Explain How Objects Of Dress Contribute To Subcultural Identity

Discuss how objects of dress contribute to subcultural identity.

The type of clothing people are wearing completely depends on the person who is wearing it; it therefore becomes a reflection of their perception of themselves, which then leads to the whole thought of the term- ‘personal identity’. What you wear refects who you want to be seen as, who you are, your aspirations and where you see yourselves belonging. A subculture is a culture that’s in a broader mainstream culture, it has separate and its own separate values, practices, and beliefs. Certain things people wear really show and express what culture they are from or even what culture they are trying to be. From decades ago until today there are groups- ‘subcultures’ where in which

In 2002 there was one image in the history of Burberry that sticks in the mind, a picture of the actress Danniella Westbrook top to toe in Burberry, this included: the hat, the skirt, the scarf, her baby dressed up to match. This changed the whole view of Burberry for years, it was described as classy, luxury and distinctive. But after this picture was released in the press the brand was dubbed as ‘chavvy’. Just one picture of one person changed the whole brand. For years after the checked design Burberry designed was a thing for chavs to wear. It was very recognizable and to this day people remember when Burberry went chavvy. This really backs up the discussion because that one design of clothing was then, at the time, associated with that certain subculture of people. ‘Chavs’ are branded to wear tracksuits, joggers, hoodies, trainers etc.. its amazing how that is what we as society think of straight away when you say chav. Other subcultures include: ‘wags’ these footballers wife’s we think are all goldiggers, wear diamonds and have the most expensive of everything. And going onto a very recent subculture would be ‘hipsters’; Hipsters are a youth culture, who seek to “diverge from the mainstream and carve a cultural niche all for themselves” (Granfield, 2011) by trying to be‘unique’, vintage style and anti-mainstream ideology. Hipsters try to adopt the styles of other cultures that they do not belong to, going against the mainstream, but then ultimately being all the same therefore in there own subculture.They do not like to identify themselves as hipsters. This is largely due to the negative connotations associated with being a hipster; the arrogance, the unwillingness to be associated with anything mainstream. But again, if asked what do you think of when you think of ‘hipster’ people will say the same things including; skinny jeans, ‘yolo’ tops, dyed hair, fake glasses, backpacks, checked shirts etc. (Persad,