A message about the emo youth subculture. Emo girls style
About five or six years ago, domestic youth became engrossed in the emo subculture, which was new to us, which, as usual, came from Western countries. Black and pink flocks of either boys or girls, calling themselves emo kids, were wandering around the city streets. Not understanding the ideological subtleties new subculture, our teenagers willingly dyed their hair black, grew bangs and wore tight pants. It would seem that everything is clear with them, but this article was written to understand a little about what the subculture of emotional children is.
Not many people know that the current emo wave is already the third in a row. The first wave swept Western countries back in 1984 and lasted right up to 1994. Then the formation of a new subculture was associated with the emergence of a new type of punk, since punk began to lose its position by the 1980s, and musicians decided to diversify the traditional punk sound with more melodic vocals. The second wave did not appear so noticeably in the late 1990s, but it only reached us in the early 2000s.
Concerning ideological basis emo movement, then the main rule for every self-respecting emo kid is not to be shy about expressing their emotions. If it’s fun, then you need to laugh heartily, if it’s offensive and bad, then you shouldn’t keep it to yourself, but cry your heart out. Particular emphasis is placed on the romanticization of death, the cult of sublime love and hypersensitivity to everything that happens around. Ideally, a real emo kid should fight for world peace and be a vegetarian. At least, such a law developed in the emo subculture at the dawn of its appearance - in the 1980s.
Musical preferences also play an important role in the life of an emo. A special direction in music has emerged - emocore, which is characterized by traditional hardcore riffs combined with dramatic and emphatically emotional vocals. The palette of emotional shades in the vocals is more than expressive: from hasty whispers and sobs to heartbreaking scream growls. Thematically, these are songs about loneliness, unrequited love, rejection and death. Since the spread of the emo subculture, a great many emo bands have appeared in our area, and some of them have taken their rightful place on the underground scene.
Clothing style is the main indicator of a teenager’s involvement in the emo movement. Domestic emo kids, as if cliched, wear approximately the same hairstyles, striped leg warmers and black and pink sneakers. An abundance of piercings and tattoos is welcome. Boys and girls wear tight tapered jeans, numerous bracelets, striped sweaters and T-shirts with children's drawings. Girls often wear short skirts and leggings. The main colors in clothes are black and pink various variations: two-color check or stripe. An indispensable attribute is a large messenger bag over the shoulder with a huge amount icons on it. Regardless of gender, a young emo can paint his nails and line his eyes black. This neglect of secondary sexual characteristics is not accidental - many emo kids insist on their bisexuality. This, in turn, is explained by boundless love for everyone.
As soon as emo subculture became popular in the CIS countries, emo kids immediately became the object of ridicule from representatives of other subcultures. Emo boys often became (and are becoming) victims of violence from other informals. Adults sounded the alarm because they saw emo as propaganda for suicide, depression and loneliness, and they turned out to be not so wrong. The romanticization of death (hello from the gothic subculture) and the notorious cutting of veins led to real victims - girls and boys resorted to suicide because of unrequited love. As for me, the emo kids themselves are to blame for this. Without bothering to search for information about their subculture, they adopt the style of behavior and manner of dressing from their peers, without thinking about how correct it is.
Despite the fact that the emo subculture involves hyper-emotionality, domestic emo kids try to maintain a melancholic mood bordering on depressive state. The clothing style has nothing in common with emo kids in the West. In the USA and Europe, emo kids identify themselves with children, do not accept piercings and tattoos, and prefer pastel and natural colors and shades in clothing. So we can safely say that our emo subculture is a pitiful imitation of the Western youth movement, moreover, is radically opposite to what is called “emo” in the West. Perhaps if boys and girls, before cutting their bangs, inquired about the origins of their subculture, the attitude towards this very subculture would be completely different.
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Emo in English means emotional. Now the emo subculture is on the lips of every teenager and youth. This movement is widespread in different countries.
The youth subculture of emo appeared relatively recently. Sometimes on the street or on public transport you can meet interesting young people dressed all in black, talking about completely mysterious things. The movement also has unique symbols and distinctive features that distinguish this movement from other subcultures.
The appearance of emo kids
The clothing of representatives of the emo subculture is characterized by dark and pink shades. Numerous piercings, big grinders, the eternal theme of death and suicide. In this, the emo subculture is somewhat reminiscent of the goths. But there are also differences here. Emos are characterized by increased sensitivity and emotionality. Some emo kids also prefer pink with black.
