Monday 26 February 2007

Skate Fashion

Skate fashion, despite the sport itself being over 30 years old, is a relatively new thing among youth culture. As well as this, music seems to influence the fashion more than the sport itself. Skate fashion started to establish itself in the early- to-mid 90s. It followed the then-recent wave of grunge rock music, which had taken the western world by storm. This new music was different than anything the youths had ever heard. It mixed in elements of punk, metal and rock and blended them together in the form of bands such as Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Alice In Chains and probably most notably Nirvana. This new wave of music led youth culture in a different direction away from past radical fashions such as punk and the early hip-hop scene. Along with it came a new breed of fashion.

It is often argued that skate fashion already existed before the early-to-mid 90s and that skate fashion is nothing more than an evolution of punk and metal sub-culture fashion. However this new fashion was different than any other because it wasn’t as extreme and categorical as other fashions and sub-cultures. The fashion took on to youths like a bee takes to honey because of the new music reaching out to the modern teens and youths and sending out the message of what the world is like through a teenagers eyes. The controversial aspects of the new music (including several cases of band members being addicted to drugs and alcohol) were only more fuel to the flame as it was an idea that paying homage to these new bands was a statement of rebellion against societies portrayal of what makes a good person.

Around the same time as the Grunge revolution, Punk Rock music was also starting to emerge. Punk Rock was indeed an evolution of punk music because it sent out a message of rebellion and ant-establishment but it was nowhere near as radical. Instead its main focus, like Grunge, was topics that youths could relate to. Bands like The Offspring, Green Day, Blink 182 and NOFX would stick to the traditional punk sense but would also talk about teenage relationships, school life, puberty and just general things teenagers and youths could relate to. Nowadays though, because of the heated conflict between the western world and the Middle East, Punk Rock seems to have taken a step back to its roots of rebellion against governments and other politically fuelled topics.

Grunge and Punk Rock music kind of fused together into one fashion and sub-culture that is skate fashion. A traditional ‘skater’ (although it is proven that a large number of ‘skaters’ don’t actually skate) wears baggy jeans or cargo pants, a particular style of skate shoe and usually a dark coloured hoody with a desired band logo or skate fashion make design somewhere on it. Some of the most famous labels that are associated with skate fashion include DC, Etnies, Vans, Billabong, Element, Quiksilver and Volcom.

Skate fashion was at its peak around the millennium because of the new wave of ‘Nu-Metal’ music that had taken the music scene by storm. Skate fashion coincided well with this new wave of music and much like grunge music people would pay homage to their favourite new Nu-metal bands. Bands like Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Sum 41, Puddle Of Mudd, Lostprophets and Papa Roach were just some of the bands that took skate fashion in a slightly different direction away from the Punk aspects but still remained largely similar in style.

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For Immediate Release


TIME Style & Design Cover:

WHAT’S NEXT NOW?

Looking Into the Future of 21st Century Style

(New York City, Feb. 22, 2007)—In the cover story of the Spring 2007 issue (page 63), TIME Style & Design reports on how “most designers–whether they work in fashion, fabrics, architecture or jewelry–make it their business to divine what consumers will want next. Today technology moves quickly, and tastes are changing accordingly, but among designers of all kinds, there’s a consensus: only what’s really new looks right.”

• TIME Style & Design editor Kate Betts had a rare interview with Miuccia Prada (page 68), and she explores designers, like Prada, who have made headlines with fabric. Betts writes that “any fashion insider knows it’s through fabric development that you can divine what’s next in fashion and what will come down the runway, say, for spring 2008 … Prada is widely considered one of the most adventurous when it comes to how far she will push the textile mills in new directions.” Prada tells TIME Style & Design, “I was forbidden to use kid mohair, and of course, it became a best seller for us.”


To find what’s next,” Prada draws on her archives, which include endless shelves of swatch books dating back to the 1800s and early 1900s. She tells TIME Style & Design, “I’m completely into innovation. I don’t even want to see anything unless it looks completely new.”


