Skate Fashion

Skate fashion derives from the skate, surf, BMX and snowboarding culture, which is very much associated with certain music genres – most specifically the Rock and Punk Genres. The fashion can be traced back to the 1950s when clothes very much corresponded with the type of music that people were listening too. Rock N Roll music was starting to become a dominant aspect of youth culture at the time, it’s new sound was very exciting among youths and this new music soon dawned new fashions in an immediate effect of correlation.

The 60s lead this youth culture in new directions as new musical artists sent out messages of rebellion against politicians and leaders to stand up and be heard for. This lead to the hippie period where many 60s bands were promoting the actions of standing up against ‘the man’. This was in a time when the cold war was at its peak and the war in Vietnam was ongoing. The artists’ music sent out messages of anti-war and pro-earth which was like fuel to the fire that was the hippie movement. Protests and demonstrations occurred regularly, the majority of which were orchestrated by youths. It was apparent that the new wave of popular music hadn’t just changed fashions and lifestyles but had also shaped youth culture for generations to come.

The 70s dawned the punk era and new bands such as the Sex Pistols who were sending out a message of rebellion much like the bands from the 60s were. The punk era was almost an evolution of the hippie movement in that it was an anti-war, anti-establishment subculture. Punk was also a community of people who considered themselves as misfits and that they wanted to be different to society’s portrayal of how people should act, dress etc. The fashion consisted of wearing clothes that no self-respecting adult at the time would wear. Bright clothes, unique hairstyles such as Mohawks, chains and body piercings were just some of the obvious signs to tell whether someone was a punk. Punk was probably the most influential subculture in that it shaped most of the punk rock, Goth, Emo and pretty much all subcategories of rock culture we have today. Punk roots are easily identifiable in the rock music fashions of today in that they all tend to have certain elements that are similar to that of the punk era of the 70s.

The late 70s and 80s brought about the skate culture. UK skate boarding pioneers like Remy Johnson (RIP) and Steve Fletcher (brother of actor Dex Fletcher) All with custom made boards that had Yo Yo wheels and grip tape (nice to see you can still get them). Hog Town in Kentish town was popular and one of the few skate board parks in North London. But who needed a purpose built park when you had Alexdra Palace or Crouch Hill and to be honest any open space with hills would do. My old red Grentic Kyote (minus the YO Yo Wheels) skateboard has long gone and today it’s the South Bank, where the skate boarding underworld can be found with an evolved deck, does doing a daffy duck still exist? Skateboard fashion has not changed at all in over thirty years. It is still a baggy t-shirt, Jeans and sneakers. In my day it was converse high tops, converse weren’t a brand then and ironically they were bought because they were cheap. When the Punks arrived they adopted the base ball boot as part of their uniform. When the punks arrived, my skate boarding days came to end as fashion could not accommodate a skate boarding punk how ever hard I tried. Your bondage restricted movement and those clothes pegs in your hair could end up killing you or some one else if you had a collision and let’s face it… who ever saw a punk with knee pads, crash lid and shoulder pads, cmon?

Skateboarding itself had been around as early as the 50s but had never really taken off as a major activity. Skateboarding coincided well with the punk rock music because skateboarding was (and obviously still is) considered to be a very extreme and dangerous hobby that often had authorities and parents alike trying to ban it. Parents and authorities had always been figures that punk rock was rebelling against so it is easy to see why skateboarding became an icon of punk music.

Skateboarding became more and more popular throughout the 80s and 90s and new music started to venture into its culture. One of them being Hip-Hop. It became apparent that the skate culture wasn’t just a sideshow of the punk culture anymore but it was in fact a new community of urban culture in that street skating and new music reflecting on life in the city was rivalling the traditional sense of listening to punk going to a skate park full of ramps and grind posts. Naturally the fashion came with the branching styles. The more traditional style was to wear a t-shirt and baggy trousers, maybe with a few ornaments like wallet chains. This type was for more for punk and rock listeners. The street skater was made up of a hooded top and jeans. Hip-Hop and rock listeners made up the street skater. No matter which skater style you were though, the message the subculture came with always remained anti-establishment.

Today there isn’t too much difference between traditional and street skaters. It is still possible to identify differences however the skate fashion seems to boast a message of unity among people. Much like what the punk message was. As the years went by, skate culture branched into other extreme sports such as BMX, Snowboarding and Surfing. There are easily identifiable differences in each sport culture however the fashion always seems to remain similar. Nowadays the most popular fashion among extreme sports is to wear logos from people’s favourite bands/artists or to wear certain brands that have come to be associated with the extreme sports fashion over the years such as DC, Vans, Element, Atticus, Etnies, Amplified etc. These are brands that you would never expect to find in traditional sports such as football or basketball, which in itself is a punk element of not being in with the crowd.

In fond memory of Remy Johnson (rest in peace)Steve Fletcher Chris Ellis Phil Macintosh Damien & Hog Town

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