Representatives of this subculture dress quite uniquely for ordinary townspeople. These are teenagers and young adults with black hair falling over their foreheads. Girls often prefer to wear funny, childish hairstyles, bright hair clips, and several ponytails.
Both girls and boys paint their lips light color, use various powders and foundations to give the skin a deathly pale look. They prefer to paint their eyes with dark shadows and eyeliner. Skinny jeans with various patches, a T-shirt with the image of your favorite band, bright makeup, and side bangs - all these are attributes of this subculture
T-shirts with children's drawings in combination with black clothes look quite funny. On their feet they wear sneakers, on their hands there are various bracelets made of beads different shades. There is usually pink or black polish on the nails, and headphones with emo music playing in the ears. In teenagers of this current there are often suicidal tendencies.
Features of the emo subculture
Bisexuality is a fairly common phenomenon among emo people. Teenagers often form couples with same-sex partners. Which often shocks society. But they live by their own special rules.
Emo kids often adhere to the principles of a movement called straight edge. This is a movement that promotes a healthy lifestyle. Many of the representatives of this subculture are quite anxious and vulnerable people who usually live in their own fantasy world. They suffer from depression, isolate themselves from the outside world and its aggression, hide their faces under long bangs. Sometimes you may encounter a large crowd emo kids . This usually happens before a performance by some famous musical group.
- This is the style of mainly teenagers. The Emo subculture arose in the musical environment, and then moved into fashion. After all, we, first of all, try to express ourselves in clothes. The way we look is how we are perceived. It’s not for nothing that there is a saying: “You meet people by their clothes...”. You will recognize a style like Emo at first sight; most often these are teenagers trying to find and distinguish themselves in this world.
Emo clothing is demonstrative and provocative. Appearance For a fan of this style, it is quite depressing - a depressive mood, a sad look, black clothes with a hint of pink, black hair, often long, slanting bangs down to the nose, covering one eye and eyes lined with black mascara. In addition, emos often get piercings on their lips, eyebrows, bridge of the nose, and in the left nostril. Both girls and, sometimes, boys paint their lips to match their skin color, and cover their nails with black varnish.
Emo boys and girls consider themselves to have a highly emotional and vulnerable soul. This is probably true. Most likely, these are children who have early age lack of attention from adults. And these teenagers want to at least somehow attract attention to themselves, even if someone around them gets annoyed looking at them. This encourages them even more to be different - not like everyone else. Their life, as it were, is in black and pink - like mourning for their failed childhood. Black and pink, as a contrast between negative and positive emotions - depression, rejection and joy. They are distinguished by romanticism, often personal experiences, and, as psychologists say, emos are at high risk of suicide.
Sometimes the black color is diluted not with pink, but with some other color, for example, blue, light green or white in the form of stripes or checkered patterns. Emo clothing is often tight-fitting, most often multi-layered, but far from a glamorous style. Although this trend is closely related to punk, unlike the latter, clothes are always neat. In addition to all this, there are large inscriptions on clothes, mostly with negative messages, less often with positive ones or emo attributes, as well as images of symbols of musical groups.
Emo prefers slim jeans ( skinny jeans black or ash blue with holes or patches). Skirts are also available for girls dark color, and their length is from medium to mini, most often they are lush, decorated with tulle elements. A fitted jacket with a zipper or a sweatshirt. The belt is usually black or Pink colour, with chains, rivets and a large buckle with symbols. Emo girls wear a scarf - an arafat, usually around the neck, with a checkered pattern.
Layering in clothing is demonstrative - a jacket from which a shirt is visible, a T-shirt is put on the shirt, other layering options are possible.
For shoes, ordinary rag sneakers, such as Converse or skater sneakers, slip-ons (shoes similar to slippers, with a sole like a sneaker). Sneakers with black or bright laces. Scarves are ordinary, but in traditional colors.
Accessories – wristbands (especially popular with spikes), badges, bracelets, belts. Bags in emo style - postal, over the shoulder. They are covered with badges and patches. Badges are attached not only to clothes and bags, but also to shoes. The glasses are very brightly colored. Girls wear large and bright beads. There is another object of adoration for emo girls - soft Teddy bear, which is almost a talisman, they do not part with it, even when they are sleeping.
Symbolism of emo style.
Broken pink heart.
Pink or black pistol, there may be crossed pistols.
Skull and Bones.
On a pink background there is a black five-pointed star.
T-shirts with cartoon appliqués.
Where do emo kids buy clothes? Mostly in sports stores, but you have to choose so that it does not have an abundance of catchy symbols. Among them, the brands Enjoi, Bleeding Star, Fallen, Vans, Kenvelo, Converse are very popular. Some brands, for example, Lacoste recently released sneakers in purple color, that is, the designers paid attention to impressionable representatives of the subculture and made the model in demand among emo.
You can meet anything in life, and various representatives of youth subcultures are not the most surprising thing. But there are many strange moments in their behavior:
- Why do they like the same clothes?
- What attracts them to the chosen movement?
- How do they live like this?
Most often, these questions in our country are raised in relation to those who like the “emo” subculture. It is worth noting the fact that in our country this direction has literally mutated and changed greatly compared to its original character. Many emos don't even realize how far they are from the pioneers, and continue to live with false ideas about their movement.
Where does the wind blow from?
The previous century turned out to be rich in the discovery of fundamentally new cultures (although the phrase that everything new is well-forgotten old remains relevant). The etymology of the word "emo" is very simple and accessible even to a person with complete ignorance of foreign languages.
Emo subculture English language sounds like "emotional", which means "emotional". In sociology and cultural studies, this is a certain part of public culture that has fundamental differences with the prevailing one. In fact, it is a small world with its own values, behavior, style and even language. Of course, it is worth noting that such communities are distinguished by many basic factors, for example, by nationality, demographics, professional or geographic.
The emo subculture appeared as a reaction of society to the dullness and lack of ideas of the present. Every day, most people go to a job they don't like, knowing that they will spend the whole day there, putting on a fake smile, being under the gun of security cameras (which happens all the time these days). We hide our real emotions under a mask, forgetting that there is only one life and we cannot repeat it. Real emotions are real life. Based on this idea, a whole movement arises.
From the history
An achievement worth noting American sociologist David Reisman, who in his works identified groups of people similar in style and moral values into subcultures. In turn, Dick Habdige wrote a book about subcultures and the meaning of style, giving his point of view on groups and deciding that the main motive for secession was dissatisfaction with generally accepted standards.
The topic began to be studied by the Frenchman Michel Maffesoli, who named the following youth movements urban tribes, but Viktor Dolnik in his book works was more delicate and used the concept of “clubs”. In the USSR, subcultures were informal associations, which were also called tusovka. This attitude is understandable, because representatives of such movements differed from the general mass.
Only three left major topics, not affected by the organizers and ideological inspirers subcultures. It's prison, drugs and homosexuality. These areas are so specific in themselves that factional divisions within them do not attract others or encourage others to join. The youth subculture of emo arose on the basis of fans of one musical style, which was precisely distinguished by the abundance of expressed emotions.
Basic features of emo
Their first and most important difference is their common worldview and attitude to emotions: emo is not afraid to show his real self, opens his soul completely, and therefore remains in harmony with himself. Representatives of this trend love bright colors, but the stereotypical thinking according to which the only acceptable combination for them is black and pink is wrong.
The emo subculture advocates the brightness and richness of colors - this is the color of the grass in spring, and bright sunlight(the more colors and shades, the better). Therefore, real emo are not those strange children in striped clothes, but simply people who stand out from the crowd, whose outfit you want to look at and, perhaps, repeat. By the way, you can recognize an emo by asking and asking to tell you about the ideological component of the costume - they will not remain silent or avoid answering. In communication, they are as friendly as possible, since they fundamentally do not believe in evil and oppose injustice.
It is possible that a representative of emo culture will, on the contrary, be a depressed and vulnerable person, since negative emotions too spicy for them. In their desire to tell grief, emos can go too far and then push people away from them. Stereotypes paint them as whiny and weak people, but the true representatives of the movement are completely different. The emo subculture is very deep and interesting to learn, but it requires the right approach and the desire to promote it to the masses.
About music
So, the basis for the emergence of this community was music, which is somewhat reminiscent of punk rock and, strictly speaking, is its variety. At the same time, the value orientations of these directions are absolutely polar. Probably the most romantic and sensitive people in the world are united by the emo subculture. The history of the emergence of this movement eloquently focuses attention on the romanticism, love sublimity and emotionality of its adherents. Personal experiences are much more important to them than social events. At the same time, emo is completely devoid of aggression, which is so characteristic of hardcore.
