Study on the Styles of Subcultural Clothing: from 1930s to 1990s

하위문화 맥락에서 본 패션스타일 연구

This is a study that examines the fashion changes in the 20th century in terms of various subcultures in the period. Starting from defining the concept and the developing process of subculture, this study traces the history of subcultural styles from 1930s to 1990s, focusing on the way each generation resisted the main stream through its styles. This study is intended to provide a theoretical frame on the understanding of subcultural styles, with a close examination of its formative and developing process and characteristics. This study understands subcultural style as a way of deviate or resistant expression within a society. It differentiates itself from the main style by deliberately and publicly asserting its own identity, and, as a result, realizes in the form of fashion its repressed subconsciousness, resistance to the alienation from the society, and deviation from the normative ethics and morality of a society. The four types of subcultural styles presented in chapter 4 are based on their form of resistance, and they are classified and analyzed as follows: The first type is revision, which tries to revise and change the given form by adding new elements. There are two kinds of revision, one is dressing up, which dresses for success, and the other is minimal dressing. Hyperbole is the second type, which resists by emphasizing or hyperbolizing the main stream with its erotic, nihilistic, or dynamic forms. Two kinds of hyperbole are examined, one is hyperbole of masculinity, and the other is ostentatious hyperbole. The third type is reversal and rejection, which reverses the forms from the established sign system into its own secret code, or rejects the traditional taboos. This type include no dressing, and the reversal of sex identity. Isolation and redrawal is the fourth type, which tries to distance itself from the ritual code of the day. This type is divided into dressing of the escape from time, and dressing of the escape from space. The first group of this type is characterized by nostalgia or futurism. An emphasis is given on ethnicity, naturalism, or a closed space within a city in dressing of the escape from space. In conclusion, it can be said that subcultural style puts the foremost importance on individual freedom. Since 1990s, the distinction between the subcultural styles and high fashion gets somewhat blurred, while the liberal, sexual, life stylistic tension between the two groups are heightened.