their members are credited for their enthusiastic efforts in promoting Chinese opera in Singapore. This essay is an ethnographic description of the performance practice of professional opera troupes, based on my fieldwork with the Lao Sai Tao Yuan Teochew Wayang (Lao Sai Tao Yuan Chaozhou Opera Troupe) and Sin Sai Hong Hokkien Wayang (Sin Sai Hong Fujian Opera Troupe).2 I describe their organizational and performance characteristics to provide a glimpse into the processes involved in preparing and performing Chinese street opera. In addition, I explore the role of the audience in the performative process of Chinese street opera, and examine the religious contexts that frame street opera performance. Specifically, I consider the social dynamics enacted in, and through this tradition in terms of its performance and administrative processes. Finally, I outline the sentiments of professional performers toward their profession, and examine the changing social value of this performance tradition in contemporary Singapore.3

Daylighting Street Level Offices in City Buildings with Light Deflecting Panels

The utilisation of skylight in rooms at the lower levels of narrow streets can be greatly improved by deflecting skylight into the rooms with laser cut light deflecting panels. This paper develops the theory of skylight deflection by laser cut panels for both street and atrium style facade configurations and takes into account shading of deflecting panels by higher panels. The results are presented as vertical illuminance through the window as a function of tilt angle of the panel. Optimum configurations of the deflecting panels can be obtained from these results. The predicted vertical illuminance is normalised to zenith sky luminance so as to make the results applicable to overcast sky conditions at any latitude and time. Preliminary measurements in model buildings confirm enhancement in the utilisation of skylight by factors up to ten times and provide information on the distribution of deflected daylight in adjoining rooms and on the utilisation of light reflected from the facades—aspects which are not included in the theoretical development.

Costume since 1945: couture, street style and anti-fashion

1945-49 Peace and the new look 1950-54 Paris rules 1955-59 the rise of the teenager 1960-64 the Kennedy years 1965-69 Quant and the Kings Road 1970-74 retro mania 1975-79 Saturday night fever 1980-1984 swing to the right 1985-89 powerdressing and the new man 1990-1994 retro mania II 1995 clothes for the millennium.

The culture of fashion: a new history of fashionable dress

Medieval period - fashioning the body Renaissance - the rhetoric of power 17th century - clothing and crisis 18th century - clothing and commerce 19th century - fashion and modernity early 20th century - clothing the masses late 20th century - catwalk and street style.

Personality characteristics of urban and suburban heroin abusers: more data and another reply to Sutker and Allain (1973).

Sutker and Allain (1973) suggest that nonincarcerated heroin addicts who are involved in the “street life style” would tend to obtain elevated scores on the Hs, D, Hy and Pd scales of the MMPI. If these findings were cross-validated, then personality descriptions of addicts would have to be modified accordingly. Also, improvement measured by decreases on the Hs and Hy scales soon after entering a drug-free environment may be a result of milieu differences rather than personality change. Four groups of heroin addicts, two hospitalized, urban drug abusers who were free of drug influence at testing (Hospitalized1 and Hospitalized2) were compared with two street addict samples, one from an urban (StreetNARA), the other a suburban (StreetSCNCC) environment. It was hypothesized that both the StreetNARA and StreetSCNCC groups would score significantly higher than the hospitalized groups and that there would be no differences between the hospitalized groups. As was expected, the street samples scored statistically higher on the Hs and Hy scales. However, data for the D and Pd scales failed to cross-validate the Sutker-Allain hypothesis. These data suggest that personality characteristics play a more dominant role in MMPI score elevations than the “street life style.” This contention was also supported by test-retest data on the Hospitalized2 sample measuring the effect of 90 days of hospitalization in a drug-free environment.

“Dit is het nieuws van zeven uur met Mohammed”

Standardization efforts in Flanders, as in much of Western Europe, have led to a radicallydeclining use of traditional dialects for everyday communication. They are not, however,substituted by standard languages as much as other, so-called sub-standard, varieties arenow increasingly occupying the vacant ground. The success of these sub-standard varietiesis moreover attributed to teenagers, who are said to be ever more indifferent to standardlanguage norms, to lose themselves in electronic communication and increasingly toadopt multi-ethnic urban street styles. This leads to public concern, as only a competencein Standard Dutch is said to assure school success and the ensuing labour market opportunities.The stereotypical view of ethnic urban youth in Flanders is that they are incompetentin Dutch or unwilling to speak it. The present article discusses and revises thiswidely accepted view by analysing data collected during long-term fieldwork in a mixed ethnicitygroup of teenage girls in Antwerp.

Purchase of Conformity: Ex-Narcotic Addicts among the Bourgeoisie

This study investigates the hypothesis that a decent salary ($600 a month) paid to men who normally could not command such wages in the legitimate job market (ex-drug addicts working with practicing addicts in the community) and their social service status would be sufficient to lead the men into acceptance of middleclass values and life styles. Data were obtained from 31 ex-addicts through interviews and field observation. It was concluded that the lures of salary and prestige status were not alone sufficient to insure middle-class attitudes and behavior. Several unique cross-pressures mitigated against total absorption of the subjects into the bourgeoisie; among these were administrative pressures to maintain a street style and empathy with clients, and daily association with practicing addicts.