Culture is involves large groups of people who share languages, beliefs, or values. Subcultures are smaller groups within cultures. Those subcultures are only connected through the same values. You can think for example of the subculture of surfing. Surfers all share similar interests but they may be located in many different places, in many different cultures around the world. Normally we think of subcultures as opposed to mainstream culture and it is true that people can be part of more than one subculture.
In his book Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige discusses the groups of individuals in London who went against the style of the establishment – teddy boys, mods, rockers, skinheads and punks. He suggests that the tension between the power and less powerful groups are represented on the surface expression. There are certain aspects of clothing and decoration that represented these groups such as safety pins, motorcycles and boots.
Hebdige emphasizes the sign of refusal as an important part of divergent groups. The sign of refusal is apparent in graffiti for example. Refusal is against the “hegemony” a term that means the powers that be and their system of rules. An important part of hegemony is the framing of ideas within a particular context. For example: The political power may acknowledge a punk group but do so through police wanted ads, or negative news stories. While a subculture wants to appear separate with enough negative framing a negative stereotype will form.
Graffiti artist Banksy
The problem for designers is that different groups have different definitions for the same signs. The meaning of signs is manipulated through style. Hebdige writes, “our task becomes to discern the hidden messages inscribed in code on the glossy surfaces of style, to trace them as ‘maps of meaning’ which obscurely re-present the very contradictions they are designed to resolve or conceal.”
See footage of the London punk scene in 1979: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IABnsIDer-0&feature=fvsr
The idea of cultural sign reading is called “semiotics.” This theory was started by French theorist Roland Barthes. In the 1960’s Barthes created a book called Empire of Signs followed by The Fashion System in which he decoded clothing. Barthes suggested that all meaning in fashion is within closed systems of meaning. You understand the codes of a fashion group by being part of the group.
In the The Official Preppy Handbook writer Lisa Birnbach uses semiotics to de-code the preppy subculture. She takes a typical family den and recognizes the value system that is represented. She does the same thing with a dorm room. She then summarizes her findings by suggesting 10 underlying fashion principles of prep. Her ability to sign read and summarize makes the book more than comical and raises the question of how subcultures and stereotypes overlap.
Many companies try to reach subcultures through niche marketing using signs of the subculture. However, because people in a subculture are not unified beyond shared interest or belief, there is lack of understanding of individual differences. Stereotypes are broken when you meet particular individuals who belong to many subcultures such as punks who play golf or preps with motorcycles. As designers, we can consider the cross-cultural aspects as more interesting, especially with the emphasis on identity in post-modernism. Niche categories are only partial understanding of lived experience.
In his essay “The Bachelor Pad as Cultural Icon”(http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/18/1/99.pdf) Bill Osgerby discusses the representation of mid-century private interiors. During the 50’s and 60’s the American magazine Playboy spotlighted bachelor pads. Esquire was another magazine that emphasized the lifestyle of leisure. Sleekness, streamlining and luxury electronics like clock radios, built in cigarette lights and pedal lighting created the aesthetic.
There were examples of control panels, allowing the man to relax and simply supervise the house. These ideas go with mid-century modern trends in general but even today the bachelor pad emphasizes ease of maintenance and technology. Osgerby suggests that Playboy set the high standard in the end for the most innovative mid century spaces, in combination with the establishment of the club design which resembled a bachelor pad. He concludes by stating that the bachelor pad can be understood as a signifier of America’s petit-bourgeois, making class into a sub a subcultural style.
The essay analyzes the bachelor but in contemporary culture we also use the word pimp. The word pimp first appeared in English in 1607 in a Thomas Middleton book entitled Your Five Gallants. It is believed to have stemmed from the French infinitive pimper meaning to dress up elegantly. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the term was commonly used to refer to informers. The term can now also be applied to a person who is considered a ladies' man.
Watch a pimp video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvaCV6uQp8
How is it a legitimate subculture, with real people? how is it a style?
1. Subculture personality traits
2. Visual design style characteristics
3. Media persona examples
4. Brands or products that connect to the subculture/style
Punks
1. Subculture characteristics and personalities
rebellious, expressive, challenge status quo, misunderstood, loud, present, independence
2. Visual design style characteristics
safety pin, tattoos, boots, black, worn out clothing, British flag
3. Media persona examples
Sex Pistols, The Clash, Ramones
4. Brands that connect to the subculture/style
Doc Martens, Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier
Conformity, conservative, traditional, polite, social
2. Visual design style characteristics
plaid, pastels, leisure-sports wear, pearls, family heirlooms
3. Media persona examples
The Kennedys, Gossip Girl, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Martha Stewart
4. Brands that connect to the subculture/style
Brooks Brothers, J Crew, Ralph Lauren
Pimps
1. Subculture characteristics and personalitiesBachelors, partiers, criminals, ladies man, suave, metro
2. Visual design style characteristics
expressive, flamboyant, street wear, gentleman’s tux
3. Media persona examples
Blaxploitation films, Flava Flav, Snoop Dog, Hugh Hefner, P Diddy
4. Brands that connect to the subculture/style
Axe cologne, Jameson Scotch, Astin Martin
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