List of chics
Encyclopedia
This is a list of notable chics
.
, that was initially popularised in Greenwich Village
. Its main features were floppy hats, sunglasses and "dust-catcher" skirts. Bobo
(i.e. bourgeois
-Bohemian) chic was used in a similar sense.
. These included a "cover-up" (e.g. a kaftan
), flat sandals, a hat, a fake tan and - with the comforting footnote, "No, you will not look like a WAG
[wife or girlfriend of a footballer]" - denture cleaner to whiten finger-nails. The Sunday Times referred to the Moroccan resort of Essaouira
as the "boho/barefoot-chic beach" (the latter possibly a play on the term, "bare-faced cheek").
See also Seaside chic.
and hippie
styles. It was associated in particular with actress Sienna Miller
and model Kate Moss
. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
have both become icons for this style.
was a feature, of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who married Charles, Prince of Wales in 2005.
suggested that some of the elements of "chic casual" were skinny jeans, "longline, clingy jerseys", "statement" bags and chunky jewellery, slouchy sweaters and hoodies with comfortable flats. Singer Victoria Beckham
was identified as epitomising this style. Easy chic ("breezy blouses, slouchy knits and sexy denim
") has similar connotations.
s: "Tesco
has stepped up its 'checkout
chic' war with Asda
by launching a design-led range of clothes to tempt female shoppers". Cheap chic was used in a similar sense, though more in terms of the comparison between prices at supermarkets and those of leading fashion houses: "You can achieve this season's look just by visiting your local supermarket".
s" (a portmanteau term coined in 1975 by Peter York
, style editor of Harpers & Queen
, from Sloane Square
and the 1950s TV series The Lone Ranger
) in the Chelsea
area of south west London.
s" who shared Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's taste for Burberry check. See also Camilla chic.
. The style is defined by black eyes, heroin, crack pipes, bruised and or scabbed legs, ripped stockings, lice, and hickeys. Models (most notably Kate Moss and Jamie King) representing this look are usually portrayed as being extremely skinny and pale.
, silk
and hemp
, and also reconstructed clothing
.
cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix
, this look is based on the Fremen
culture portrayed in Frank Herbert's Dune
, and involves stillsuits
designed to prevent the body from losing water, as well as flowing robes and military accessories.
look" were the late 1970s punk
band Siouxsie and the Banshees, American punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls
, formed in 2000, and Betty Curse
, described by The Times
in 2006 as the "princess of Goth pop".
chic" was the subject of an article in Country Life in 2006 by Carla Carlisle, American-born wife of former British Member of Parliament, Sir Kenneth Carlisle
. Lady Carlisle cited a friend's description of the term: "it's farmers' market
s, four-wheel drive
cars, labradors
, Harris Tweed
, Shaker
furniture, Emma Bridgewater
[tableware] ...". "Hick" derives from "Old Hickory", a nickname for Andrew Jackson
, US President 1829-37, a frontier
sman who, like hickory
wood, was known for his toughness.
that "she drifts on stage dressed in high-street
chic: faded denim
and a tracksuit
top, which she slips off to reveal a pink camisole
vest". Samantha Cameron
, wife of British Conservative Party
leader and future Prime Minister David Cameron
was described in 2006 as "spurn[ing] the designers ... for high street chic".
Broadly similar to boho-chic
(see e.g. London Evening Standard Magazine, 11 March 2005), the Hippie chic was associated in the mid 1990s with Tom Ford
’s collections for the Italian house of Gucci
and, indeed, various aspects of hippie fashion re-appeared periodically after the "Summer of Love
" of 1967 when hippiedom and psychedelia
were at their peak. Art-school chic had roughly similar connotations. Talitha Getty
chic was applied by Hedley Freeman in the Guardian to the hippie style associated in the late 1960s (and since) with the actress wife (d.1971) of John Paul Getty
. Talitha Getty is said to have inspired Ford's hippie-style creations.
