The relationship between fashion and subculture identities - Essay Example

Fashion shows this by considering the cost, the complexity of the fashion and the commonality of the fashion. According to Cohen, youth is a cultural and social contrast, which shifts and changes over time (Cohen, 2002). Youth culture can be seen as a particular pattern of beliefs, values, symbols, and activities that a group of young people is seen to share. Their identity is constructed by the society and culture around us and includes; how people dress, the activities they participate in and the current trends they follow.

All these influence their identity (Welters and Lillethun, 2011). Fashion is concerned with the human body. Fashion is produced, promoted, and worn by the body. Fashion speaks to the human body and body dressing depicts almost all social beliefs and concerns in the society (Enwistle 2000: p1). Fashion has played an important role in history as well as presently to shape up identities socially and culturally in our routine in day-to-day life. Fashion plays an important role in presenting the image of an individual.

Due to changes in fashion, peoples’ image has been changing in different ways over the years. Punk, a subculture that originated in the 1970s in the United Kingdom, was described by a concern for individual liberty. Members of this group were rebellious and had no role models. They had nihilistic attitude and made their own decisions without seeking advice or suggestions from others. They enjoyed revolting against the mainstream society and the dominant culture. They disobeyed orders and broke all the rules (Welters and Lillethun, 2011).

The punk subculture transformed and became a subculture build on the framework of rejecting the mainstream society. The punk subculture was related to being untidy and kinky. It was based on ‘Do It Yourself Ethics’ and was associated with doing dark things and defacing of any objects one came across. Any member of this subculture portrayed this such