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Subcultures

Fashion and Tradition

Final Report by

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Participating countries:

Great Britain

Greece

Italy

Poland

Spain

Turkey

Final report, summarizing the views presented by

the five participating countries on the topic

"Subcultures"

Vibo Valentia, Italy

December 1, 2, 3 2010

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B

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Great Britain

Great Britain presented the subculture of Morris Dancers.

The Morris is an ancient tradition that has survived and evolved

over the course of many centuries. Morris dancing is a

celebration, a display of dance and music performed at seasonal

festivals and holidays to banish the dark of winter, celebrate the

warmth and fertility of summer, and bring in autumn's golden

harvest.

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The dancing is very lively and accompanied by an accordion

player, a melodeon or fiddle player or a noisy band with a drum

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Morris dancers wear bright clothes and leap in the air waving

handkerchiefs and sticks with bells jingling from their clothing.

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In Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where the Great Britain delegation

comes from, they have their own Morris group:

The Anker Morris Men

Here are a few pictures of the Nuneaton Morris group.

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Greece

Greece described the features of several contemporary

subcultures.

Heavy Metal, first appeared in the 1970s and inspired by famous

bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica. Members of the subculture

can be recognized because they typically wear black leather

jacket - usually sleeveless, black leather pants or jeans, black

leather wristbands or chains. They have long hair and sometimes

wear black and white make-up.

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The Goth subculture has no pronounced political messages or

cries for social activism. The subculture, born in Germany between

the 1980s and early 1990s, is marked by its emphasis on

individualism and tolerance for diversity. Typical gothic

appearance includes a pale complexion, dyed black hair,

dark eyeliner, dark nail polish and lipstick, black vintage clothing.

Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethan, Victorian or

medieval period and often express pagan, occult, or other

religious imagery such as pentacles or ankhs. Goths love lace

and sometimes have piercings.

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The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement born in the

United States during the mid-1960s, swiftly spreading to other

countries around the world.

Hippies rejected all conventional desires for wealth, power, health,

and fame by living a simple life free from all possessions. They were

against political and social orthodoxy, choosing an ideology that

favored peace, love and personal freedom.

Hippies wore long hair. Women put on flowers or went for the

Pocahontas headband. Men had beards or moustaches, but

never nicely trimmed. Leather sandals were worn for all occasions.

They identified themselves with the peace symbol.

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The punk subculture emerged in the mid 1970s. Punk ideology is

mostly concerned with individual freedom, anti-establishment

views, anti authoritarianism, and non-conformity.

Punk fashion adapted everyday objects for aesthetic effect:

ripped clothing was held together by safety pins or wrapped with

tape; ordinary clothing was customized by embellishing it with

marker or adorning it with paint; safety pins and razor blades were

used as jewelry. Also popular have been leather, rubber, and

vinyl.

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Italy

Italy described the subculture of Ultras. Ultras are a type of sports

fans renowned for their fanatical support and elaborate displays.

They are predominantly European followers of football teams.

Ultras express their support for their club the use of flares (primarily

in tifo choreography), vocal support in large groups and the

displaying of banners at football stadiums, in order to encourage

their own team and to intimidate opposing players and

supporters.

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Ultras groups are usually based around a core group of founders

or leaders with smaller subgroups organized by location,

friendship, or political stance. They use various styles and sizes of

banners and flags bearing the name and symbols of their group.

Some ultras groups sell their own merchandise to raise funds for

performing displays.

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The country most associated with the ultras movement is Italy. The

first Italian ultras groups were formed in 1951, including the

Fedelissimi Granata of Torino. The term Ultras was used as a name

for the first time in 1969 when supporters of Sampdoria formed the

Ultras Tito Cucchiaroni and fans of Torino formed the Ultras

Granata.

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What all Ultras have in common is their desire to support their club

or team while enjoying the experience, the extreme pleasure they

gain in providing that support creatively for a full 90 minutes – both

acoustically and visually – and to prepare these activities in the

week before the game. Accordingly, what counts for most Ultras is

not only the match result or the league in which their club or team

plays but, rather, their committed support to the club, and the

activities before, during and after the match.

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Although most European Ultras do not wear the traditional fan

clothing and accessories because they reject the excessive

marketing of football and its commercialization, they do have a

certain dress code that displays their group identity and clearly

distinguishes them from outsiders. Most groups even possess their

own range of clothing, with polo shirts, rugby shirts, sweatshirts, T-

shirts, caps and scarves bearing the group‟s logo or design.

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Ultra is not just to be seen as another type of fans‟ group inside a

stadium, it is a lifestyle and subculture whose different forms of

expression reach well beyond the actual match day. If they are

able to, they travel to every away game, they organize events

and various social projects around the club. Unfortunately , the

actions of ultras groups can occasionally be overly extreme and

are sometimes influenced by political ideologies or racism.

Ultras consider themselves as “extreme” fans of their club. Having

said that and contrary to the dominant public opinion on ultras,

this “extreme” is not to be seen as something negative in the first

place but rather in the sense of being “very passionate”. To put it

very briefly: in other areas of society there are Hipsters and Punks,

in football there are Ultras.

