Big boots to fill: alternative fashion and its anti-capitalist legacy

By Tui Lou Christie (she/they)

Fashion is an expression of identity, and therefore cultural values and fashion are intrinsically linked. Counterculture movements of the last century, encouraged by increased travel, global media, and music, have used fashion as a political statement. It is these counterculture movements that led to today’s ‘alt fashion’. Without love children and punk anarchists, we wouldn’t have cottagecore or e-girls. Capitalism, and its related ideologies and byproducts, has always been a massive driving force of culture and fashion. It follows that counterculture, social and cultural movements with alternative fashion to match, often has an underlying message of anti-capitalism that is sometimes forgotten when evaluating their lasting effects on fashion today. ‘Alt’ fashion and anti-capitalism go hand-in-hand, and here’s a brief history of some of the biggest movements that showed off this relation between fashion and identity.

Beat Generation

There was a massive rise in consumerism in the ‘50s, due to the post-war economic boom, advances in technology, and the rise of mass-media and thus the rise in advertising. There was a growing set of cultural values which was now being reproduced and reinforced through new media, an America that valued conformity and consumerism over free expression and individuality. This status quo, of course, generated those who opposed it: The Beat Generation. The Beat Generation was a literary subculture, including authors and poets like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and William Boroughs, who wrote against American economic materialism among other topics of post-war American society. Along with any influential art and media movement comes fashion, and the way these authors and their enthusiasts dressed reflected their cultural values. At this time, men in America were still expected to wear suits at most social events, and the culture of consumerism promoted always having the new and fashionable thing. The Beat writers embraced dressed down, everyman clothes like Levi’s jeans, T-shirts, and workwear. Like many countercultural movements, the Beat Generation was young, and they also took fashion influences from their academic or student backgrounds, with sweaters, slacks, button downs, and sports coats. Beat authors like Joyce Johnson and Diane di Prima influenced the countercultural womenswear movement at this time, again focussing on functional fashion. At the time, Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’, which defined fashion of the period through global media, emphasised the feminine, hourglass figure with voluminous skirts and cinched waists. Opulence and luxury (and thus, consumerism and materialism) was in. These Beat authors and their enthusiasts, known as beatniks, opted for black jeans or capris, pencil skirts, turtlenecks, and oversized sweaters or silk blouses, also taking inspiration from the modern jazz movements that soundtracked the era of counterculture. This should sound familiar to you dark academia girlies and Carhartt enthusiasts. As this casual style was gradually popularised and co-opted into the mainstream, the implicit political statement that went along with dressing that way gradually faded out of public consciousness, but we have the Beat Generation and beatniks to thank for this.

Hippies

‘Hippies’ is a slang version of ‘hipster’, both of which were originally used in media to describe beatniks before they were applied to the new age, drug-taking, free love proponents of the 1960s. As the movement was so large, growing out of the late ‘60s and into the ‘70s, the values or ideologies associated with it are wide and varied. However, like the Beat Generation, hippies were predominantly young people who used fashion as a way to express their cultural beliefs, including their anti-capitalist views that moved beyond the cultural and social domains and into the political sphere.

Hippies purposefully dressed down, wearing casual shoes like sandals or going barefoot. They took inspiration with prints and clothing from international and indigenous cultures, taking a visual step away from dominant American ideals, like dashikis, peasant blouses, headscarves, moccasins, and Native American jewellery. For the most part, they were inspired by cultures that prioritised community and communal living over money and capital gain, again reflecting their cultural values through these fashion choices. In a step against anti-consumerism, many hippies made (or tie-dyed) their own clothes or purchased clothing from flea markets and second hand shops.

What is probably most clear in your mind about a hippie’s politics is a strong anti-war stance. The ‘peace sign’ that we know and associate with hippies now is originally the anti-nuclear sign. Non-violent protests against the US involvement in the Vietnam War began in the 1960s, and hippies’ involvement is still clear in the public consciousness. War and capitalism are deeply connected, a topic that is far too large to explore in this article, and the USA’s involvement in Vietnam was seen as an act of imperialism, a practice driven by capital gain.

I hope you think about this legendary anti-capitalist legacy next time you’re putting on bellbottoms, vintage and boho lovers! As well as their contributions to changing societal attitudes, we also have hippies to thank for many amazing styles we have today.

Punk

Punk is such a large subculture that, again, covers so many different beliefs, still going strong today decades after its first emergence in the UK in the mid-1970s. This music-based subculture has always had a huge focus on ideology, and a lot of these cultural values were directly or indirectly opposed to capitalism. While many were outright socialists or anarcho-communists, punks often also opposed capitalism’s by-products like consumerism, globalised economy, corporatism, war and imperialism, and gentrification. Ideologically, punk is majorly influenced by previous political/literary/countercultural movements, including both the Beat Generation and hippies.

Punk music emerged from garage rock, and is characterised by noisy riffs, heavy drumming, distorted guitars, and politically inclined lyrics. They embraced a DIY ethic to combat a capital-driven music industry, often selfpublishing music or signing with independent labels. Punk fashion took a similar approach to the music; DIY-focussed, in your face loud, and inherently political.

DIY is inherently anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist and aligns with the punk ethos of people power and disrupting hierarchical systems like economic class. In punk clothing, this often meant taking second hand or already owned clothing like blazers and denim and customising them with studs, spikes, patches, and pins that reflect their personality. It meant utilitarian shoes like Doc Martens, canvas sneakers, and work boots. Rips and holes were fixed with safety pins and tape, and unconventional materials like PVC ruled as young people forged their own loud visual identity to accompany their loud music.

Punk rock music is overtly political, as it usually features straight up political or protest lyrics. In the same vein, punk fashion is overtly political through the heavy use of slogans and text. Its common to see punks with clothing covered in handmade patches sporting political and protest messages, or referencing their favourite punk artists that share their political beliefs. It’s still a common sight today to see anti-capitalist slogans like “eat the rich” on punk clothing.

Any grunge babies, ex-scene kids, or goth gfs should be taking notes about this legacy. Next time you’re putting on your Docs, remember you’ve got big boots to fill. So what?

I know many of you already do, but if you’re an alternative fashion lover as I am, it is so important to know your history. Today’s fashion landscape is an amazing, eclectic mix of talent and style that draws inspiration from all over the world and across time. While we are freer from ‘fashion rules’ and dominating trends, we are also more likely to be victims of ‘microtrends’ that encourage overconsumption and promote alternative fashion devoid of its political implications. Fast fashion brands, the very peak of hyperconsumerism, co-opting and profiting from alternative styles that are steeped in anti-capitalist countercultural history is upsettingly ironic. It’s important to be critical of capitalism and consumerism when we are making our clothing choices. When you get dressed in the morning, beautiful alt fashion lovers, you are making a statement of identity; make sure it aligns with your practice.