Seeking: international visual guides of fashion subcultures

November 30, 2015 4:30 AM

Where can I find more visual glossaries of international fashion subcultures, particularly the ones that are lesser-known or more specific? They'll have photos or video of the style, some background on what the style is about and where it's from, and some description of key elements. Some examples of what I'm after are Refinery29's Style out There playlist, this guide to Japanese fashion, and this list of men's fashion.
posted by divabat to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (3 answers total)

i don't know if this is any help, but i was looking for info on the subcultures i know (eg pokemon here in chile, which is local take on emo) and came across this site which is a spanish language take on "urban subcultures". it seems to have a s. american emphasis, but i'm a fifty year old white dude so what do i know (it's obviously not only s american in focus, because it includes kawaii, for example, but the fact that it's written in spanish and lists flaites suggests it's a latin influenced view and so selects what is important seen from here...)
posted by andrewcooke at 5:07 AM on November 30, 2015

Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook by Patrick Macias and Izumi Evers checks some Japanese subcultures (yankii, gyaru, kogal, mamba and so on: they go from not terribly up to date to historical, like the takenoko) in a field guide format. I'd also recommend the Fashion category on Néojaponisme. This post on "zoku" ("tribes", all of them 20th C) might also be useful.

For websites, I've always liked goth [stereo] types.
posted by sukeban at 11:32 AM on November 30, 2015

(I've been googling about Spanish urban tribes but I only find stupid trend pieces about "swaggers" and "amelies" so no, sorry)
posted by sukeban at 11:38 AM on November 30, 2015