Grind the Grunge

'The Rave' is the new look for Seattle scene-setters

Publication title: Edmonton Journal

Pages: C4 Section: FLAIR

Publication date: Dec 8, 1992

Copyright: (Copyright The Edmonton Journal)

Author: ROBIN UPDIKE Seattle Times

Now that Vogue magazine, the New York Times, and le tout Seventh Avenue are rhapsodizing about the "grunge look" and anointing Seattle as a fashion capital, the First Avenue and East Pike Street cafe-and-dance-club crowd that started the look are guffawing right down to their combat boots.

"Grunge" as a term that anyone remotely hip would use to describe the latest in street fashion is painfully passe, they say.

Not to mention that grunge fashion is an oxymoron similar to glamorous junk.

Because how can a utilitarian outfit of thermal underwear, plaid wool shirt and ragged cut-offs be fashion? - much less the kind of high fashion that chic stores from New York to Toronto will soon be attempting to sell for a thousand bucks per outfit? Puh-leeeze.

"Grunge died a year-and-a-half ago," says Jason Harler, 23, co-proprietor of the Fast Forward boutique in downtown Seattle and designer of a space-age-looking menswear line.

"Maybe some people still dress grunge in the Northwest, with hiking boots and lots of plaid and all that. It's practical.  But the biggest looks are rave and hip hop."

Observers of the young and trendy agree.

Rave is what is new and far more of a fashion statement than grunge ever was. Rave is related to hip hop, the music and fashion created by African-American and Latino-urban youths. Hip hop fashion means baggy pants, oversized baseball caps and gold chains.

But while hip hop is a style of music, raves are multimedia events that take weeks to plan and then occur once, perhaps on a Saturday night in a rented warehouse.

Patrons pay a fee at the door and, once inside, are part of an all-night party. Instead of live bands, disc jockeys play tape loops of urban techno-pop. Light shows are augmented with haze or fog. People dance. And they plan what they wear.

Rave wear looks like a cross between hip hop and the cartoon-colored baggy shorts and funny hats worn by skateboarders. The look is huge jeans barely hanging off the hipbones and cinched with a belt. Sometimes the pants are cut off inches above the ankle. Oversized T-shirts and sweatshirts with blazing graphics are worn with the big pants. Floppy, striped top hats that look straight out of Dr. Seuss can be part of the look. Striped stocking caps are also popular.

"You do see a lot of big hats at the raves," said Faith Beattie, manager of Zebra Club, a downtown Seattle boutique that sells the latest in casual wear to the 15- to 25-year-old set. Beattie wears retro '70s bell-bottoms when she attends raves.

Hot street fashions are, by definition, last week's casserole by the time they get splashed across the pages of mainstream fashion publications. That means that grunge -the look that was the uniform of Seattle's grunge rock scene - is now as trendy as meatloaf.

But you'd never know that from the grunge mania sweeping the world of American high fashion. Several of the nation's top fashion designers, including Marc Jacobs of Perry Ellis, devoted their spring '93 collections to what they called grunge-inspired fashion, and Details and Harper's Bazaar spotlighted grunge fashion recently.

And Vogue lavished a 10-page spread on grunge in its December issue; top New York models slumming in combat boots, threadbare plaid woodsmen jackets, and $800 granny dresses by Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.

"This is really kind of funny that Vogue magazine is doing this because they really don't know what's going on," said Beattie. "The grunge scene is more a thrift-store look. Take Bridget Fonda. In Singles, she is dressed like a typical Seattle girl."

Illustration

Black & White Photo; Women's Wear Daily; Big hats are the rage at Seattle's 'raves' Betsey Johnson's striped rayon halter jumpsuit an crocheted hat. Fluevog shoes' Christian Frances Roth's top-knot.