Slide 1 Part history lesson/part fashion/

part social anthropology

Illustrate: evolution of identity,
role of adornment, formation of
social tribes
The Evolution Tribes

CONSTRUCTED
IDENTITIES

Slide 2 Within traditional definition -

Traditional Tribes
importance of symbolism &

Culture visual language

Ethnicity

Geography

Heritage

Race

Slide 3 Body painting & body

Adornment

Symbolic thought

Visual language

Integral part of human nature
modification = expression of
values/ culture/ ritual
New Giuinea women paint
bodies in same colours
Sense of belonging
Subconcious communication =
“first impressions count”
Slide 4
Aboriginal people of
Australia

Slide 5 Sioux warrior = specific feathers

Native Americans

Slide 6
Bushmen of Africa
Slide 7 “extreme” is a relative concept
Maori of the Pacific

Slide 8 These = tribes defined by race,

Eskimos of the Arctic Peninsula
geography & ethnicity

Slide 9 First signs of globalisation; Age

The Age of Exploration
of Discovery - 17th and 18th

Travel and trade century

Sharing of culture
Slide 10
The Victorian Era

Culture as a curiosity

Industrial Revolution
Saartjie Baartman
Mass production => concept of
lifestyle, the increase in leisure
time
Tribes defined by class & social
order

Slide 11 Symbols coded with meaning -

The Democratisation of Culture
EVOLUTION OF TRIBES IN THE
20TH CENTURY
systems of meaning spread
across the globe and infiltrated
popular culture
Long and intricate journey
towards pick ‘n’ mix construction
of identity

Slide 12 Social dynamics at play =

The Roaring 20’s
Frivolity associated with the end

End of WW1 of the war

Jazz music Jazz music subverted class

Bootlegging

Chanel and system and social etiquette at
Social Revolution the time - a wild unruly
movement born in the slums =>
upper class
The prohibition of alcohol led to
the formation of organised gang
(dress codes)
Fashion as a social movement
Slide 13 The Charleston = social activites
as identity

Slide 14 20s style = more than ankles

exposed

Slide 15 Bootleggers
Classes united by unlawful
drinking
Slide 16 Chanel = social revolution
through fashion / broke all social
ettiquette

Slide 17 Gangsterism - fashion: zoot suits

The 40’s
outlawed due to excessive fabric

Gangsterism use

Café culture in Paris French philosophers discussing

Hipsters and Beats

Bikers ideas freedom and individual will
1948 - Hell’s Angels (looking for
excitement in dull times)
3 key factors of subculture:
FASHION, MUSIC,
TRANSPORT

Slide 18 Al Capone - mafia (italian and

USA)
NB: gangs as tribes: Japanese
Yakuza (finger) / triads/
Slide 19 Parisian café - Existentialism
Reaction against dominant
ideology of the time (war)…long
hair in stark contrast to shaven
hair ( soldiers, trench warfare =
pacifist)

Slide 20 Beats in USA and Bohemians in

France = style and culture from
street
Existentialist philosophies =>
cultural revolution (Satre &
Camus)

Slide 21 Hell’s Angels: activity/ lifestyle

and dress code
Slide 22 Marlon Brando - The Wild One =
reflection in popular culture in
film
Extension into fashion as visual
statement - identifying even if
not biker

Slide 23 Travel/radio/TV/music spreads

The 50’s
ideas/images

Socio-cultural revolution Rock ‘n Roll => England; Teddy

Youth culture as a social force Boys (drape suits, bootlace ties,

Rock ‘n Roll

Teddy Boys Winklepickers, drainpipe
trousers and Elvis hairdo’s)
Fashion as tribal identity!!!
Girls - pants, men - hairstyles:
huge shock to mainstream
society

Slide 24 Teenagers as a social force >

consumer force…leads later to
branding
Slide 25 Teddy Boys - as epitomised in
Grease

Slide 26 Elvis - musical and cultural and

generational revolution

Slide 27 Mods - latest fashions, slim-cut

The 60’s
suits, music, scooters

Fashionable Mods The Usenet (and early version of

Hippies the Internet) and BBS as well as

Psychedelic drugs

Twiggy computers becoming available
at colleges => nerds/hackers
Slide 28 Mods

Slide 29 The Beatles = cross Atlantic

phenomenon…spread of pop
culture image/icons

Slide 30 Twiggy = pop/fashion

culture…first fashion icon to be
copied
Adornment = make up,
especially eye lashes
Slide 31 Hippies = extreme polarisation
of urban tribal identity
Again sparked off by social
movement - anti vietnam war