• TIME Style & Design investigates tanzanite (page 73), “which is often likened to blue sapphire but is more brilliant with violet overtones … Geologists are convinced that it occurs in only one place in the world:” Merelani, in Africa’s Rift Valley. Writer Sarah Larenaudie reports, “In the wake of the film Blood Diamond, … the tanzanite industry has been eager to position itself as modern miners, environmentally responsible and energetic in helping finance schools, roads and water management for surrounding communities.” The rarity of the stone is a good selling point, but the Tanzanite Foundation wants to go further toward dominating a category to be “what’s next.” A new ad campaign—“Be Born to Tanzanite”—is an attempt to position tanzanite as the stone one gives for a birth. The foundation is hoping fashion will embrace tanzanite “in a lasting way.”

INSIDE TIME Style & Design:

SNEAKERS: TIME Style & Design features two pages of sneakers that city dwellers across the globe are lacing up, from Puma Numostros in Bangalore to Prada in Paris and Y-3 in Beijing. (Page 30)


TIME Style & Design Reports How Stella McCartney Forged Her Beliefs Into Her Brand

Stella McCartney tells TIME Style & Design that she launched her new skin-care line, Care by Stella McCartney, which contains 100% active organic ingredients, because “I always wanted to use organic skin care, but it had really bad textures, smelled awful, and the packaging was usually so unattractive, I would end up being seduced by all the conventional stuff.” McCartney further explains that she was compelled to launch the line when she learned that “your skin is your largest organ, and up to 60% of what you put on it is absorbed into the system. Lots of skin products use the same petrochemicals as the antifreeze in your car!” Maggie Ciafardini, ceo and managing director of the U.S. division of YSL Beauté, says, “It was indeed a challenge for the R&D team to develop luxurious textures without any petrochemicals or chemical preservatives,” but the team did it, and is bringing sex appeal to the local health store. (Page 58)


Target’s Behind-the-Scenes Matchmakers Reveal Their Secrets To The Designer Hookup
TIME Style & Design talks to Target executive Trish Adams about the megabrand’s couture conspirators, like designers Proenza Schouler and Luella Bartley. “Our goal is to find people who share our philosophy on offering high-quality design for excellent value,” says Adams. She wants her customers to feel that what they’re getting is authentic, but volume helps keep costs down. “We have so much buying power that it drops fabric prices dramatically,” explaining why a cropped suede jacket by Proenza Schouler for Target sells for $139.99 while a jacket from its own line is likely to be 10 times as much. (Page 34)

TIME Style & Design Reports on a Fashion Company That Pays Each of Its Factory Workers a Living Wage, Not Just the Minimum One

Start-up apparel company Fair Indigo hopes to do for apparel workers what fair-trade coffee has done for farmers. With its first store opening in a 1,600-sq-ft. eco-friendly space in Madison, Wisc., CEO and co-founder Bill Bass tells TIME Style & Design, “The fair-trade movement is still in its infancy, but people in general are more socially conscious, and I think that’s going to start filtering down into the apparel industry. Our goal is to start a movement that changes how the apparel industry works. The measure of its success will be how quickly other companies adopt it.” (Page 42)

TIME Style & Design Looks Into What The Cosmetics Industry Is Doing to Reduce Its Environmental Impact

“There isn’t one aspect of the [beauty] business that hasn’t been a cause for concern for environmental or public-health groups,” reports TIME Style & Design. But the beauty business is changing that. “Ecologically minded brands like Clarins … or Aveda and Origins and their corporate owner, the Estée Lauder Cos., continue to innovate, while other, more conventional beauty companies like Lancôme, Kiehl’s Since 1851 and Paul Mitchell are finding philanthropic ways to lessen their impact on the world’s resources.” (Page 55)

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Media Contacts: TIME PR HOTLINE, (212) 522-4800

Betsy Burton, (212) 522-3651