Club style makes its mark in Edmonton
Publication title: Edmonton Journal
Pages: C1
Section: FLAIR
Publication date: Aug
17, 1993
ProQuest document ID: 251955969
Copyright: (Copyright The Edmonton Journal)
In nightspots like The Bronx and The Temple, hair styles,
makeup and club clothes command as much attention as the relentless beat of the
music. Fashion that screams "Look
at me!" the loudest works best. The
subdued style of supper clubs and dinner parties is discouraged: it's the racy
and the risque that works best here.
Driven by the rhythm of techno pop, rave, and hip-hop, hip
young things in fishnets and minis, bodysuits and beads jam the dancefloor,
trumpeting an unmistakeable message about youth, about attitude, about
underground music to the world outside.
The boundary between clothes and costume is blurred.
Definitely not investment dressing, clothes like these are to be looked at as
much as worn.
In the city's progressive dance clubs, you are what you
wear, at least for one night.
Just like some of the Fringe offerings, club clothes are not
for mainstream consumption. But, like a play, they also tell a story.
Skateboarders and techno music fans proclaim their
affiliation to hip-hop and rave by sporting huge, baggy shorts and oversized
T-shirts.
Slinky, more sophisticated club clothes signal in-the-groove
house music lovers.
Anyone wearing a suit is in the wrong place.
Kristi Paras, buyer for the funky chain of Divine Decadence
fashion stores, says club clothes relate to the new music, even more than to
lifestyle. "The way you dress is an advertisement for what you are
into," she says. "You can tell the kind of music kids like by what
they wear."
Some of the clothes on this page are costumes that work best
at night. Taken out of context or seen in the daylight, they move from
underground chic to street theatre in a minute, admits Paras.
"But half the fun of going to clubs like The
Bronx," she says, "is dressing up for it. Who wants to wear the same
thing to work or school that you wear to dance in?"
With club clothes, she says, fashion has a beat. Dance to it.
Clothes like the ones featured here may have rhythm but they
depend a lot on age and attitude, as well.
Built on the snobbery of youth, on belonging to a group that
excludes everyone else, club clothes are invented by the adventuresome, the
bold, the authentic young. Anyone over the age of 25 should check their look in
the mirror before stepping out to dinner in, say, fishnets and a minidress, say
trendy local club goers.
"You have to be young and in the club scene yourself to
stay on top of this kind of fashion," insists Paras. "Once a look
hits the adult mainstream, it's history. Nobody will wear it in the
clubs."
"Everybody has to do what they want to do, say what
they want to say," says Everton McDougall, owner of the trendsetting
clothing store Colour Blind. "Club clothes are saying: this is my music,
this is my statement. The music you listen to is incredibly influential on this
kind of clothing."
[...] All it takes is
a dance club, a disc jockey and a collection of clothes-crazy music-lovers to
get one going. And Edmonton is part of the process.
"People complain it's so Middle Ages here," says
Paras, "but that's not true." She says the clubs here "are as
cool as those in New York .
"Edmonton
is not big but it's hip to fashion."
"Besides," adds McDougall, "it's always the
young who take risks in fashion, no matter where you live. When people get
older, all they want is safe and conservative."
Club clothes are anything but that.
Illustration
Color Photo; Edmonton Journal Dan Jurak; Paisley brocade
mini dress, wine fish net stockings, velvet choker and latice-cut platform
boots, all from Divine Decadence Purple chiffon cropped blouse, Powerline black
spandex skirt, buckled bustier, Bronx platform pumps, silver jewelry, all from
Divine Decadence Black halter bell-bottom jumpsuit, Bronx suede platform shoes,
black lace choker, all from Divine Decadence. Silver bangles from Studio Z
Coral ribbed jersey scoop top, floral print bellbottoms by Voodoo. Forest green
8-hole Doc Martens, beads, all from Divine Decadence ODJ jeans, Euro-funk
T-shirt, from Colour Blind. KikWear cap. Green lug-boots from Divine Decadence
; 9308031.JUR
Credit: THE EDMONTON JOURNAL
No comments:
Post a Comment