Adoption of military
gear such as camouflage patterned clothing, war medals, military insignia, surplus clothing or dog tag necklaces
(adopted in the American Civil War
) into fashion. The term and the similar soldier chic were widely applied c.2003-5, although in fact military apparel, such as the flight jackets worn by pilots during the Second World War, had frequently influenced fashion and paradoxically was often in vogue at times of anti-war feeling, such as in the late 1960s when protests against the Vietnam War
were at their height (as, indeed, after the Iraq War of 2003): "One would have thought, given the unpopularity of armed forces activity in some quarters, that 'military chic' would not be, well, chic".
is the incorporation of Nazi style clothing and culture, often used for shock value, as a form of rebellion against the status quo, although it is sometimes accompanied by a genuine sympathy for or adherence to the ideology of National Socialism.
, and other artists such as Gerry & The Pacemakers
and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
in 1962-4 (the "Mersey Sound
"). "Northern" is a reference both to Northern England (as also with "Northern soul
") and Northern Songs
, which published compositions by the Beatles' John Lennon
and Paul McCartney
.
Frequently applied to anything stylish connected with the French capital Paris
or to the style of French celebrities (e.g. actress Charlotte Gainsbourg
or others living in Paris, such as the English actress Kristin Scott Thomas
). Variants included "Left Bank
" or "Right Bank
" chic (or even "Left Bank chic versus Right Bank polish"). Gainsbourg's mother, the British-born actress Jane Birkin
, remarked that she would choose "English eccentricity over Parisian chic every time", adding, "chic you can learn - it's just a form of grooming".
The term bon chic bon genre or BCBG
["good style, good class"] was applied in the early 1980s to the French equivalent of British "Sloane Rangers", their typical "uniform" including a mackintosh
, ballet shoes
, trousers, a cashmere
sweater, and accessories such as a "Birkin bag
" and a Cartier
Tank Française wrist-watch
. To a large extent, it refers to upper-class, or upper-middle-class, young men and women who are well-bred, or appear so, with good bones, slim bodies, and a sophisticated, but restrained and elegant, sense of style. In the U.S., the Ralph Lauren
sense of style would be the equivalent.
"Porn chic" was first applied to films such as Deep Throat
(1972) and Emmanuelle
(1974) which were commercially successful and thus tended to bring "soft" pornography
into the mainstream. Subsequently it has been used to refer more generally to pornography in popular culture.
First coined by journalist Tom Wolfe
in 1970, radical chic has since entered broad usage as a derogatory term for the pretentious adoption of radical
causes by celebrities
, socialite
s, and high society
.
". This and similar terms, such as "boho-rock" (2006), were often applied to model Kate Moss
, about whom Rebecca Ley from Times Online wrote that "Kate veers effortlessly between rock-girl chic and dripping-in-diamonds elegance". Moss's relationship in 2005-7 with Pete Doherty
of the group Babyshambles
tended to emphasise the tag.
-based sister of actress and noughties "boho
-queen" Sienna Miller
, for the Hong Kong
based label, Shanghai Tang
.
timber-framed buildings has been described as "shabby chic".
nature.
Chic (style)
Chic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion.-Etymology:Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s...
.
Ashcan chic
Term used in the United States c.2005 for a "homeless" style, similar to boho-chicBoho-chic
Boho-chic is a style of female fashion drawing on various bohemian and hippie influences, which, at its height in 2004-5, was associated particularly with actress Sienna Miller and model Kate Moss in the United Kingdom and actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Nicole Richie in the United States...
, that was initially popularised in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. Its main features were floppy hats, sunglasses and "dust-catcher" skirts. Bobo
Bobos in Paradise
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There is a book by David Brooks, first published in 2000. The word bobo, Brooks's most famous coinage, is a portmanteau of the words bourgeois and bohemian. The term is used by Brooks to describe the 1990s descendants of the yuppies...
(i.e. bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
-Bohemian) chic was used in a similar sense.
Beach chic
"Beach chic" was the title of an article in 2006 by the Times fashion editor Lisa Armstrong about shopping for accessories to accompany a bikiniBikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
. These included a "cover-up" (e.g. a kaftan
Kaftan
A kaftan is a man's coat usually reaching to the ankles with long sleeves, and which buttons down the front. It can be made of wool, cashmere, silk, or cotton. It is often worn with a sash....
), flat sandals, a hat, a fake tan and - with the comforting footnote, "No, you will not look like a WAG
WAGs
WAGs is an acronym, used particularly by the British tabloid press, to describe the wives and girlfriends of high-profile footballers, originally the England national football team. The term came into common use during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although it had been used occasionally before that...
