Nazi chic
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Nazi chic refers to the approving use of Nazi-era style, imagery, and paraphernalia in clothing and popular culture, especially when used for taboo breaking or shock value rather than out of genuine nazist sympathies.
Its use began in the mid-seventies with the emergence of the punk movement in London : the Sex Pistols' first television appearance occurred with a person of their entourage wearing a swastika.[1] Nazi chic was later used in the fashion industry in various occasions.
Popular usage
In the 1970s punk subculture, several items of clothing designed to shock and offend The Establishment became popular. Among these punk fashion items was a T-shirt displaying a Swastika, an upside-down crucifix and the word DESTROY– which was worn by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, seen in the video for "Pretty Vacant". Rotten wore the swastika another time with a gesture that looked like a Nazi salute.[2] In 1976, Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees was also known to wear a Swastika armband with fetish S and M clothing, including fishnets and a whip. These musicians are commonly thought to have worn such clothing for shock value directed towards the British WWII generation rather than being genuinely associated with any National Socialist or fascist ideologies, and those with such interests likely became part of the Nazi punk or white power skinhead subcultures.
In 1984, two T-shirt designs featuring Adolf Hitler became popular. The more famous of the two was the "Adolf Hitler European Tour" design, which featured a picture of Hitler against the backdrop of a map of Europe, with conquered territories shaded; and tour dates given as:
- September 1939 Poland
- April 1940 Norway
- May 1940 Luxembourg
- May 1940 Holland
- May 1940 Belgium
- June 1940 France
- September 1940 England Cancelled
- April 1941 Jugoslavia
- May 1941 Greece
- June 1941 Crete
- August 1942 Russia Cancelled
- July 1945 Berlin Bunker.
A person attending an REM concert on September 28, 1986 wearing the "Adolf Hitler European Tour" T-shirt was asked to leave by Michael Stipe.[citation needed] A less popular T-shirt featured Hitler giving the Roman salute, and a yo-yo hanging from his hand. The text read "European yo-yo champion 1939-1945". Sale of the apparel led to a legal case in Germany, in an attempt to have it banned as "glorifying genocide".[3] Local courts ruled against the shirt makers, although Bavarian state courts later ruled in their favor.[citation needed]
In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Bryan Ferry, the English singer and musician, acknowledged that he calls his studio in west London his "Führerbunker". He was quoted as saying, "My God, the Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves. ... Leni Riefenstahl's movies and Albert Speer's buildings and the mass parades and the flags - just amazing. Really beautiful."[4] (Later Ferry denied ever making this quote, and the newspapers printed a rectification.) The American glam metal band Mötley Crüe inserted in the booklet of the album Mötley Crüe (1994) an image of Nikki Sixx dressed as a Nazi. Officially, that photo was related to a lyric about the mistake of judging by the appearances, but actually it was inserted to mock the media[citation needed] The discographer decided to cancel that photo and to reprint the whole booklet. In the Mötley Crüe autobiography, The Dirt, the band writes about their "Nazi Wednesdays", in which they used to walk down the street dressed in Nazi uniforms.
In early 2005 a designer using the pseudonym "Helmut Doork"[5] began marketing a parody souvenir t-shirt with the slogans "My grandparents went to Auschwitz and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!" and "Arbeit Macht Frei."[6] In response to a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League, the design was removed from CafePress' website in late 2006.[7]
Prince Harry was criticized for wearing a costume with a swastika armband[8] causing considerable embarrassment to his family. He later issued a public statement apologizing for his actions, but his lack of apology in person angered some groups. Harry's impromptu costume resembled the Afrika Corps, rather than more political units such as the SS.[9]
Nazi chic in fetish clothing
Nazi chic is a controversial topic in the fetish clothing subculture. The symbolism of fascist, communist, and other ideologies remains popular, and a common compromise is to adopt the main design features of Nazi-era clothing– such as peaked caps, jackboots and trenchcoats– but not to include any explicit Nazi symbols. Sometimes substitute symbols are used, with designs that clearly reference the design styles of Nazi symbols without directly copying them.
Some clubs ban the wearing of the swastika or explicitly Nazi-style uniforms as part of their dresscode.
Nazi chic in Asia
Uniforms and other imagery related to Nazi Germany have been on sale in East Asia, where some consider it fashionable. Hong Kong and Japan have each witnessed a growth in the casual wearing of SS uniforms, as well as increased interest in White power music. Sometimes in East Asia, Nazi uniforms are used as part of cosplay. In South Korea, an area generally isolated from Nazi cultural influences during the Nazi era, Time magazine observed in 2000 "an unthinking fascination with the icons and imagery of the Third Reich."[10] Nazi-inspired imagery was featured in various early releases from the Japanese band The 5.6.7.8's.[11]
In some parts of the world,[where?] World War II is not taught in schools as a battle of political ideologies, but as a conventional war. This type of education treats Hitler and the Nazi Party as charismatic and powerful leaders of countries during wartime, instead of war criminals as elsewhere. George Burdi, the former head of the neo-Nazi record label Resistance Records, claimed to have sold many CDs to Japan, because some Japanese believe themselves to be the master race of the East.[12] In Turkey, Hitler's book Mein Kampf is an annual bestseller.[13][14]
Nazi involvement in the fashion industry
Hugo Boss manufactured uniforms for the Schutzstaffel (SS).[15]
See also
- Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS
- Nazi exploitation
- Uniform fetishism
- Fashion
- Ethnic stereotypes in pornography
- List of chics
Footnotes
- ^ "Today Show - Bill Grundy" ITV. December 1976. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
- ^ Punk And The Swastika. Photography by Bob Gruen. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
- ^ UCL Laws : Institute of Global Law
- ^ Goodchild, Sophie (2007-04-15). "Bryan Ferry's Nazi Gaffe". The Independent.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Metzitzah B’peh: Auschwitz Souvenir T-shirt
- ^ Auschwitz t-shirts for sale? - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews
- ^ Online Retailer Removes Auschwitz T-Shirts After ADL Voices Concern
- ^ Harry says sorry for Nazi costume BBC News, January 13, 2005
- ^ Harry public apology 'not needed' BBC News, January 14, 2005
- ^ MacIntyre, Donald (2000-06-05). ""They Dressed Well" A troubling fascination with Third Reich regalia elevates the Nazi look to what's chic in South Korea". Time Asia. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
- ^ Bomb the Rocks: Early Days Singles liner notes
- ^ Interview with George Burdi
- ^ Helena Smith (29 March 2005). "Mein Kampf sales soar in Turkey". The Guardian. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
- ^ "Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' sells 50,000 copies in Turkey in three months". The Daily Star via Agence France Presse. March 18, 2005. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
- ^ Hugo Boss Acknowledges Link to Nazi Regime: The New York Times, 15 August, 1997; Page B01 accessed October 7, 2008