Fashion Tribes

Chris Cavey

You find teenage fashion hard to understand？ Read our quick guide to some recent trends.

Last week I was in a shopping centre when I saw a teenager who was wearing jeans that were so low at the back that I could see 20cm of his underpants. I thought to myself， ‘He looks ridiculous. Why does he want to do that？ Why doesnt he pull his trousers up？ Then I realised that the boy was wearing his trousers that way for exactly the same reason that I dyed my hair green when I was a teenager： its fashionable. ‘Old people like me （Im 32） arent supposed to understand or to think it looks good. This fashion and the other youth fashions I saw in the shopping centre are a language that young people speak that older people cant learn. But I was interested and I wanted to find out more， so I asked my niece， Hannah， to help me. Shes 15 and she was my guide for my expedition to find out about teenage fashion.

The goths

Goths have been around for quite some time. ‘Gothic novels were popular in the eighteenth century but in the last few years it has come back into fashion as a popular ‘look for young people. The goths we saw were easy to spot in the park where Hannah pointed them out to me. On one of the sunniest days of the year this small group of teenagers were dressed from head to toe in black. Black hair， black T-shirts， black jeans， black fingernails， black make-up （boys and girls）. We didnt go to talk to them （they didnt look very friendly， to be honest） but Hannah told me that the goths think of themselves as ‘dark， romantic， mysterious and listen to dark， romantic， mysterious music in their dark， mysterious bedrooms.

The ‘emos

Slightly more difficult to identify than the goths were the ‘emo teenagers. They can be recognised by their tight jeans and T-shirts and their haircuts which usually have a long fringe， often covering one or both eyes. Different hair colours are visible. Not the green that I had as a teenager but some pink and blue hair contrasts with the black of the goths. The name ‘emo， Hannah tells me， comes from ‘emotional rock， a type of music with heartfelt lyrics sung by bands with names like My Chemical Romance or Jimmy Eat World.

New-rave

We moved on to a shopping centre where Hannah told me wed see some ‘new rave kids. They were difficult to miss. Looking like an explosion in a paint factory， these teenagers were wearing very bright colours—greens and pinks and yellows—and， unlike the ‘emos， the clothes are loose. Hannah tells me that these kids listen to electronic dance music by bands like The Klaxons and go to ‘raves—parties where they can dance all night. I like the way they bring a splash of colour to a grey shopping centre but Im not sure the music is really my kind of thing.

Our expedition ended here but as we sat on the bus home， Hannah pointed out members of other teenage groups. The boys at the back of the bus playing annoying music on their mobile phones were ‘hoodies， named after their hooded sweatshirts. The girl sitting at the front of the bus looked like ‘an indie kid （a kid who likes to differ from the norm， and wears alternative clothes and listens to alternative music）， said Hannah， but she couldnt be sure of it without knowing what she was listening to on her phone.

Im sure that if any of those teenagers Id seen that day read this article they would say it was complete rubbish and that I didnt understand anything about teenage fashions. But then Im not supposed to understand， am I？ Im too old！