[wife or girlfriend of a footballer]" - denture cleaner to whiten finger-nails. The Sunday Times referred to the Moroccan resort of Essaouira
Essaouira
Mogador redirects here, for the hamlet in Surrey see Mogador, Surrey.Essaouira is a city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, on the Atlantic coast. Since the 16th century, the city has also been known by its Portuguese name of Mogador or Mogadore...
as the "boho/barefoot-chic beach" (the latter possibly a play on the term, "bare-faced cheek").
See also Seaside chic.
Boho-chic
Style of fashion in the early 21st century which drew on earlier BohemianBohemian style
In modern usage, the term "Bohemian" is applied to people who live unconventional, usually artistic, lives. The adherents of the "Bloomsbury Group", which formed around the Stephen sisters, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf in the early 20th century, are among the best-known examples...
and hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
styles. It was associated in particular with actress Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller
Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...
and model Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen are American actresses and entrepreneurs.Both have appeared in television and films since infancy. Since then, they have continued their celebrity through numerous television programs, films, interviews, as well as commercial endorsements...
have both become icons for this style.
Camilla chic
Emulating the style, of which BurberryBurberry
Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fashion accessories. Its distinctive tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. Burberry is most famous for its iconic trench coat, which was invented by founder Thomas Burberry...
was a feature, of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who married Charles, Prince of Wales in 2005.
Casual chic
"Casual chic" (or "chic casual") is a difficult term to define, but can perhaps best be described as "dressing down" in a stylish way. In 2007 the clothing retailer Marks & SpencerMarks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
suggested that some of the elements of "chic casual" were skinny jeans, "longline, clingy jerseys", "statement" bags and chunky jewellery, slouchy sweaters and hoodies with comfortable flats. Singer Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
was identified as epitomising this style. Easy chic ("breezy blouses, slouchy knits and sexy denim
Denim
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
") has similar connotations.
Checkout chic
Referring to fashion ranges promoted by major supermarketSupermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s: "Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
has stepped up its 'checkout
Point of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
chic' war with Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
by launching a design-led range of clothes to tempt female shoppers". Cheap chic was used in a similar sense, though more in terms of the comparison between prices at supermarkets and those of leading fashion houses: "You can achieve this season's look just by visiting your local supermarket".
Chelsea chic
Used by the Sunday Times ("The Sloane gets a sexy revamp") for fashionable trends among well-heeled "Sloane RangerSloane Ranger
The term Sloane Ranger refers to a stereotype in the UK of young, upper class or upper-middle-class women, or men who share distinctive and common lifestyle traits...
s" (a portmanteau term coined in 1975 by Peter York
Peter York
Peter York, real name Peter Wallis, born 1943, is a British management consultant, author and broadcaster most famous for co-authoring Harpers & Queen's The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook with Ann Barr...
, style editor of Harpers & Queen
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
, from Sloane Square
Sloane Square
Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the fashionable London districts of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The square is part of the Hans Town area designed in 1771 by Henry...
and the 1950s TV series The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
) in the Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
area of south west London.
Council house chic
"Council house chic" or chav chic ("Chav Chic might have sunk the house of Burberry") referred to the fashions of working class "chavChav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
s" who shared Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's taste for Burberry check. See also Camilla chic.
Crack chic
"Crack chic" is a style derived from the grunge days, it is not unlike the "derelicte" fashion depicted in ZoolanderZoolander
Zoolander is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the...
. The style is defined by black eyes, heroin, crack pipes, bruised and or scabbed legs, ripped stockings, lice, and hickeys. Models (most notably Kate Moss and Jamie King) representing this look are usually portrayed as being extremely skinny and pale.
Cycle chic
To be well dressed and smart in everyday clothes whilst cycling for ordinary journeys.EcoChic
EcoChic means the use of eco-friendly textiles, such as organic cottonOrganic cotton
Organic cotton is generally understood as cotton and is grown in subtropical countries such as America and India, from non genetically modified plants, that is to be grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers or pesticides. Its production also promotes and...
, silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
and hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
, and also reconstructed clothing
Reconstructed clothing
Reconstructed clothing is used or vintage clothing that has been redesigned and resewn into a new garment. Reconstructed clothing was trendy in the mid-2000s. The book Generation T , which gave instructions for "108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt," was one example of this trend...
.
