Headline, May07, 2013

'''THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CLOTHES'''

Leader of the pack : the scene-settling biker movie ''The Wild One'' was banned in Britain for thirteen years after its release in the States in 1954. But its Brando-led biker gang still proved a potent source of inspiration.

British bikers were dubbed  ''ton-up boys'' by the media. Doing the ton meaning to exceed 100 mph.

And they emulated the US look, jeans, boots and black leather  -though Schott-Perfecto-style  ''Bronx''  leather jackets were often replaced with cheaper imitations. The ensemble was completed with white silk scarf and a pair of thick white socks, rolled over boot tops   -innocent enough today but,  at a time when most men were expected to wear suits, leather and denim were a non-conformist statement.

Ton-up boys frequented truckstops, like the then Ace Cafe on London's north circular road  -so notorious that it was even talked about in Parliament,   and thus acquired another name: coffee cowboys. However, groups like the ''59 club'' attempted to soften their image.

None of this would be worth mentioning if we were the New Guinea tribesmen adjusting our feather headdresses or seventeenth Englishmen shielding our faces from blasts of white wig powder. Throughout human history, the use of adornment and dress as an expression of personal and tribal identity is so typically Homo sapiens that it is arguable that this sets us apart from all other species. Male and female  -it makes no difference. Except that,  if anything, it's most often the males who outshine the females in many other cultures and eras.

But something weird happened in Europe the late eighteenth century. In his book, The psychology of Clothes, JC Flugel termed the strange occurrence  ''the great masculine renunciation''. What was being renounced was man's right to fancy dress, to finery, to stylistic experimentation, to the flamboyant.....and ultimately, to pride in his own physicality.  

Why? Flugel points to the aftermath of the French Revolution, which saw a shift from the fun loving antics of the aristocracy to the respectable,  business like sobriety of the bourgeoisie. The Industrial Revolution further underlined puritanism and the work ethic. And the age of Empire bought a desire for colonists to set themselves apart from what were often gaily attired natives.

Whatever its cause, the assumption that only women should be concerned with fancy dress and adornment soon soon became one of Europe's most important exports  -making both Western and Westernised men sartorially repressed to the point of near invisibility.

Even today, the fashion industry typically sees menswear as a side issue: consider that the going rate for a male fashion model's bod is typically only a fraction of that paid to his female equivalent. Yet beyond the catwalk, on the street, it's another story. And as the power and influence of streetstyle has grown  -laying waste to a fashion industry which, without  ''the street'' for inspiration, seems to be increasingly bankrupt of ideas.

The boundaries of  ''masculine renunciation'' have been pushed further and further back. When teddy boys first appeared in the Fifties, their penchant for studiously combing their hair and spending their last ha'penny on velvet trimmed drapes, prompted boringly dressed psychologists to question their masculinity. But nowadays, your average male psychologist is probably checking  out the latest looks in every reputed fashion magazine   -just like you and me and the rest of the world!

We have streetstyle to thank for this   -with change on the fashion catwalk only following timidly on the heels of lads hanging out down on street corner. So, dedicated followers of fashion: Carnaby Street in the early Sixties, became an epicentre for innovative menswear and a haven for the mods, whose search for sartorial perfection blossomed into a no-holds-barred unisex revolution in ''Swinging London''.  

With respectful dedication to one of the great designer of all times Giorgio Armani.

With respectful dedication to Punks: for thumbing their noses at traditional restrictions on male adornment and attire, Punks brought fetishism onto the streets. Their exotic hairstyles laid claim to the possibilities for bodily decoration which tribal man had enjoyed. 

This remarkable Post continues.

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless