Running a heritage house is no longer about sitting in an ivory tower and dictating fashion to the in-crowd – Maria Grazia Chiuri knows this well. When the Dior designer unveiled her third Autumn/Winter collection with veiled bucket hats, plaids and flannel prints in Paris yesterday, she chose to reference the subversive style of the Teddy Girl. While the 1950s Teddy subculture is unquestionably cool as they mixed extravagant Edwardian men’s suiting, with rock and roll elements like rolled denim and pompadours, they also highlight luxury fashion’s dependence on lowbrow appropriation in order to stay relevant, which is a seismic shift in the fashion landscape.
Teddy Girls first appeared after the Second World War, when a new generation was entering the workforce and focusing on things other than the war effort, like reinventing their wardrobes and causing trouble. The austerity and solemnity of the war wiped out the decadent Edwardian fashion in favour of practical clothing. When peace returned, the tailors of London’s Savile Row were eager to restore the more formal pre-war aesthetic, but working class teenagers were buying up secondhand Edwardian pieces, mixing them with rock ’n’ roll sensibilities and causing trouble in the streets – which made the style unpalatable to England’s luxury clientele. Still, the Teddy’s sartorial rebellion stuck in the public consciousness, even serving as inspiration for Anthony Burgess’ Clockwork Orange, but fashion moved on. More than half a century later, an appropriation of luxury style by street cultures is one of the best things that can happen to a brand.
For example, in the ’80s and early ’00s Gucci and Burberry both fought hard to keep their products and insignia out of the hands of minorities and the working class. The Italian luxury house famously sought legal action against Dapper Dan, who became a Harlem style icon in the ’80s by using counterfeit Gucci printed leather and fabrics to create incredible pieces for hip hop legends like LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa and Jam Master J, as well as the neighbourhood’s drug king pins. Fast-forward to 2017, Alessandro Michele releases a cruise collection that bears striking similarities to Dan’s designs. The media accused Gucci of copying a man it helped put out of business and later that year the Harlem customiser was brought into the fold for official collaborations.
When Burberry released a£50 Nova check hat, the accessible price point quickly proliferated the cap, as well as knockoffs, throughout Britain, until the print was no longer associated with posh rain gear, but working class youths, derogatorily called “chavs” and an actress who lost her septum to cocaine abuse. The brand discontinued the hat and reduced their use of the print until collaborating in 2018 with Gosha Rubchinskiy, a streetwear designer whose aesthetic celebrates the Russian equivalent of chav.
These two labels are far from the only examples of luxury labels trying to create prestige by keeping certain people out of their clothes. It’s why brands exclude certain sizes from their stores and why excess stock is burned rather than sold at cut prices. But being mean and rich is no longer trendy and destroying merchandise is a publicity scandal. The luxury industry no longer needs to prove that it is exclusive; it needs to prove that it’s cool, and this is where street culture interpretations play a crucial role in making heritage houses feel fresh. This phenomenon is different from luxury appropriation of fringe culture like the heroine chic aesthetic of the ’90s, because the style originates with the high-end brands. It treats the label’s collections as open-source technology, which anyone can edit and improve upon, including the brand itself.
Unlike Burberry and Gucci, Dior is not changing their stance on a previous interpretation of their work, but applauding the process of memelike cross-societal fashion conversation. Grazia Chiuri updated her Teddy Girl style with archival Dior references to New Look silhouettes instead of Edwardian tailoring and a red and black flannel print to add a nod to the more recent grunge movement. The collection pays homage to the movement instead of using the counterculture as a costume, saying ‘thank you’ to the women who dared to make elegant dressing subversive.
Check out some of the Teddy Girl looks below:
