Grunge to Urban Grunge Essay

The grunge scene is considered the most depressing, angst filled style. But how did ‘grunge’ become grunge? How did a six-letter word meaning dirt, filth, trashbag become synonymous with a musical genre, a distinct fashion statement and most especially, a subculture? According to the book Surfers Soulies Skinheads and Skaters which talks about different sub cultural style from the forties to the nineties, â€Å"Membership of subculture groups, whose ideas and lifestyles are at variance with those of the dominant culture, is usually dominated by the young. For some it is fleeting and forms a rite of passage; others move through a series of subcultures, and some remain committed to one, long term. Belonging to a subculture can be liberating, offering, for example, certain freedoms in lifestyle, sexuality and politics. By defining their own geographical, social and sartorial boundaries, subcultures also provide a sense of belonging which is independent of the family. † (Amy de la Haye and Cathie Dingwall, 1996) Grunge style was sort of rebellion against the starched yuppiedom, first appearing in Seattle in the late 1980s. America’s answer to Punk Rock, described both a new generation of loud, guitar-orientated rock music and the attitude of its exponents. Grunge was originally a genre of alternative rock; the fashion scene however is different. Grunge fashion was influenced by grunge music, which achieved mainstream popularity in 1992 due to the overwhelming success of the band Nirvana and their hit single Smell Like Teen Spirit. In Great Britain, Grunge was the name given by the music press to a loose and short-lived collective of new rock bands. The word has since been used to describe the attitude, scruffiness and loud music preferred by youth who identify with this kind of music. The Grunge fashion is a combination of second-hand clothing like lain flannel shirts worn with faded stonewashed blue jeans and heavy boots. The grunge scene was commonly associated with dark colour palettes like maroon, forest green, indigo brown, and the most popular colour combination, black and white. In 1988, a Seattle record label called Sub Pop released a boxed set with a compilation of grunge bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney and it came with a booklet with pictures by Charles Peterson, the photographer credited for creating grunge’s hair-sweat-and-guitars look. Sub Pop also sent it to the nation’s alternative-rock intelligentsia describing its bands’ punk-metal guitar noise as â€Å"grunge†, the first documented use of the now-ubiquitous term. The vibe now is a little bit like the early 70’s, before metal ceased to be heavy and relied on adrenaline highs as opposed to despondency,† said Simon Reynolds, the author of Blissed Out (Serpent’s Tail, 1990) a chronicle of rock subcultures. â€Å"There’s a feeling of burnout in the culture at large. Kids are depressed about the future. † James Truman, the editor in chief of Details, the young men’s style magazine that took grunge to the masses, said: â€Å"To me the thing about grunge is it’s not anti-fashion, it’s un fashion. Punk was anti-fashion. It made a statement. Grunge is about not making a statement, which is why it’s crazy for it to become a fashion statement. † Hollywood also weighed in with a grunge-scene movie, â€Å"Singles† released on the year 1992 by director Cameron Crowe. Then came fashion designer Marc Jacobs who was hailed as â€Å"the guru of grunge† but has never even been to Seattle that time. On April 1993 he launched a grunge-themed fashion show called Couture Grunge and Heroin Chic. During the spring fashion shows, designer Marc Jacobs debuts the seemingly oxymoronic â€Å"couture grunge† that emulates the loose flannel shirts, shabby cardigans, wrinkled and torn pants, and the notoriously thin body frames of grunge rock and its largely Seattle-based musicians. This look involves an element that some call â€Å"heroin chic†, characterized by extremely thin models like Kate Moss, and controversially alluding to drug use as an element of the latest trend. No one wants to pay designer prices for flannel shirts, and Jacobs’ collection (for the Perry Ellis label) was shut down, but not before making a profound effect on the fashion industry. Jacobs’ Spring/ Summer 1993 ‘grunge’ collection was a seminal moment in modern fashion, launching the then relatively-unknown young designer’s straight into the big league as well as his dismissal from Perry Ellis, leading him to set up on his own. Today, the grunge fashion scene has been polished and renewed and turned into Urban Grunge, a more sophisticated, edgy vibe of wearing the worn-out flannel and denim jeans. Typical for big city’s street style, the urban grunge fashion will never go out of style. The trend always appears in a new and interesting manner, whether it has futuristic details, vintage influences or masculine accents. The urban grunge street-inspired fashion comes back every season as an inspiration for high-fashion brands like John Galliano, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs to name a few and as well as for underground fashion designers. I for one am a big fan of urban grunge fashion and I think it’s very hip and doesn’t require a lot of effort to dress up. Grunge will always live on forever carrying the name of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain proving that Grunge is Not Dead.