The trend of wearing clothes with cuts in them began to go really strongly around the 1980s and gained much popularity among teenagers and young adults in the 1990s.
While it never completely disappeared from the fashion scene, it wasn’t that much around during the 2000s, but it reappeared after 2015 or so, as more and more people started wearing ripped clothes. These clothes, which were now part of the “distressed” trend included everything from small holes in clothes to entire areas of the garments cut out.
A sign of rebellion at the end of the 20th century turned rapidly into mainstream fashion.
However, the angry teens of the 90s were not the first ones to do it.
Of course, people often wore ripped clothes, but in general this was done by those who could not afford any new clothes.
The intentional slashing of clothes has its origins very early, in a time when blue jeans were not even a concept.
The practice of cutting your clothes appeared during the Renaissance. This trend, which caused a lot of scandal as it was seen as vain was called “slashing and puffing”. It consisted of cutting a garment in order to pull out the fabric from the undergarment in order to form puffs. The reason why this practice was considered snobby was because the fabrics were expensive and thus, creating these slits (which were horizontal, vertical and diagonal) was considered a shameless show of wealth. In many ways, it was similar to the practice of “making it rain” today, where rappers throw their money in the air, thus trying to convince others that they have so much of it, that it doesn’t even matter.
It is of most interest how, in most paintings of the time, one can’t even tell that the sleeves of the portrayed nobles were ripped, it all seems to go together really well.
However, around the 16th century, there was an attempt to regulate this display of wealth and a law was passed, according to which only the sleeves of a garment could be slashed and puffed, if you wanted to pull your camicia through.
Of course, this concept is in many ways different from wearing jeans with cuts in them, but at the same time, there is a connection to be made: both practices involve an attempt to showcase one’s presence outside of mainstream society. Both the nobility of the 16th century and the kids of the 1990s used their clothes to show that they’re powerful enough (in different ways) to go against the grain.
Fraquoh and Franchomme
Further reading:
16 strange fashion history moments
Attire Club Mood Board: The Renaissance in world fashions
AC Mood Board: Basel fashion in the 1630s
AC Mood Board: Medieval clothed horses
AC Mood Board: Royal, military and court costumes from the Jacobean era
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