Constellation SLTS 4/8 – Zoot Suits and Teds

In this lecture we began to look further into the motivations of certain groups within society and culture to cultivate styles and fashion statements. We looked at examples of fashion being used as protest, as activism and as way to challenge hegemonic values.

The Zoot Suit

Fashion is weird

The Zoot Suit emerged during World War II in inner city America. It was a style created and worn by African American and Latino minorities. It is a resignification (Clark, Hall and Jefferson 1975, p110) of the traditional suit. The suit is about as establishment as an item of dress can be. Worn by gentlemen associated with class, success and  acumen. Middle or upper class, mainstream members of society.

What the Zoot suit did was to take the traditional notion of a suit and turn it on its head. Where a suit tends to be unassuming and smart (often grey, black or navy), with practical fittings and accutrements. The Zoot Suit was often depicted in garish greens and yellows, in an attempt to stand out. This combined with exaggeration is every aspect of the ensemble. Flared trousers, large collars, oversize hats and chains and excessively long suit jackets.

The intent behind this manner of dress was to some degree, conspicuous wealth. Wearing impractically exaggerated clothing to show that you could. However it was also an act of rebellion. Firstly, the concept of the suit had been altered dramatically, breaking with generally accepted rules of dress. Not only this but by 1942, rationing of fabric dictated that excessive outfits such as a Zoot suit, were now effectively illegal. They were considered unpatriotic as were their wearers.

All of these connotations were purposefully designed. The garments were designed as protest against America’s hypocrisy in fighting Jewish repression in Europe while actively segregating at home. and using African American and other minority troops to fight. The Zoot suit was a method of expressing ones convictions through clothing and style. It was more than clothing, it was the way you walked and the way you talked. African American Jive was a movement at the time within music and Zoot Suit wearers employed its slang to define themselves against White Americans.

The key to a movement such as this is that they do not invent new apparel, but instead employ clothing with a given meaning and corrupt or alter it to suit their needs and upset the establishment in doing so.

 

The Teddy Boys

At the outset of the 1950s working class boys and young men began to adopt a new style of clothing. As they begn to earn disposable incomes they created a pseudo ‘unifrom’ based on the Edwardian Gentleman’s attire, recently reintroduced by Saville Rowe .

The Teddy movement was a revolution is fashion and social norms as rough street kids were now dressing in the manner of the aristocracy and creating a negative associatin with the style. Crimes by ‘Teddy Boys’ were widely reported and polite society was deeply wary of them. This had connotations for the upper classes who did not want such negative associations.

This act of resignification of a brand or style is in the same vain as the chavs adopting Burberry. Burberry wanted nothing to do with the new trend but had no control over who bought their clothing and how they effected the brand perception.

Where Zoot suits and Teds share ground

• Both trends were fundamentally linked to existing hegemonic styles. They did not invent a new style. They simply invented a new expression by changing the meaning of that style. Resignification through exaggerating, enhancing and adapting items of existing styles.
• The lower rungs of society (Racial Minorities in America and Working class British lads) adopted items of clothing from the higher rungs (White middle class Americans and the British aristocracy. They owned them and made them theirs.
• Both movements were at some level, protest movements. The Zoot Suit wearers protesting the social injustice of segregation and the Teds the entrenched class system that had placed them at the bottom of the heap and discriminated against them for their roots.

“Clothes provide the instruments that empower the body to counteract a dominant ideology”

-Tulloch, 2006, p304

This quote exemplifies the important role of dress in society. It is a method within the overarching practice of design that can bring about societal and cultural change through challenging and rebelling against the norm.

My Thoughts

The further into fashion trends and societal subcultures we probe, the more I’ve come to understand that fashion is not simply an aimless and unguided series of people trying to stand out. Instead, it is a complex phenomenon of visual language wherein people attempt to convey sentiments without words. Anything can be a stimulus of a fashion trend. Anything can be incorporated into that trend. And any position can be demonstrated with that trend.

 

London Calling – 4 Designers Conference

Last Sunday we went to London to the Four Designers conference, hosted by Patrick Baglee. The conference was an eye opening look into the various careers that can be made through design, the challenges, rewards, opportunities and struggles. We heard from those who had set up successful agencies and earned notoriety for their work.

The conference took place over several hours and I heard a huge volume of advice, recounted experiences and examples of work. I couldn’t possibly recount everything but I’ve condensed my post into the nuggets of wisdom that drew me in the most.

Matthew Shannon – BRASH BRANDS

 

Matthew Shannon is a highly respected graphic designer who has, during the course of his career worked for Atelier Works, Addison Group, Meta Design and Getty images. Of his lecture his explanation of the complexity of the job of a graphic designer hit home for me most of all. He explained the process by which he helped re-brand the Skoda car company.

In 2001 Skoda was bought by Volkswagen. They gained much needed investment and began to innovate. They required a re-brand. Shannon explained how Skoda was often ridiculed for being a terrible car company, he gave us some examples of this:

“What do you call a Skoda with a sun-roof?    –    A skip”

The trick, he explained. Was to understand the audience for your brand. It was clear that people’s perception of Skoda was poor, so the key would be to work off that knowledge. This lead the team to create the tag line “It’s a Skoda. Honest.” The genius of this is exceptional to me. Acknowledge to the audience that Skodas of the past were as terrible as percieved. But these new vehicles? You can hardly believe they are made by the same people, they’re so good. Owning the stereotype and disarming consumer’s prejudice.

This level of work of the part of a design agency was something I had not considered until this point. I understood that to create a brand, research was required. But as Shannon said “for a brief while, a designer must become an expert in the field he is designing for”.