Slide 32 Psychedelics = free love and

experimantal drugs

Slide 33 The Freaks - Awareness of the

The 70’s
politics of sexual IDENTITY; sci-

The Freaks and Glam Rock fi and fantasy…manifested

Disco commercially in the form of

Punk
Glam Rock
Disco moved out of gay clubs
and into the mainstream
Punk was a reaction to Disco
and Hippies, the extreme
version resulted in Heavy Metal
= again MUSIC primary driver
Slide 34 David Bowie

Slide 35 Glam Rock - return of the male

peacock (not just hair)

Slide 36 Disco dancefloor

Slide 37 Ramones

Slide 38 Billy Idol = start of fetish pushed

into main stream/ piercings and
tatoos

Slide 39 Punk + Glam Rock = New

The 80’s
Romantics (asexual/bisexual

New Romantic slant)

Goths Out of American urban life

B-Boys and MCs

Yuppies springs Hip Hop and Rap -
socially minded message of -
associated with break dancing,
graffiti and skateboarding
Yuppies is the first sub-culture
with links to Capitalism and
openly flaunts soulless
consumerism (NB American
Psycho)
Slide 40 New Romantic

Slide 41 Boy George

Slide 42 Duran Duran

Slide 43 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi’s Dead
(Goth as polar opposite to
colourful flamboyancy of other
movements)

Slide 44 Breakdancing B-boys

Socially minded movement:
bored youth, looking for a
constructive way to pass time
(like bikers in 50’s)
Upward mobility: self-
improvement and expression of
talent through dance/freestyle;
element of challenge

Slide 45 Boy with boombox

Slide 46 Tupac Shakur
Hip hop = dress as fundamental
core of identity / belonging to
group
Embedded coding of visual/tribal
language

Slide 47 Yuppies - polar opposites

VERY NB: Consumerism as tool
to identify tribes by brand
association

Slide 48 Music main driver of tribal

The 90’s
identity, but also start of techno

Raves and electronic dance music era

Britpop and Indie Rock

The World Wide Web

Anti-globalisation
Slide 49 Laser lighting

Slide 50 Ravers = sub cultures /

remained in clubs & after dark =
dual personas
NB: splintering of identies

Slide 51 Britpop - Oasis, Blur, Pulp =

“anoraks”
Slide 52 World Wide Web = new age of
freedom of thought
21st century version of beats
and bohemians - independent
thought

Slide 53 Anti-globalisation - birth of global

consciousness movement

Slide 54

A Pick and Mix Society

POSTMODERN TRIBES
Slide 55 Most NB: freedom of expression
Change factors
We have become multi faceted

Inter individuals
connectivity

Content

Freedom
of choice

Slide 56 Friends - end of geographical

Constructed Identity
boundaries - hobbies, interests
or tastes…subversion of

Friends class/race based groupings

Brands
Increasingly brands are seen as
representations of the self - a
stylistic advertisement about the
individual

Slide 57 Ted Polhemus - social

Hot Bodies, Cool Styles
anthropologist
Trend towards the need for
people to display themselves as
unique, multi-faceted individuals
/ values/beliefs and dreams
Today “who are you” = loaded &
complex question
Visual symbolism key = lifestyle
messages (eat, pets, car,
furniture)
Slide 58 Concious brain takes in 5000
Adornment: Visual
communication
messages / subconcious = 5
million

Slide 59 See jewellery as adjectives

Ornaments as “adjectives”

Slide 60
Appearance = Identity
Slide 61
The body as advertisement

Slide 62 Where we are today: I define the

Supermarket of Style
brand the brand doesn’t define
me

Slide 63 Body decoration - personal

Supermarket of Style

Do It Yourself approach to fashion

Body decoration as a personal statement

The death of fashion trends
statement rather than
mechanism used to conform or
revolt against a particular
ideology
The death of fashion trends
towards the idea of classic
personal style
Slide 64 Any questions?

…and the evolution

continues…

Slide 65
Images
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