Check the Label

Independence Day

My sixteenth birthday marked the day I officially became a man. Not because I opted to use my newly acquired age associated freedoms to get married and smoke, though if I could of I would of, but because, for the first time every single item of clothing I donned that day had been chosen by me.

OK so in an age where eight year olds have their own accounts at Topshop that doesn't sound too impressive but bear in mind I was the youngest of seven. Hand me downs had been handed down so often that they were only held together by the name tag sown into the collar.

And my parents held relatively firm sway over what I could and couldn't purchase to improve my wardrobe.

But my sixteenth Birthday October '87 was my independence day.

I strode into church the following Sunday with the same swagger Brad Pritt employs walking into, well, anywhere, resplendent in grey jumbo cords, pinstripe Burton shirt, leo gemelli (who?) cardigan, slip on (fake) italian shoes and the obligatory, well at least it was at my school, ski jacket.

Clothes say an awful lot about who you are and, I know, 'prize pratt' is probably the image conjured up by the above ensemble but for me it was a statement of intent, announcing 'freedom' to some degree.

As Robert Elms lifelong fashion devotee and ex editor of trendy mag 'The Face' puts it in his excellent biography 'The Way We Wore.':

'To this day I like clothes. I'm slightly wary of people who don't like clothes. What you wear is your interface, what you say to the world.. clothes tell stories.' (The Way We Wore: A Life In Threads, Picador, 2005)

So what are the 'stories' young people are telling to the world today? What do clothes have to say about how young people interface with the world, what exactly are they trying to communicate?

We'll look at the 'hoodie' phenomenon in due course but here's a little examination of why fashion is so important to young people.

Rebel Chic.

For me as an adolescent, and the same is largely true today, growing up and becoming 'independent' meant forging a distance between myself and accepted adult norms - a life pattern that has become ritual for most teens I'm sure.

If you think about it creating a contrast between yourself and your parent's generation or any elders is one of the easiest ways to 'show' your independent.

However as well as seeking independence young people also seek dependence - they seek peer approval. A teen has to be supremely confident to choose a fashion statement that will set them apart from every sub set of youth culture. Be it as a Goth, Townie, Chav or alt rocker it's nice to fit in somewhere.

As Dick Pountain and David Robins authors of 'Cool Rules' surmise, today being 'cool' is all about balancing independence and dependence.

'In any epoch, although cool will have a particularly powerful meaning for teenagers, as an antidote to their ever present fear of being embarrassed , being cool forms part of a risky series of negotiations about becoming an individual while still being accepted into a group - its about both individuality and belonging, and the tension between the two.'

Rebellion has always been seen as 'cool' and so Rebel chic has always been one of the biggest single selling factors in youth culture. But whilst rebelling against norms and standing out from the crowd has been a 'constant' of youth movements, the particular fashions chosen have often had political connotations as well.

The 'Teddy' boys of the fifties adopted the smart haut couture and the quintessential 'Englishness' of the Edwardian era (hence 'Teds' after shortened version of Edward) in part in order to 'stand out' as distinctly 'English' against the wave of migrants that flooded into Britain post world war two.

Similarly significance was seen in 'skinheads' adopting workmanlike gear - dungarees, t-shirts and bovver boots - (doc martins were originally a 'working' shoe). The heavy wearing boots gained notoriety as weapons in street battles, but with many factory jobs going to migrants, and many factory jobs going full stop, they were also seen as a statement about the disappearance of traditional industrial jobs in England?

Rebellion or uniformity?

However if youth cultures of the past were marked by their emphasis on creating unique and individual fashion statements, today's youth culture, more often than not, is marked by a lack of distinction, in other words youth culture has become increasingly 'uniform.'

Sure there are always teens who are keen to go the extra mile when it comes to tracking down the latest in fads at sites like www.beinghunted.com. Or those who's search for the latest greatest and, importantly, most unique gear has them rifling through the pages at www.acronym.de where you can purchase the latest in clothes made from hybrids of synthetic textiles.

And then there's the footwear shops you'd be forgiven for thinking are art galleries, do a 'google' for Paris's Sneaker Lab and you'll see exactly what I mean.

But maybe we elevate the status of the humble 'sneaker' and nouveau clothing materials because so much has already been done when it comes to youth fashion. The trainer is so universal that it needs the touch of an eclectic designer in order to make it worthy of wearing for the upscale fashion fan.

The truth is though that young people are used to having 'youth culture' sold to them. As Paul Flynn in fashion and culture magazine I.D sums up:

'The trouble with 'teenage' is that it has been appropriated by everyone and sold back so often that the appropriation is all we recognise now.' (I.D May 05)

Meaning youth culture is less individualistic and more uniform. For example you used to have to make your own punk & alt rock outfits from your Mum's cast offs - young Goths would pride themselves in hunting down that perfect bridal gown in Oxfam in order to take a spray can to it.

Now chain stores like America's www.hottopic.com will happily sell you all you need in order to make your parents livid. You can't bottle teen angst but if you could be assured shops like Hot Topic would sell it you wholesale.

It's a far cry from the Mods of the sixties who would scrimp and save, not in order to buy a PS3 or a new set of box arches for their Vauxhall Corsa like today, but so that they could parade in a made to measure suit.

And the choices for the discerning Mod were between which tailor they used, and would sir like that in wool, mohair, cotton? And will that be an Italian or classic English cut?

Now the choice is between, Nike, Adidas, Puma & Reebok.

Wearing the Uniform.

Teen fashion gurus aside it seems that a huge proportion of young people today have opted for an outfit loosely based on leisure or sports wear. And the uniforms's centrepiece? - the 'hoodie'.