THINK    —    RETHINK    —    DO

This simple idea was very helpful to me. As Shannon said, once you have all the information and understanding you need (THINK) and have explored every avenue (RETHINK), the design stage itself (DO) is relatively simple. The trap some fall into is that they begin drawing up ideas (DO) first. Leaving them little room for maneuver and severely compromising the effectiveness of their work. I realise that I have been guilty of this in the past but now feel I can look at future projects with fresh eyes.

Other Good Advice

• Learn as much as you can about other cultures, design does not exist in a vacuum. It is an ever changing, morphing phenomenon that is approached very differently across the world.
• Be ready for change, at any moment your business model could become obsolete and you must adapt quickly.
• Do not neglect anything. If a business has a positive aspect they are not capitalizing on, make sure it is utilized. If they have socially responsible schemes and non one knows. Highlight them to the public.
• Don’t be insular. Get other people’s opinions, share your ideas, use outsiders to publicize. Use social media. Get feedback.

 

Joanna Davis – ZAK

Joanna Davies is the founder of ZAK. A design agency that she created from her own home. ZAK is an audience focused design agency that seeks to engage influential under 30s. Their main focus is on turning around struggling brands. They have worked with the likes of L’oréal, Vodafone, Southern Comfort and the BBC.

Her talk centered around an advertising campaign for New Balance Football. A small Football equipment brand in comparison to Adidas or Nike. As a result of this ZAK did a great deal of audience research. Asking young people interested in sports and sports wear what they wanted to see from a brand. What they discovered was that instead of placing footballing stars on pedestals, as was the norm. They wanted to see them as simply people. It’s easy to identify someone if you don’t see them as some form of Demigod.

The campaign brief was to advertise to types of football shoe. ZAK decided that on the very limited budget they were afforded, they should combine both shoes into one advert. Thus saving costs and setting the standard for such ads in the future. They also used a clever slogan. A signature of the NBFootball brand is that each shoe released is numbered. ZAK therefore incorporated this into the ‘NUMBERS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS’ campaign.

These are all simply anecdotes of past work. But they illustrate the real world role of a designer and a design agency. The the rich variety of responsibilities and tasks spanning every aspect of society. No two projects are ever the same. I learned an awful lot from Joanna about the uncertain nature of this profession. every problem has a unique solution.

Joanna’s Top Tips

• Be clear on what sets you aside from the crowd. Your experiences give you a unique perspective and thus a unique outcome.
• Street smarts, be adaptive.
• Be innovative, stand out.
• Ambition is key, always seek to improve yourself.
• Learn to compromise and work with others.
• Do all the research you can.
• Don’t take failure to heart
• Understand your client before anything else.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help

 

 

Matt Baxter – BAXTER AND BAILEY

 

Matt Baxter is one half of the Brighton based design group, Baxter & Bailey. A small yet prodigious design company founded in 2012.  Matt began his lecture with a piece of insight I thought was very interesting. A quote.

“Anybody can be an expert in anything, given 10,000 hours of practice”

-Malcom Gladwell

I feel as though many at the outset of their undergraduate studies, including myself, were under the impression that their abilities in drawing and digital software were going to allow them an easy entrance to the world of Graphic Design. But this quote put that in perspective. There is no way to breeze through such a career. It is methodical and requires training and insight. Simply drawing nice looking things won’t do.

Matt’s top tips…And then the opposite tips.

• SAY YES TO EVERYTHING

Take every opportunity you can get, enter competitions, find placements, be commited to learning as much as you can and being seen.

• FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT

In this line of work you will forever come up against challenges you have never faced before, you will always find yourself out of your depth at some point so just power through and learn as you go.

• GO PLACES

Visit galleries, travel, learn about design in other cultures. Not every culture has the same approach to design. Draw from every source you can.

• DON’T WORK FOR FREE

Don’t devalue your own work by doing unpaid placements and giving away what you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

The Counters

• DON’T SAY YES TO EVERYTHING

Be selective about who you work for, do your best to insure your client does not contravene your personal moral code. They may have dubious practices etc.

• DON’T FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT

If you find you are no longer struggling to perform your role, then you may well have gotten complacent and you will quickly tire of your work. Don’t be afraid to work beyond your knowledge but you can ask for help.

• TRY WORKING LOCALLY

Work for places in your area, try to revitalize local businesses and interests of yours.

• DO WORK FOR FREE

Don’t be taken advantage of with unpaid placements. But by all means work for good causes and improve yourself in the process while being unpaid. Case in point, Baxter & Bailey did a piece for the Guild of Food Writers which still appears in top charts of all tie design work. A small project with little of no budget worked on during lunch breaks.

I absolutely love this piece. It’s like the visual equivalent of a perfect pun. It plays on image so cleverly in such a neat and minimalist way. I fully understand the attention this design has received. It serves as a strong reminder that the ‘doing’ process, actually drawing out a design. Is just a small part of the process. The idea needs all the effort. You need to work and work at finding the perfect idea before creation can begin.

My Thoughts

For fear of repeating myself, the Four Designers Conference was an hugely enlightening experience for me. In my work up to this point, I have been so eager to get to work and start putting pen to paper than I have possibly sabotaged myself and my final outcome by limiting my options for innovation. The first idea that may pop into my head may well be stimulated by a memory of something I have seen done before, rendering the product a copy, or at least something unremarkable.

The emphasis the designer I met was universally on the methodical process of research and just thinking about things. Read the brief ever so carefully and develop you ideas. Don’t rush into anything. My perspective has been entirely changed on Design and I am better off for it.