Youth Culture

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Fashion and culture

Here in Saint Petersburg, in 2003 it’s quite cool to keep your most important things – keys, wallet, mobile phone, on the end of a long chain that hangs down your leg. You have to be young to do this. I don’t think any of the followers of this fashion realise that it comes from the Britain of fifty years ago. In those days, that long chain was one component of the “Edwardian” style. It went together with a big jacket and very narrow trousers - a mixture of aristocratic fashion from before the first world war and the clothes of Mississippi gamblers. The people who dressed like this were the “Teddy Boys”, the original youth culture, and, first of all, they were just youths who dressed in a particular style, but youth culture isn’t only about the clothes you wear. In Britain, youth culture is much more than fashion. Put on the clothes, you start to move in a different way. If you don’t dress and move like other young men, then you make older, and more respectable, people nervous. People didn’t like the Teddy Boys, they thought they were stupid or criminals.

Elvis

When rock’n’roll records arrived, the Teds immediately loved them. The music was fast and wild. The stars seemed to be exactly their sort of people - mad and dangerous. With the songs and the singers, the Teds found a way of talking, almost enough information to make a complete philosophy of life. The most perfect example, of course, was Elvis Presley. It is hard to imagine now the impression that Elvis must have made with his early records. The energy and the wit of that music, together with a style that already frightened people, made a real culture for a group of youngsters who didn’t want to grow up like their parents. Even today, if you look at a film of Elvis performing, it is like watching a symbol - not a real person. The words, music, clothes and movements all work together to make a single powerful message – here is a faster, cooler more beautiful world.

Mods

In the 1950’s, British youths thought that “more beautiful” world was in America somewhere. The next subculture probably thought it was in Italy. Maybe it began with the opening of cafes with Italian coffee machines. In those days they were the best places for young people to meet. The Mods also loved Italian suits and, most of all, the scooters made by Vespa and Lambretta. The philosophy was aesthetic. Mods were very serious about their appearance and the appearance of their scooters. They listened to a variety of music: American and British, anything “pop” that wasn’t rock’n’roll – the teds’ music was already old-fashioned, and definitely not “mod”. Mod means something like “modern” or “modernist”.

Revivals

In the 1970’s there were revivals of “ted” and “mod” style. Around the same time, punk began. The early days of punk were controlled by people who understood how youth cultures start and grow. They knew that the style had to symbolise a point of view with clothes and movement, and that there had to be music and star performers to make it popular. The Sex Pistols were created for this purpose. Punk had democratic principles - the new and interesting element was the idea that the cool and beautiful people were not foreign or exotic stars, but the young audience itself. They told everyone to start their own rock group, organise their own night clubs and magazines, and a lot of them did.

There is a little bit of Elvis in everyone

Elvis was a superstar all over the world, and his music and style are still loved everywhere. In fact, he seems to have become a sort of myth already, like the founder of a new religion. A lot of people can’t believe that he is really dead. Some say they have seen him walking about their home-town.

British youth cultures (or subcultures) seem to travel around the world too. It’s surprising because they are so strange and extreme even in Britain, that it seems impossible for youngsters in other countries to understand and like them. The three subcultures I have mentioned are only the biggest and most important examples. All mix together and have revivals and make new combinations. But if you look closely at any teenager on the planet you will see a little bit of Elvis somewhere. Or maybe you will see a punk-mod-teddy boy.

Glossary

aesthetic (adj): connected with beauty and art.
appearance (n): how things look.
audience (n): the people watching a performance or concert.
combination (n): a mixture, where different components are put together.
component (n): a piece, a part of a bigger thing.
founder (n): the person who starts an organisation or a business.
gambler (n): a person who plays games of chance in a casino to win money.
impression (n): when a person makes an impression they give an idea of what they are like.
perform (v): to go out in public and act, sing or play music.
revival (n): when an old idea or style returns and becomes popular again.
scooter (n): a small motorbike with a place for your legs in front of the engine.
subculture (n): a culture that only belongs to a small group of people.
symbolise (v): to be a symbol, to communicate a complicated idea with a sign.
Teds, Teddy boys, Edwardians (n): followers of the Edwardian style from 1950s Britain.
wit (n): being clever and funny with ideas.

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Your turn
What do you think of this article? Do you agree with what it says? Send us your opinions.

Your texts

Ojong Egbe writes “I am constantly being reminded of the fact that we compare but two things: past and present. With both the past and the present encompassing a lot of “the present” Elvis. However, History could arguably be thought of as being the study of not only past events, but present ones as well. Consequently, with the manoeuvring of thoughts of the past to latter-days, though with great uniformity, I could only smile at the extreme flexibility to that which best suits you – I mean youth – in those days.”

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Links

Wikipedia: youth culture
BBC: Blast
BBC: Teens

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