R&B music and hip hop were not the first forms of black music to gain international appeal.
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The German Swing Youth members were commonly called Swing Kids. Nazi authorities documented distinctive features of the Swing Kids in order to suppress them. Official reports stated that Swing Kids could be easily identified by their striking appearance and outlandish clothing, compared with other Germans of their own age. These traits included several facets.
One of the most prominent hallmarks of the Swing Kids was their flamboyant haircuts, which became almost mandatory among their members. Male Swing Kids rebelled against the short military haircuts of other boys by growing “whips†of long hair, sometimes over a foot in length from their foreheads, that were combed backward with Brillantine or sugared water. Female Swing Kids openly violated the traditional braided hairstyles approved for girls by letting their hair grow long and loose, and by sometimes inserting permanent waves with chemicals and curlers. This artificially treated hair done up in foreign fashion was an anathema to Nazis, who disdained any deviance from the officially approved girlish look deemed appropriate for “nice German girls.â€Â
Choosing the proper clothing to harmonize with foreign Swing trends was more problematic for the Swing Kids. Their inspiration came from rare American and English film clips and magazines, or already known fashions of foreign vintage thought to be in harmony with Swing freedom. Male Swing Kids favored London/New York-style bulky double-breasted suit coats with very wide lapels, or bold zoot suit coats reaching almost to the knees. If possible, the coats were tailored to cut sharply in at the waist in the tough-guy fashion reminiscent of Hollywood-fashion American gangsters. Their baggy, deep-rise trousers with turned-up cuffs and ostentatious shoes with bright but strong crepe soles matched this motif. The American look, however, was tempered with Anglophile touches, including carrying a nearly obligatory umbrella, aping English Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden. A foreign daily newspaper in the outer coat bag, as well as a Shag-pipe, topped off this “dead smart†look. Favoritism toward British ways was most typical of Hamburg, Germany’s largest port city, which for centuries had enjoyed strong mercantile bonds with English seaports. (more…)
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