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Poland

Polish subcultures of 60‟, 70‟, 80‟ and 90‟

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Bikiniarze (Teddy Boys)

Bikiniarze were the first after-war polish subculture. They were

formed in the 50s, based upon the Teddy Boys” subculture from

the USA.

They were considered by the communist government as enemies

of the state, because of their fascination in western culture.

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Bikiniarze dressed, much like the Teddy Boys, in very elegant

outfits:

- Suede Jackets

- Leather shoes

- Usually ties

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The Bikiniarze

The Bikiniarze were interested in rock n‟ roll music. Their favourite

artists were:

– Elvis Presley

– Little Richard

– Bill Haley

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Hippies

The Hippies were a worldwide movement of nature-loving, pot-

smoking youngsters. This subculture originated in the 1960s and

went on to the 70s.

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Punks

Punks are a rebel and anarchist subculture,

who don‟t agree with any rules. They rebel

against laws, routine, big corporations –

they just can‟t stand any control.

Punks sport dark, eccentric clothes and

clumsy hairstyle

The punks were into a very

fast and rebellious rock music

called Punk Rock.

The most popular polish punk

bands were: Dezerter, Aya

RL, T. Love, Kult, Tilt and Siekiera.

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Dresiarze

Dresiarze is a primitive, agressive subculture based on the

worship of money. They don‟t esteem any law, just like

they don‟t esteem people. They use trash-language in

witch they use vulgarisms like a comma. They are proud from that

they „Hate police” witch is like a life motto for them. Sometimes

they are mistaken with skinheads which are actually a totally

different subculture.

Dresiarze wears brand, tracksuit clothes for show,

sometimes gold chains or other jawelery with which

they want to show how „cool” they are. Most of

them are bold.

They listen worthless

music like: Disco-Polo,

Polish Rap or Techno.

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Spain

Also Spain described the characteristics of contemporary

subcultures, defined as „urban tribes‟, and told us about the most

common subcultures in their region, Castellò. Urban tribes, are

groups of people from all over the world, that share the same

ways of thinking and feeling, and show similar dressing styles,

habits, and gathering places. Some of the most common urban

tribes in the Castellò region are the Emos, the Mods, the „Pijos‟,

and the „Lolailos‟.

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The Emo subculture is characterized by a negative view of life,

influenced by the modern society „that cares more about money

than about people‟s needs‟. They are non-conformists and their

haircuts usually cover part of their face.

Mods, contraction for modernists, reinterpret the lifestyle of the

50s. Their fetish is the Lambretta motorbike, and they wear simple

lines with retro complements. They drink branded beer, support FC

Barcelona, and the left-wing party in Catalonia.

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Pijos are a growing group in Spain. The most representative

feature of this subculture is wealth, and to display wealth. For this

reason they wear expensive branded clothes and show off

expensive hobbies. Women use to wear gold jewels and have

long hair. Accessories, such as sunglasses and watches, are very

important, and so are expensive cars.

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Lolailos are a typical Spanish subculture, partly originating from

Andalusia mixed with Gipsy influences. They have a male

chauvinist view and show off golden accessories. They listen to

deep Spanish music, and wear short haircuts.

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Turkey

The Turkish delegation described the subculture of Gypsies.

Historically, Gypsies have been sometimes called “stateless”,

sometimes called “landless”, or even the “forgotten people”. In

the Turkish language, they are called Çingene. There are three

origins of Gypsies in the world:

Kaldera

Gitano

Manush

The ones in Turkey are coming from “Kaldera” clan. Most of them

came to Turkey during the World War I.

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They reside not only in the biggest cities of Turkey but also in rural

areas. In the entire world live 3 or 4 millions of Gypsies, and of

these, about 500.000 live in Turkey. Gypsies are nomadic people.

They move from one place to another and seldom use modern

vehicles.

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There is no unity in Gypsy culture. Commonly, they are bounded

to their families, they believe in “Del” (God) and “Beng” (Devil)

and they have belief of faith. They have some rites in the rituals of

blessing, wedding and burial.

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They are cheerful people who like colorful clothes, jewelries and

flowers. There are some TV series based on Gypsy lifestyle.

Still they do jobs like shoe shining, but many of them are musicians.

Musical education begins at early ages within the family, and

there are many street bands of Gypsies.

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With the contribution of:

King Edward VI College

King Edward Road, Nuneaton – Warwickshire - CV11 4BE

(Great Britain)

Kalimasia Senior High School, 82100 Chios

(Greece)

Istituto Professionale di Stato per l‟Industria e l‟Artigianato “G. Prestia”

Via G. Fortunato, 89900 Vibo Valentia VV

(Italy)

Gimnazjum Społeczne Milanowskiego Towarzystwa Edukacyjnego

Brzozowa 1, 05-822 Milanówek

(Poland)

IES Alfons XIII

Calle Conselleria de Cultura,12194 Vall d'Alba, Castellón

(Spain)

Haydar Akçelik Anadolu Meslek ve Kız Meslek Lisesi

Eyüp, 34050 ,Nişancı, Istanbul

(Turkey)