Forward: Exploring Historic Fashion Subcultures

Finding Remnants of Fashion Subcultures in Styles Today

Cover Photo by Luke Braswell on Unsplash

Over the past decades, and more accurately, since the beginning of time, fashion has always played a role in acting as an expressor, enhancer and identifier. It’s said that fashion is cyclical, and many trends we see now have been, in some way or another, introduced at an earlier time in society. It’s no surprise to me that the same style of turtleneck I once thought was tacky in my 4th grade days is now a staple (if not the favourite) piece in my closet. 

Many of the styles and trends we see today are remnants retrieved from some of the famous and not so famous fashion subcultures in society. If we loop back to my beloved piece the turtleneck, specifically black turtlenecks, were practically the uniform of ‘The Beatniks’, a 1920’s subculture, along with cropped pants, french berets, loafers and a cigarette in hand to complete the look. From subcultures like the Hippies to the Yuppies, Steam Punks to the Flappers, and even farther back to the distinction between Spanish and French Farthingales (the hollow ring that made skirts in ‘poof in the 1800s’), the history of fashion has left it’s own breadcrumbs over time, maintaining the heart of each subculture buried within each new trend. 

In this mini-column, we’ll be delving into some of the historical subcultures that have left their mark on fashion culture, uncovering both the blatant, and not so obvious clues from these styles. Let us know in the comments what subcultures you’d like to see us tackle in this new column!