The Influence Of Street Style On Youth Culture

Even though street style just became extremely popular a few years ago, most consumers mistakenly think that it is only a trend that was relevant out of nowhere and do not realize that this fashion style has always been around for a very long time. In a way, the idea of street style is about anti-fashion, which set to provoke the mainstream, rather than just being about setting the trend. Street style is often linked with the subcultural youth culture, which was viewed as rebellious and unique. The youth are the main crowd who uses street style as a way to differentiate and express themselves from the mainstream. However, this was always true throughout history. In Jennifer Grayer Moore’s “Street Style in America”, she points out that “prior

It could not be anymore accurate that Moore referred the youth culture as the “perfect incubator” for street style as the emergence of teen culture makes fashion a way for the youth to express personality as distinctive and exclusive.
However, the youth culture was not the only factor that made streetwear grow popular; the luxurious fashion from the upper class was also an influence toward street style. As an effort to define themselves, the lower, working class tend to imitate the upper class’ living style, including their fashion style. Throughout history, the lower class was always being restricted from expressing themselves, especially from how they dress. In Lars Svendsen’s “Fashion: a philosophy”, the philosopher points out an example about how in medieval Europe back then, having contact with the East allowed them to import choice fabrics into the country but the lower classes were forbidden to acquire such apparel, even if they were able to afford them. (Svendsen 37) In the same section, the author also gave us another example of how ancient Egypt, the

Some of the lower classes’ garments and clothing were extremely popular that they made their way to the upper class. For example, in the same book, Svendsen brought up an example of how jeans started off as a garment for the working classes but then moved it way up the social ladder. (Svendsen 45) Jeans were mainly worn by the workers for daily use and at work due to its availability and affordable price. Due to its popularity, artist started wearing jeans, making it even more popular. The upper classes then started picking up on this trend because they also want to appear as youthful, which made jeans lost its “rebellious force” like it originally was for the lower classes, including the youth. A lot of high-end clothing designer, like Yves Saint Laurent or Gianni Versace, caught on with the popularity of jeans and created their own expensive version of this cheap, street-style piece of clothing. Their products was mainly consumed by the upper classes. Of course there are large differences in quality and price between a pair of jeans from Saint Laurent and one from Matalan. Instead of being an “egalitarian” item of clothing , jeans carries on to also be a social marker, taking part in dividing the social classes. It is interesting to see the fluidity of streetwear, or just fashion in general; one moment it can be a high