The more rebellious the more charming
Stills from the movie Rebel without a Cause
James Dea n, who became famous at a young age, is one of the spokespeople of this youth culture. Although the number of his works is limited, they are all deep enough to penetrate the hearts of the people. The series of confused teenagers he created on the screen are intertwined with the unfortunate encounters of the actor's own early death, forming one fantasy after another full of dreamlike legends.
The 1955 film Rebel without a Cause brought this saga to a climax. The film tells the story of young people in the 1950s who, out of the confusion and doubts of adolescence, constantly struggle for freedom of mind. James Dean's outfit also shows this process of mentality change: at the beginning of the film, he still wears a neat suit with a white shirt, hiding his rebellious nature in front of his parents; as the film progresses, James Dean eventually changes to the typical behavior of the rebellious youth at that time - jeans, white T-shirts, and a simple windproof jacket.
Stills from the movie Grease
Under Technicolor's dyeing technology, James Dean's jeans are far bluer on the screen than they actually are, and the jacket is even more bright red. The purpose of this is, on the one hand, to add some color to the film and match the surrounding art scenes; on the other hand, to make James Dean's character stand out from the crowd at any time, so that the audience can capture his figure.
For the most part, James Dean plays himself in the film. The characters in the play are also dressed up as Dean himself every day. However, although such a simple look is imitated by many people, few people can not capture Dean's charm, the key is that James Dean's temperament between youth and complexity, as well as the attitude of throwing hands and feet, truly integrated with the clothing. And this is the key to imitation.
Bad girls go around
In another film set in the 50s teenage life, Grease, the image of such a rebellious teenager is conveyed through the contrast with the pure girl's outfit and the love story of the teenager. The heroine was originally a typical dress for women in the 50s: shirts and long skirts with pink and green colors as the main colors are the main lines that run through it. The "greasers" represented by the male protagonist are using leather jackets, leather pants, and a large number of hair sprays to imitate the appearance of the singer Elvis Presley, deliberately showing their preferences that they do not want to go with the flow.
The difference in appearance dooms the relationship to require a certain compromise. Finally, at the end of the film, in order to truly integrate into her boyfriend and his friends, the heroine Sandy faded the behavior of the former well-behaved schoolgirls and changed into a tight off-the-shoulder top and leather pants, plus a short leather jacket, bidding farewell to the meek and soft image of the past.
Although the rebellious costumes in the two films may not seem to contemporary people, they were indeed regarded as "great rebellion" at the time. But even so, there is no way to hinder the trend of youth culture to counter the mainstream culture after the war. When Yves Saint Laurent was still in the D ior, he used to design the famous "Beat nik" series for Dior based on the costumes of such rebellious young people. Although Dior Fashion House used this as an excuse to fry Saint Laurent's squid, the designers who continued to explore the ideas of young people in their personal brands eventually became a generation of masters. This also allowed the original rebellious teenagers to finally enter the room and become the mainstream