The Ted Polhemus Theory: Style and Fashion

In 2012 Urban Fieldnotes interviewed Ted Polhemus, who is considered to be one of the fashion gods of our century, on his ideology pertaining style, fashion, anti-fashion and more. I found his takes on style questionable.

When asked about what differienates fashion from style, he answered stating,

" Fashion... projects a model of perpetual change and 'progress' - and as such it [is] the ultimate expression of modernism." while style is "presentation of self."

Interestingly enough he also used terms I've never heard before, subculture and style tribes, to further explain their difference. Subcultures are how groups of people indetify themselves through style or clothes, also called style tribes, such as the bikers or the cult of frat boys on my campus.

Ted observed a change in compterary fashion; Most fashionable people are moving away from following fashion to following their own personal style. He was born in the era of Dior's "New Look", when everyone emulated the same type of fashion, however a new time of what he calls, "supermarket of style", has emerged; Different subcultures of people altering, adding, sampling and mixing looks from other subcultures to create a unique and individualized style.

In my opinion it's ironic, these style tribes do nothing to make their members unique from one another. A group of bikers most probably look exactly the same and the frat boys definitely dress similarly, if I am able to group a person into a style tribe does that make them fashionable?

I've observed that brands are understanding urban and/or youth culture is our era's most mainstream subculture, they have been copying it and regurgitating it back to us, which I personally am unhappy with. To be anti-fashion is to be against the trends set by magazines and brands but if brands are copying personal styles from the streets, which by the way makes it expensive for the street style commoner to afford what they've always worn (which rises another question, is it cultural appropriation?) , how can one build a personal style? Do you believe in subcultures and how can we move away from making our styles trendy ?

Stay cultured,

Red