YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE Styles and Fashions

There was a time, not long ago, when urban fashion didn’t exist. Fashion meant expensive
designer outfits that only the very rich could afford. Think Paris catwalks, Vogue magazine and very
uncomfortable shoes. And it was all about women. Even though the outfits were normally designed by
men, there was very little interest in menswear. The outfits were very feminine, very expensive and
impractical for anything other than walking in a straight line.

Where it all began

All of this has changed. Young people no longer dress like their parents. They wear comfortable,
practical and affordable clothes which have probably
been designed by somebody young: urban
fashion has taken over the world. It began,
perhaps, with the hippies of the 1960s, who rejected
mainstream society’s values and dress codes with
their long hair and scruffy image. Next came
the punks of the 1970s, who went one step further
with shocking, scary outfits that deliberately
offended ordinary people. Even today, if you go to
London’s Camden Town at the weekend, there will
be plenty of people with lots of tattoos, piercings
and chains hanging out of their trousers. This punk-
influenced style is all about looking different from
everybody else – but exactly the same as your
friends. Certainly, by the
90s, high street shops like Gap quickly followed the trends from the streets, and designers like Stella
McCartney began to sell street-influenced clothes such as ripped T-shirts for huge amounts of money.

Explosion of extreme sport

Music has always played a part in urban fashion. Nu-metal fans, for example, as well as wearing
Marilyn Manson T-shirts, tend to look different from people who like chart music, and many of today’s
pop stars get their ideas from people on the street rather than the other way round. In California,
surfers needed comfortable clothing to wear on the beach, and the surf look spread throughout
America via companies such as Quiksilver, Stüssy, O’Neill and similar companies that originally
produced clothes for sports. But the boom in extreme sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding
has influenced urban fashion. Baggy jeans are better if you are wearing inline skates, for example, and
hoodies (large comfortable sweatshirts) are influenced by practical snowboarding outfits. Of course
there are plenty of people happy to wear the latest sporty urban fashion who never do any sport at all,
just as most people who wear trainers rarely go near a sports centre.
Source: Current, No. 1, 2002, Mary Glasgow Magazines (slightly adapted)
A. Read the 1st paragraph of the text and say whether these
statements are True or False. Correct the False ones.

1. “Urban fashion” is a recent concept. _________ ________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

2. In the past, fashion was associated with ordinary people like you and me. _________ ______
__________________________________________________________________________________

3. Most fashion designers were women. _________ ______________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

4. Only women’s wear attracted people’s attention at the time. _________ __________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

5. The designer label clothes were practical and affordable. _________ _____________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

B. Now read the 2nd paragraph of the text and complete these sentences.

1. Teenagers wear ___________________________________________________ from their parents.

2. They prefer _________________________, _________________________and affordable clothes,

designed by _________________________ urban fashion designers.

3. _____________________, in the 1960s, and

the_____________________, in the 1970s, played an important
role in this new vision of fashion. Neither of them accepted the
___________________ and __________________________ of the
time.

4. Today it’s still possible to see at London’s Camden Town lots of

people who have been influenced by
___________________________ with ______________________,
______________________, and _________________________.

5. Gap is one of the shops that sells ____________________________

at __________________________ prices.
C. Read the last paragraph of the text and cross the odd words out.

1. Urban fashion cannot be dissociated from music /Marilyn Mason /cinema.

2. Nu-metal fans wear /don’t wear/doesn’t wear the same type of clothes as
chart music fans.

3. The increasing popularity of sports in general / extreme sports /outdoor sports played an
important role in the development of urban fashion.

4. The surf /snowboarding /skateboarding look had its origin on California beaches.

5. Elegance /Discomfort /Comfort is definitely a key word in Urban fashion.

D. Reread the last paragraph and find opposites for these words/expressions.

1. the same __________________________

1. the same __________________________
b. few _______________________________
b. few _______________________________
c. other types of _______________________
c. other types of _______________________
d. decrease ___________________________
d. decrease ___________________________
e. worse _____________________________
e. worse _____________________________
f. sad _______________________________
f. sad _______________________________
g. always ____________________________
g. always ____________________________
h. usually ___________________________
h. usually ___________________________

GD WRK and

Have a Nice Day!