Music often connects emo with representatives of the gothic subculture, who are “very original” in their choice color range their outfits (they prefer completely black and the most closed style, although there are exceptions to the rules). Emo often sings about rather sad things, for example, Paramore or Fall Out Boy, who perform songs with anguish, telling about the problems of existence and the happiness of love. Nowadays, groups singing in the emo-revival style are at the peak of popularity, including Empire! Empire!, Touche Amore and many others.
About symbols
How is the emo subculture different? You can briefly judge it by the clothing of its representatives: although the color may be variable, the style is always recognizable - skinny jeans (regardless of gender), a large belt with the symbols of a vegan adherent. By the way, this movement is very popular among emo, but not everyone can be a vegan.
Thus, emos protest against violence against animals, many of them do not eat meat or animal products. Emos really love comfortable shoes, namely sneakers. Their look can be complemented with leg warmers, mittens, checkered scarves and multi-colored badges. There can be quite a lot of the latter, but you still need to know when to stop.
Image and make-up
Even the guy loving style emo, it’s unlikely to do without some cosmetics. But only a skillful one will look stylish and not feminine with it. By the way, among emo there are not as many representatives of non-traditional orientation as is commonly believed. A guy can remain masculine even wearing a traditional emo hairstyle with choppy bangs. And many famous musical performers set an example for them by lining their eyes with a black liner. It’s easier for girls in this regard, because emo people approve of bright makeup, funny hairpins and an abundance of hearts.
Like the vast majority of other youth subcultures, emo appeared in the decaying West. Emo(English) Emo, abbr. from the word "emotional", the transcription " Imo") Initially, back in the 80s, they began to call a direction in music - close to punk, but with more melodic vocals and lyrics atypical for traditional punk rock about unrequited love and the bitter injustice of the surrounding world and suffering on this basis. Distinctive features of this style - the manner and behavior of vocals, which often includes squealing, crying, moaning, whispering, etc. The lyrics are personal in nature - about the author’s experiences, and in some cases - about politics.
However, debates about which musical direction emo groups belong to are actively being waged on music forums. Representatives of traditional punk rock are especially active in showing their indignation, since for many of them the very phrase emo punk is perceived as an insult - due to differences that are more likely ideological and image than musical.
Emo, Emo kids (emo+ English kid- young man, child) - representatives of the youth subculture formed on the basis of fans of the music style of the same name.
Depending on gender: boy- boy, guy) emo girl(English) girl- girl, girl).
At the end of 1983, Minor Threat disbanded and the vibrant Washington hardcore punk scene began to lose steam and fresh ideas. Minor Threat's last disc, "Salad Days", released in 1984, became the final one in the life of Washington hardcore. All groups in the country began to look for something new in various directions, try and experiment with something new and original. DRI and Bad Brains started playing light metal, 7Seconds went into U2 jungle-alternative, etc. The Washington style began to change towards melodic rock with a punk sensibility.
Emo(emotional) is a subtype of hardcore punk style, so named in the mid-80s to give a new name to the style of a certain DIY group (Do It Yourself), striving to bypass all the standards of sound and performance of the Minor Threat era. They, in general, received the name emotion (moving), not thanks to promotion or PR, but to the way the texts, singing and music were performed in conjunction with emotions.
After Minor Threat disbanded in late 1983, the still vibrant Washington hardcore punk scene that had erupted in the early '80s began to lose steam and fresh ideas within the newly emerging Washington hardcore scene.
Minor Threat's posthumous CD, "Salad Days", was released in 1985. Which marked the end of Washington hardcore punk.
Groups that existed at that time throughout the country began to look for new musical styles: DRI and Bad Brains started playing light metal, 7Seconds went into U2 jungle-alternative, and so on. Musical styles Washington began to change, mostly towards method rock with a punk sensibility.
In 1984, the album "Zen Arcade" by the Minneapolis band Husker Du was released; this album, oddly enough, demonstrated new sound, which combined negative but soft vocal delivery and mid-range guitars with slow rock tempos and soft chaotic songwriting.
