Chavvy Chic

"For years, the British population has been crossing the road to avoid that ominous gang of hooded youths, buying into the media fuelled fear surrounding that figure that will supposedly terrorise and assault us – the Chav."

For years, the 'chav' subculture was a symbol of all things unfashionable. The typical chav uniform includes; tracksuit bottoms, trainers, hoodies and a knock-off Burberry cap. The Burberry plaid became synonymous with the underprivileged youth of Britain. Chav's are associated with the British working class youth and uneducated 'yobs', typically 'on the dole' in a council house. They are usually found watching trash tv, not working, hanging out on street corners and dropping out of school. 'Chavettes' are usually teen mothers. Peer pressure is amongst most chavs to participate in common chav behaviour that give the subculture a bad label. These activities include loutish behaviour, violence and particular speech patterns. Comedians such as 'The Wee Man', Vicky Pollard from Little Britain and Devvo, all act as stereotypical 'chavs' as a comedic act.


But what about the sportswear luxe trend? Do the British public avoid leaving the house in casual sportswear for fear of being wrongly judged? Or is it now considered 'trendy'? Sportswear luxe is a new developing trend on the high street and designer fashion scene. It is now considered 'cool' to sport the Adidas 'three-stripe' as bloggers and influential celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, are now donning the Adidas trackpants with everyday wear. So is the 'chav subculture' entering our everyday fashion, but rebranded? For example, vintage Reebok and Gosha Rubchiskiy are now using fashion photography as a way of approaching social media with their vintage tracksuits and skinhead models.

Posted by Rebecca Padgett

Chavvy Chic. (2016) Notjustalabel.com. [Online] [Accessed on 13 December 2016] https://www.notjustalabel.com/editorial/chavvy-chic.

Chosen subculture- Chav's

As a group we discussed what subculture we would want to do for our final project and decided on chavs, we thought this would be a very broad subculture to research further. The definition of a chav is normally a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of (real or imitation) designer clothes. Some say chavs wear fake designer clothes as I way for them to connect with society or get attention while other say they are trying to create their own rebellious type of style. The word 'chav' is connected to communities that have suffered social deprivation, which is why most come from lower working class backgrounds, because of the environment they are brought up in Chav's normally participate in crimes such as vandalism and shoplifting due to peer pressure. They feel as if they need to act a certain way to fit in which is why they can act rude and aggressive. 

The stereotype of a chav is to dress in branded sportswear, with tacky jewellery and hairstyles such as a high ponytail or shaved head.

Posted by Phoebe Paton.