Subculture is a word, which means liberty of appearance, liberty of creativeness, liberty and ease of the chosen model for getting pleasure. The subculture is a sacred action, in which the only arbiter of values and belief, taste and preferences is the person. The person with the autonomy of his own choice.

And which is the unlimited reservoir for ideas and motives in the art of fashion designers ? The subculture with its unlimited varieties, because the subcultural fashion attracts and charms with its spontaneity and increadible imagination. Censorship and standard do not exist for it, because the marks and symbols that it uses are born from the energy of the rebellion and disagreement with the already existing rules and restrictions. Alexander MacQueen is among theose stylists which as though feel the pulse of the street and they cleverly transfer it in its works after the respective aesthetic and creative interpretations, including the unique, very expensive and handmade garments. He defines the connection between subculture and fashion in the following way - "Between subculture and fashion there is a connection and it is very important. The subculture - the clothes that the young wear in the street, the ideas of the rock bands, the clothes in the clubs, etc. influence a lot the fashion design. At least for me it is true. My clients probably see only the end product but before I create it I try to feel well the London's atmosphere of its street and clubs and then I try to transform it in fashion design..." And that kind of steeping in certain spirit from a given youth circle is important for the creative searches and findings of fashion designers. This spirit is especially precious with its freshness, roughness and nonstandardness, Thank to it, the fashion invention is born and the progress of style is completed.

Fashion in the clothing of the youth subcultural trends is extremely interesting and unfortunately very little investigated. If we look deeper in the creative and psychological nature of these increadibly interesting clothes and accessories, make up and haircuts, fetish and etc. attributes of the informal youth style, we will get a complete idea of the real life of the new generations, for the original value of their dreams and creativeness and emotional potential.

In the psychological portrait of the subcultural person are revealed such positive qualities as criticism and sensitivity to rusty and unworthy phenomena in people's life; braveness in defending the personal style of existence, including the way of dressing, lively sense for the changes, for the vanguard, even masked as strange and non accustomed phenomenon: a will to overcome the murmor and discontent, threats and sanctions from public bodies and instruments of power, as well as some hardness and some times sacrifices and privation in the name of a given subcultural aim. Along with that we should not pass by the faults, which throw a shadow on the portrait of the subcultural youth. The loss of moral and social measure either in the speach or actions, which can adjoin with egoism, nihilism and elements of anarchism deserve conviction. The laziness and consumptional absurds in the subcultural being or the snobbish arrogance and total contempt to everything and everybody, who are outside the territory of the amateur circle, are not only anacceptable, but should be harshly denied, because they sharply contradict with the supreme human values, with the respect of the dignity of the others and the ultimate requirement to work continuously for one's own improvement through activities for the good of the others.

The paradox is not in the existence of the subcultural groups and streams, but because they are still not understood in depth, dialectically, wisely. Vey ofthen, similar to other misunderstood things, about them are told anathem: the attitude towards them is primitive, one-sided, edifying. It is not right to aggrandize unreserved the youth subculturesand to accredit to them utopically some super virtues, as it is not right to deny, repress or silently and ironically and assumingly to ignore them.

Lots of the features in the style of contemporary youth subculture is of interest not only to sociologists and social psychologists, pedagogues, journalists, parents and teachers, but also to all members of the society – including the representatives of subcultures in terms of more correct self-identification, self-knowledge and self-explication. Habits an customs, dynamics in slang and graffiti, in clothes and hair-cut, in musical and sports preferences, the psycho climate in the circle of friends, the philosophy of the self-made communication and especially the free will in the choice of a model of existence - all this is included in the portrait of the modern subcultural man, in the outlines and the heart of the contemporary culture, in the specifications of the style of living.

The history of the Western subcultures shows that they are controversial. Hippies, for example, declared against violence and the “dirty war” in Vietnam, but at the same time they allowed excessive and promiscuous sexual freedom, use of drugs and they denied labor as a way of existence. Punk made a protest against unemployment and the luxury of the high-life in bourgeois world, but it showed a nightmarish picture of the human daily full of poor taste and anti-aesthetics, as well as vulgarization of the behavior, driven to excess. Yobs (martial young people, practicing beating and violence) could be discharged by no means. Their attempts and outrage against “cops”, “Negroes”, “Gasterbeiter” and generally all “foreigners” are an important sign for the forms of subcultural life, which are extreme and dangerous for the social and civil world. True pests represent football hooliganism, banditism and terrorism, based on racial, ethnical and religious basis. These tendencies and negative demonstrations of some subcultures warn that society must apply a valuable and qualitative approach regarding them.

As a whole youth subcultures are a structural part of our present days. Entering into the good-quality results of subcultural communication and the expansion of the good sides of this phenomenon, can only accelerate and elaborate the progress in culture, fashion design and civilization. Creativity and the good will in subcultural man’s actions deserve acknowledgement, support and stimulation. If some of these are missing, the subcultural man must not be disturbed to reach art, wisdom, ancient sources of knowledge and philanthropy. For the protest against the old stereotypes in life full of bureaucracy is in natural harmony with the zeal for truth and progress, good and nobility… 

To be continued ...

Part from the book Stoykov, Lubomir. Theoretical Problems Of Fashion. - Sofia: The National Academy Of Arts, 2006.

© Lubomir Stoykov
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