In the spring of 1984, a new group, Rites Of Spring, was formed from former members The group Untouchables, Faith and Deadline. This new band retained the punk speed and frenzy and added a new twist to their performance. vocal technique. Singer Guy Picciotto maintains a frantic punk style, occasionally adding personal lyrics, emotions and spiritual quests. At the climactic moments, the vocalist’s voice became hoarse, like a girl’s moan.
The summer of 1985 - became known as the "Revolutionary Emo Summer", it was at that time that the punk music scene in Washington completely rose new wave bands with a variety of rock sounds, which were dominated by rock tempo, melodic vocals and musicality: Gray Matter, Soulside, Ignition, Marginal Manson, Fire Party, Rain, Shudder to Think, etc. Some bands retained their fast hardcore sound, based on punk -rock with new vocal performances, a special exception from this list is the group Dag Nasty.
Minor Threat lead singer Ian MacKaye sings for the band Embrace (compare the band's name to more early groups Minor Threat, Void and State Of Alert), the lyrics of which were emotional, but still clear and unambiguous. If you look at musical plan, the band (formed mainly by former members of Faith) writes somewhat noisy, mid-tempo music with a lot of guitar licks. McKay's vocals retain their unique, solid pronunciation, with isolated, even rare, glimpses of emotional transmission. Ian Mackay is also the founder of the sXe movement, which has become popular among emo and hardcore musicians.
The sound of these groups became known as the "classic Washington sound", part of the sound was called " Emo" as an abbreviation for "Emotional". After this, the Washington bands received the label "Emocore". A little later (in 1986), some groups began to focus on the element " Emo" as such. The first to do this after Rites of Spring were The Hated in Annapolis, then Moss Icon appeared. They stripped the Emo element to its very core and added a large dose of arpeggiated, sophisticated guitar melody (Tonie Joy, later in Universal Order of Armageddon, Born Against, Lava, etc.) with a strong emphasis on loud and soft transitions.The vocals also captivate everyone.
By the beginning of the 90s, this style had gained sufficient popularity in the independent musical environment and resulted in separate subculture emo culture, new subtypes of this style also appeared.
-"Hardcore San Diego" (appeared in San Diego in 1992) - a mixture of classic hardcore and Emo;
"Screamo"(from the English Scream - scream) - a heavier version of the Emo direction, with a greater share of screams and harshness in the music;
"French Screamo" (eng. French Screamo - " French screamo") - a softened, much more melodic and softer version" screamo". Many of these styles except " Hardcore San Diego"exist and are still actively developing.
The second wave rolled through quite quickly. In 1994, Emo culture was restored thanks to the release of the debut disc of the group Sunny Day Real Estate "Diary". Just at this time, new groups began to appear, emo began to appear on radio and television, and the emo style became known to a very wide circle of listeners. At the same time, he underwent a number of significant changes in terms of music - he became more responsive to the ear, which was influenced by other styles, such as grunge and indie rock. There were also many groups similar in style to Sunny Day Real Estate - Christie Front Drive, Boys Life, Braid, etc.
At the very beginning of the 2000s" emo"has become very popular cultural phenomenon, expressed in subculture, fashion for clothing and lifestyle, influenced by indie culture. A popular, but at the same time controversial subculture of emo arose.
In the music press, on radio, TV, the concept " emo" have changed somewhat. The term " emo" generally began to be called bands playing post-hardcore (such as Funeral For a Friend, The Used, AFI, Lostprophets, Origami, Line) or pop-punk (Panic! At the Disco, Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday) and the following tendencies of the emo subculture. But still in everyone special case classifying the group as emo is a controversial subject of debate and criticism, since they all differ significantly from the hardcore-corn genre.
Emo appeared in our country not so long ago - literally in last years. Completely unknown to the generation of the 90s, today emo kids (as representatives of the subculture call themselves) are gaining fame and popularity.
The main feature of the subculture: " emo"for the vast majority of those who call themselves today" emo kid" ("emo boy", "", "emoticon") is not a direction in music, but a style of clothing and demeanor. This is confirmed by an analysis of Internet forums, where discussions on the topic " who are emo"comes down to discussion appearance, lifestyle, thinking and sexual orientation(and on forums for girls - to that " oh, what bunnies these emo boys are"), and music is generally discussed last.
The most prominent representatives of the main trend of emocore in our time are:
A Static Lullaby
Underoath
Dance Gavin Dance
Alesana
Across Five Aprils
Alexisonfire
Dead And Divine
A Day to Remember
Mozart Season
