Sep 11, 2015

Fashion Friday: Club Kid Revival

In 2015 nightlife, you have a galaxy of bold and exciting choices for wardrobe, like black jeans, black T-shirts, black dress shirts, black shoes, black boots and black hats. Get the idea? Long gone are the days of stumbling to a club in a neon baggy chained pant, a skin-tight iridescent button up and carnival-style face paint. You just don’t see it anymore. Nobody is making their 4 a.m. commute from some underground event thrown by someone with an inaudible sound as their name... right? RIGHT? Wrong. Although the first part was true, in the typical, more reserved scene, straight and gay patrons alike are hitting the town dressed like a solar eclipse, based on their single stream media-induced notion of ‘chic’. (You can thank Kim and Kanye for that.) But if you delve a little deeper, you’ll find this fun-loving, social, artistic expression has been slowly making a comeback since the minute it went away.

If you’re thinking EDC, Ultra, and Tomorrowland – the popular electronic dance music festivals known for loud music, loud fashion and loud personalities – to put it bluntly, you’re still wrong. While certainly getting warmer, you have a way to go. This crowd – although many indeed artists and individuals,with bold looks including fur legwarmers, metallic bikinis, and 100+ beaded bracelets – is still a subculture all their own. The music is at the forefront of their mind at these events, and the looks come second. They see these festivals as an opportunity to experience a DJs’ artistic expression, letting their own take the back seat, whereas major metropolitan city kids attend weekly parties, frequently dancing to the same lesser-known DJ as both the stars and the spectators of the show.

The 1980s and 1990s were a colorful time of Peter Gatien’s reign over the NYC drug-infused club scene where these unique looks came about. To narrow it down to any one specific style would be impossible. Today, the same is to be said. As fashion-conscious 20-somethings roam the city, they make themselves visible in the sea of equally competent and demographically identical individuals with their standout expressions several nights a week. We’ve seen seemingly every era, culture, idea,and design appropriated, repurposed, reduced, reused and recycled to the point where occasionally it feels as though it’s all been done to death – for approximately 24 hours. Then you look around the next night at 2 a.m. and discover the young creatives have taken it further. They’re doing it better, making it new, trying it over and succeeding wonderfully.

It is not a matter of whether or not the club kid aesthetic is here to stay, because it truly never left. Gaining attention through social media and articles (such as this one) just puts this tribe of forward-thinkers in the confused squinting eye of the general public. Rightfully claiming attention from mainstream media and fashion professionals, the kids are now in control. They’re more influential than you think, and you’ll slowly start noticing the impact of this unique style filter into to several everyday wear collections. If this raises concern for you, we’re sorry. But as the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them – in VIP with bottle service.

Photos: Papermag, Gayletter

by Kyle Eckert

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ABOUT US

WHAT IS DANDY DICKS AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

And who the hell am I? If you’ve been following the blog at all, you may have wondered out of which horny hole this perverted punk has stepped. I won’t reveal too much – a bit of mystery is sexy, right? But a few things may be in order.

First, I was born in that part of the world that most people think is actually Canada, but it’s not. I was born in Alaska. Who would have thought that place could produce more than oil and Sarah Palin – two decidedly unsexy things.

Second, I’m no stranger to sex on screen. I appeared in two arty porn films with DVD releases: one in San Francisco and one here in Berlin. There may be other footage of me out there, but if so, I don’t know where. And yup, I moved to Berlin from gay ol’ San Francisco, where I learned to be a proper fag and how to be a writer all at the same time.

There’s more from San Francisco coming your way via Dandy Dicks, so stay tuned.

But I left San Francisco. And took my heart with me. Five years now in Berlin and I can’t think of a better place to be. I’ve been making it here as a writer ever since and I’m happy to report there’s no going back.

I think I’ve given you enough of the basics. More you’ll just have to find out either through this blog or a little Google. But I hope with that you stick around Dandy Dicks – for this blog and of course, the boys!

Walter Crasshole