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| Killstar |
Now, I know the brands are being heavily inspired by the early 00s/late 90s. I think right now all they are doing is digging up old Lip Service catalogs. Nazi chic was a unfortunate style that came from the fetish scene and the naive summer children who did not know the recession and the rise of fascism. Seriously, with everything going on in the world, THIS IS NOT A LOOK we should be exploring.
Killstar's newest campaign is especially cringy. I honestly feel like this was conceived by clueless people. What's with the "come as you are" makeup, a lyric from Nirvana? Who's "revolt"ing? Is it the Fascists against democratic norms? Cause that's what's happening where I live. I'm sure it's not a dog whistle--honestly I think they are just trying to make it "punk rock," which doesn't make any sense. I don't usually like to hit my readers over the head with knowing the history of the subcultures dark fashion is influenced by, but in this case, seriously....
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| Killstar |
"But you will die in ours"? WHAT THE FUCK? What the fuck are you doing? Who wrote this copy? I feel so sorry for this model. If you're going to sell this shit, don't write anything. Below is Punk Rave, who I'm not so angry at because they are based in China and their version of fascist chic doesn't look like ours (I'm assuming). I still don't like it, but this...doesn't have any mention of genocide. With a certain style like steampunk or whatever, this may look more fantasy roleplay than fascist chic.
Even Dollskill, which is usually clueless, sells these products in the space it belongs: the fetish community. Whatever you want to roleplay is your business. I won't judge. If Killstar had done their entire campaign as a sex thing, I honestly wouldn't care. If everyone's fascist fantasies were restricted to the bedroom, the world would be a better place. "Captain Kink" is a good product description.
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| Dollskill |
My favorite use of this Nazi fetish look is Contrapoints's alt-right character, below. This is a great video on identifying fascist rhetoric and I recommend that everyone watch it.
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| contrapoints |
I personally saw fascist chic looks often in the industrial scene. There were a few skinheads in the scene, but there were others wearing military-inspired looks because it looked cool. I didn't wear anything Nazi, but I did have a bullet belt and military fatigues. I would NEVER wear this today because of the political situation in the US. I would look nationalistic.
Like I mentioned before, this look is coming back because of the 90s/00s looks coming back. It was worn then as both club fashion and fetish. I would argue that this look, today, does not belong anywhere except the bedroom. No festivals, no clubs, definitely not everyday. You may think you're Captain Kink, but in these times you're normalizing fascism.
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| lip service |
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| Marilyn Manson, in a 2001 video |
Do not wear this look. If you weren't around in the at the turn of the millennium and think it's cool and edgy, it's not. The kids will think you're alt-right, and the olds have already seen this before. I'm shitting on Killstar because of their clueless campaign and the fact that they market themselves as more of an "everyday" goth brand instead of a festival/club brand (though that's kind of changing lately). They also are pretty influential. Whether you wear goth brands or not, please, DO NOT BRING THIS LOOK BACK.