Fremen Chic
Popular among youth in desertDesert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, this look is based on the Fremen
Fremen
The Fremen are a group of people in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. First appearing in the 1965 novel Dune, the Fremen inhabit the desert planet Arrakis and are based on the desert-dwelling Bedouin and Kalahari Bushmen. In Herbert's novels, Arrakis is the sole known source...
culture portrayed in Frank Herbert's Dune
Dune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
, and involves stillsuits
Zentai
Zentai is a term for skin-tight garments that cover the entire body. The word is a contraction of zenshin taitsu...
designed to prevent the body from losing water, as well as flowing robes and military accessories.
Goth chic
Title of a "connoisseur's guide" by Gavin Baddeley (2002) to dark or Gothic culture. Among those associated with the "gothGothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are...
look" were the late 1970s punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Siouxsie and the Banshees, American punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls are an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 2000, the group consists of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione...
, formed in 2000, and Betty Curse
Megan Burns
Megan Burns , also known as Betty Curse, is a British musician and award-winning actress.-Early life and acting career:...
, described by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 2006 as the "princess of Goth pop".
Hick chic
HickHick
-Surname:*Benjamin Hick, , a mechanical engineer*Graeme Hick, , an English cricketer*John Hick, , a philosopher of religion and theologian*Pentland Hick , a British entrepreneur, author, and publisher*W. E...
chic" was the subject of an article in Country Life in 2006 by Carla Carlisle, American-born wife of former British Member of Parliament, Sir Kenneth Carlisle
Kenneth Carlisle
Sir Kenneth Melville Carlisle is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Lincoln from 1979 to 1997.-Early life:...
. Lady Carlisle cited a friend's description of the term: "it's farmers' market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
s, four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
cars, labradors
Labrador Retriever
The Labrador Retriever is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United...
, Harris Tweed
Harris Tweed
Harris Tweed is a cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, using local wool....
, Shaker
Shakers
The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, is a religious sect originally thought to be a development of the Religious Society of Friends...
furniture, Emma Bridgewater
Emma Bridgewater
Emma Bridgewater is a British ceramics manufacturer founded in 1985, owned and run by Emma Rice née Bridgewater and Matthew Rice. Noted for their polka dot design among others, Emma Bridgewater specialises in pottery with motifs drawing on expertise and traditional techniques stretching back over...
[tableware] ...". "Hick" derives from "Old Hickory", a nickname for Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, US President 1829-37, a frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
sman who, like hickory
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...
wood, was known for his toughness.
High Street chic
Applied to the sort of "everyday" sense of style that might be spotted in any metropolitan or provincial setting; most likely to be associated with prevailing "shop window" fashions. In 2004 the Observer wrote of the singer DidoDido (singer)
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...
that "she drifts on stage dressed in high-street
High Street
High Street, or the High Street, is a metonym for the generic name of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in city centres, and is most often used in reference to retailing...
chic: faded denim
Denim
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
and a tracksuit
Tracksuit
A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly as what athletes wore over competition clothing and would take off before competition. In modern times, it has become commonly worn...
top, which she slips off to reveal a pink camisole
Camisole
A camisole is a sleeveless undergarment for women, normally extending to the waist. The camisole is usually made of satin, nylon, or cotton.- Historical definition :...
vest". Samantha Cameron
Samantha Cameron
Samantha Gwendoline Cameron , often known simply as "Sam Cam", is a British business executive and wife of David Cameron, the current Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom....
, wife of British Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
leader and future Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
was described in 2006 as "spurn[ing] the designers ... for high street chic".
Hippie chic
- Also known as Art-school chic and Talitha GettyTalitha GettyTalitha Getty was an actress of Dutch extraction, born in the former Dutch East Indies, who was regarded as a style icon of the late 1960s. She lived much of her adult life in Britain and, in her final years, was closely associated with the Moroccan city of Marrakesh...
chic
Broadly similar to boho-chic
Boho-chic
Boho-chic is a style of female fashion drawing on various bohemian and hippie influences, which, at its height in 2004-5, was associated particularly with actress Sienna Miller and model Kate Moss in the United Kingdom and actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Nicole Richie in the United States...
(see e.g. London Evening Standard Magazine, 11 March 2005), the Hippie chic was associated in the mid 1990s with Tom Ford
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle "Tom" Ford is an American fashion designer and film director. He gained international fame for his turnaround of the Gucci fashion house and the creation of the Tom Ford label before directing the Oscar-nominated film A Single Man.-Early life :Tom Ford was born August 27, 1961 in...
