The Meaning Of Style: Subculture Analysis

Introduction

Eco (1973, cited in Hebdige 1979) suggest that his clothing is in itself a form of communication. This is a sign that is evident in the subcultures, such as punks, goths, hip hop, and hippy to mention a few. In this essay I will seek to demonstrate the significance of subcultures being used as a form of social critique; how they challenge normalised forms to convey a message of defiance through their clothing style, artistic practices, public activities, as well as how they present their bodies. The subculture which I will make references to is the punk subculture. Punks, as they are often referred to in society – a community that lives together in an orderly fashion – distinguish themselves greatly by their style (the way in

The dress sense, the style which came with punk, was intentionally provocative in attempts to shock the audience. “Subcultures represent ‘noise’ (as opposed to sound)” (Hebdige, 1979:90). The style that the punk culture employed was loud. Everyone could identify a member of the punk subculture from a distance by how aunthentic they looked and dressed. Many people, the normalised people (conformist), did not want to be associated with members of the punk subculture because of how they were presented in the media. The media controlled the way in which groups (in this essay, the punk subculture) were viewed by other groups, and how groups viewed themselves by circulation of the same or similar representation (Hebdige, 1979:85). The punk subculture was often presented as violent, showing nihilism – the negation of meaningful aspects of life, unsocial, as well as rebellious. In their own representation, punks represented themselves in a way that commented on the economic status of Britain with their torn shirts, dark clothing (sometimes with t-shirts that hosted profanity in print), and chains that hung from their clothes. This related to what Eco (1973, cited Hebdige 1979) suggest about communicating through the

As Eco (1973, cited in Hebdige 1979) suggests that his way of dressing way of communicating in itself. Figure 3 is an example of the modern day punk with a normalised person, the Duke of Cambridge. Through a through study of the punk subculture, this essay has expressed how the youth in 1970s Britain society identified with the subculture to address socio economic issues regarding the working class. Furthermore, through music, some women found solace in the punk subculture, and they also channeled their frustration with how women were being policed to be a certain way to satisfy normalised forms. Additionally, this essay has demonstrated how body modification was used as another form expression within the punk