There are numerous reasons as to why sportswear has become so pervasive. In the case of the 'hoodie' it's obviously gained popularity as a means to obscure identity from the proliferation of CCTV cameras that have come to dominate streets, stores and buses. So you have to ask the question which came first, the popularity of 'hoodies' or the widespread use of closed circuit cameras?

Also gang culture means young people spend more time outside rather than in. The same is true for youths for whom life at home is harsh. If you're out on the street most of the night the hoodie is simply a practical way of keeping warm.

Then there's the elevation of the sports hero and the sports brand in today's world - the two go hand in hand. Football stars like Beckham have risen to stardom because of skill and sponsorship. Indeed the popularity of football is perhaps the main reason wearing sports clothing has increased. For instance Umbro's profits tripled last year after sales of England replica shirts for the European championships. And am I the only angry old git who's annoyed that you can't buy 'proper' sports equipment like Snooker chalk in sports shops anymore - just clothes?

Also there's a practical element to always wear football training gear -if an impromptu game starts, FIFA Street styley, there's no need to pop home anymore to change so as you don't rip your trousers or scuff your shoes and risk the wrath of your mum.

And of course sportswear is comfortable and convenient, the laziest teen need not worry in the morning - not a button, and hardly a zip, anywhere.

Plus there's also the music factor. As one teen girl put it when asked why do young people wear what they wear 'what matters is the image you want to project and what music you listen to.' So the rise and rise of Rap has paralleled the rise and rise of sportswear. Eighties Hip Hop giants like Run DMC, NWA and Public Enemy all sported sports gear. And who can forget the iconic pictures from 8 mile of Eminem togged up in woolly hat and hoodie?

But the real popularity of sportswear lies in big business. When global branding took off in the late eighties (i.e. the idea that companies didn't need to create a quality item, the product could be cheap as long as the brand on it was associated with quality or was seen as 'cool') it was the sportswear companies like Nike & Adidas that led the way. During the four weeks of the 2002 world cup Adidas spent roughly 65 million pounds on sponsorship, about 25 million more than Coke spends per year on advertising in the UK.

Mass popularity has produced mass acceptance. Fashion today makes it easy for young people, you don't have to have an elegantly tailored suit in order to fit in and look cool: all you need is the right brand. That's exactly why the price of a trainer can far exceed the cost of its production.

Ur- BAN Clothing?

The youth of today and what they wear seems to be something of a cultural cyclone blowing up all sorts of debates about 'respect' 'civil liberties' 'reform' and 'parenting.'

Last year a school in Suffolk banned mini-skirts and made girls wear trousers after rising hemlines were deemed inappropriate.

And as part of a post election crackdown Blair has promised to kerb 'yobbish behaviour' in response to the fears constituents aired whilst the PM was on the campaign trail.

So in order to bolster Labour's 'respect' agenda, minister of state for Policing, , security and community service, Hazel Blears proposed that those undertaking community service could wear 'uniforms' in order to make punitive justice more visible to the public at large and, of course, to help 'shame' those who wear it.

No wonder then that Blair openly supported the Bluewater shopping centre's ban on Hoodies and baseball caps.

But has the law become an ass? As Tim Linehan, worker for The Children's Society, pointed out 'Here you have a shopping centre banning people who wear items of clothing that they sell at the centre.' Go figure. (BBC news 13th May)

Of course this is part of a larger debate about young people and crime levels. It's fast becoming the case that the only portrayal of young people in today's news is one that paints a picture of social breakdown and disrespect to elders.

A recent MORI survey concluded that 3 out of 4 stories in the press about young people are negative.

This criminalisation of youth has played a large part in the anti ASBO (anti - social behaviour order) campaign in Ireland. The orders have not yet been implemented there and if the protesters have their way, they never will be - as is mooted in 'Hot Press' - a culture and current affairs mag:

'The idea of ASBO's is a British one. It's a typical New Labour measure, one that flatters to deceive. That housing and education and policing policies have created a massive failure of social consensus is swept under the carpet. The blame is firmly fixed on the dumb, the different and the lame...' (Hot Press 1st June 2005)

And, we could add, the young.

So who's to blame? The government for not addressing the roots of social unrest as underlined above? The young for disregarding the rights of others? Big business for promoting the youth 'cult' of rebellion via MTV et al? or is it the parents after all?:

'I cannot solve all these problems,' says Tony Blair 'I can start a debate on this and I can legislate. What I cannot do is raise someone's children for them.'

Wear it with Pride

Yes clothing is often a statement about the individual, but today the outfit of a Chav, townie, kev, call them what you will, is also fast becoming a uniform. In seeking to 'Brand' those who wear the hoodie as social upstarts etc we actually do provide them with their own brand - a uniform they can wear with pride - this is rebel Chic.

So will further legislation be effective? Young people disrespecting old people is simply one indication of how removed the two groups are from each other in today's world. The mobile phone illustrates this, in any situation now an adult does not have to be the first port of call when asking for advice as your friends are only ever a text away.

In one sense Blair is right when he highlights children's relationships with parents. It's the strength of the individual bonds between people that hold communities together which is the measure of a society.

With that in mind what Churches accomplish at a local level in seeking to value young people, and hoping in return that they will learn to value others, is becoming an increasingly important role.

We need to keep teaching that value doesn't come from image, what we wear, how we look but from who loves us and how we love in return. For respect is a two way thing. And only in showing respect to young people by investing in them will it ever be returned.

This article first appeared in 'Youthwork' magazine August 2005 www.youthwork.co.uk

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