’s collections for the Italian house of Gucci
Gucci
The House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR...
and, indeed, various aspects of hippie fashion re-appeared periodically after the "Summer of Love
Summer of Love
The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...
" of 1967 when hippiedom and psychedelia
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
were at their peak. Art-school chic had roughly similar connotations. Talitha Getty
Talitha Getty
Talitha Getty was an actress of Dutch extraction, born in the former Dutch East Indies, who was regarded as a style icon of the late 1960s. She lived much of her adult life in Britain and, in her final years, was closely associated with the Moroccan city of Marrakesh...
chic was applied by Hedley Freeman in the Guardian to the hippie style associated in the late 1960s (and since) with the actress wife (d.1971) of John Paul Getty
Paul Getty
Sir John Paul Getty KBE , born Eugene Paul Getty, was a wealthy American-born British philanthropist and book collector. He was the elder son of Jean Paul Getty, Sr...
. Talitha Getty is said to have inspired Ford's hippie-style creations.
Military chic
- Also known as Soldier chic
Adoption of military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
gear such as camouflage patterned clothing, war medals, military insignia, surplus clothing or dog tag necklaces
Dog tag (identifier)
A dog tag is the informal name for the identification tags worn by military personnel, named such as it bears resemblance to actual dog tags. The tag is primarily used for the identification of dead and wounded and essential basic medical information for the treatment of the latter, such as blood...
(adopted in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
) into fashion. The term and the similar soldier chic were widely applied c.2003-5, although in fact military apparel, such as the flight jackets worn by pilots during the Second World War, had frequently influenced fashion and paradoxically was often in vogue at times of anti-war feeling, such as in the late 1960s when protests against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
were at their height (as, indeed, after the Iraq War of 2003): "One would have thought, given the unpopularity of armed forces activity in some quarters, that 'military chic' would not be, well, chic".
Nazi chic
Nazi chicNazi chic
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....
is the incorporation of Nazi style clothing and culture, often used for shock value, as a form of rebellion against the status quo, although it is sometimes accompanied by a genuine sympathy for or adherence to the ideology of National Socialism.
Northern chic
Occasionally applied retrospectively to aspects of the musical and cultural boom generated by the rock group, the BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, and other artists such as Gerry & The Pacemakers
Gerry & the Pacemakers
Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and recorded by George Martin. They are most remembered for being the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with...
and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
Billy J. Kramer
Billy J. Kramer is a British Invasion/Merseybeat singer. In the 1960s he was managed by Brian Epstein, who also managed The Beatles, and he recorded several original Lennon and McCartney compositions.-Early life and career:He grew up as the youngest of seven siblings and attended the St George of...
in 1962-4 (the "Mersey Sound
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
"). "Northern" is a reference both to Northern England (as also with "Northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
") and Northern Songs
Northern Songs
Northern Songs was a company founded in 1963, by music publisher Dick James, Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to publish songs written by Lennon and McCartney , as well as songs written by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who were all members of The Beatles...
, which published compositions by the Beatles' John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
.
Parisian chic
- Also known as Bon chic bon genre
Frequently applied to anything stylish connected with the French capital Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
or to the style of French celebrities (e.g. actress Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
or others living in Paris, such as the English actress Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
). Variants included "Left Bank
Rive Gauche
La Rive Gauche is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two: looking downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank is to the right....
" or "Right Bank
Rive Droite
La Rive Droite is most associated with the river Seine in central Paris. Here the river flows roughly westwards, cutting the city into two: looking downstream, the northern bank is to the right, and the southern bank is to the left....
" chic (or even "Left Bank chic versus Right Bank polish"). Gainsbourg's mother, the British-born actress Jane Birkin
Jane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...
, remarked that she would choose "English eccentricity over Parisian chic every time", adding, "chic you can learn - it's just a form of grooming".
The term bon chic bon genre or BCBG
Max Azria
Max Azria is a French fashion designer of Tunisian Jewish descent who founded the contemporary women's clothing brand BCBGMAXAZRIA. Azria is also the designer, chairman and CEO of BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP, a global fashion house that encompasses over 20 brands...
["good style, good class"] was applied in the early 1980s to the French equivalent of British "Sloane Rangers", their typical "uniform" including a mackintosh
Mackintosh
The Mackintosh or Macintosh is a form of waterproof raincoat, first sold in 1824, made out of rubberised fabric...
, ballet shoes
Ballet shoes
Ballet shoes, or ballet slippers, are lightweight shoes designed specifically for ballet dancing. They may be made from soft leather, canvas, or satin, and have flexible, thin soles. Traditionally, women wear pink shoes and men wear white or black shoes...
, trousers, a cashmere
Cashmere wool
Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...
sweater, and accessories such as a "Birkin bag
Birkin Bag
The Birkin bag is a handmade purse by Hermès and named after actress and singer Jane Birkin. The bag is a symbol of wealth due to its high price and elusiveness to the public....
" and a Cartier
Pierre Cartier (jeweler)
Pierre Camille Cartier was a French jeweler. He was one of three sons of Alfred Cartier and the brother of Jaques Cartier and Louis Cartier...
Tank Française wrist-watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
. To a large extent, it refers to upper-class, or upper-middle-class, young men and women who are well-bred, or appear so, with good bones, slim bodies, and a sophisticated, but restrained and elegant, sense of style. In the U.S., the Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
sense of style would be the equivalent.
Porn chic
- Also known as Porno chic
"Porn chic" was first applied to films such as Deep Throat
Deep Throat (film)
Deep Throat is a 1972 American pornographic film written and directed by Gerard Damiano and produced by Louis Peraino and starring Linda Lovelace ....
(1972) and Emmanuelle
Emmanuelle
Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French softcore erotic movies based on a character created by Emmanuelle Arsan in the novel Emmanuelle...
(1974) which were commercially successful and thus tended to bring "soft" pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
into the mainstream. Subsequently it has been used to refer more generally to pornography in popular culture.
Radical chic
- Also known as Terrorist chic
First coined by journalist Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
in 1970, radical chic has since entered broad usage as a derogatory term for the pretentious adoption of radical
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
causes by celebrities
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
, socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
s, and high society
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
.
Rich-girl chic
Said to be "oozed" by a New York socialite in Plum Sykes' The Debutante Divorcée (2006).Rock-girl chic
"Rock-girl chic" has meant different things during differing periods of music and fashion, but was often associated with a hippie image and was similar enough as a phrase to the slightly patronising "rock chick" to convey a sense of being a "groupieGroupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
". This and similar terms, such as "boho-rock" (2006), were often applied to model Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
, about whom Rebecca Ley from Times Online wrote that "Kate veers effortlessly between rock-girl chic and dripping-in-diamonds elegance". Moss's relationship in 2005-7 with Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
of the group Babyshambles
Babyshambles
Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...
tended to emphasise the tag.
Rural chic
Applied by the Sunday Times to a fashion collection designed and modelled by Savannah Miller, CotswoldCotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
-based sister of actress and noughties "boho
Boho-chic
Boho-chic is a style of female fashion drawing on various bohemian and hippie influences, which, at its height in 2004-5, was associated particularly with actress Sienna Miller and model Kate Moss in the United Kingdom and actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Nicole Richie in the United States...
-queen" Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller
Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...
, for the Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
based label, Shanghai Tang
Shanghai Tang
Shanghai Tang is an international clothing chain company, founded in 1994 by Hong Kong businessman David Tang Wing Cheung and now controlled by Richemont.David Tang claimed that Shanghai Tang is a Chinese label that set out to rejuvenate Chinese fashion...
.
Seaside chic
"Stripes, shorts, suits - seaside chic for the girl in every port"; "Seaside chic ... bright, bold colours, vibrant prints and stylish accessories rule the waves". See also Beach chic. Within home decorating, Seaside Inspired home accents that are influenced by island styles and beach designs. Seaside Chic style include the use of shells, coral and beach themed accents. SeasideInspired.comShabby chic
The deliberate use of worn and shabby materials in interior design or fashion. The effect of limewashingWhitewash
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...
timber-framed buildings has been described as "shabby chic".
Tropical Chic
Tropical and Beach themed home accents that are influenced by island styles and tropical designs. Tropical Chic style includes modern appointments, yet casual island style living. TropicalChic.comVampire chic
Similar to goth chic, but of a more explicitly VampiricVampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
nature.