Subversive basics: the Tik Tok trend that tells the values ​​of Gen Z

Old tights and pierced sheath dresses: Subversive basics is the name of the micro trend born on Tik Tok and soon became a phenomenon with 64 million views, which from the web to the streets undermining the category of basic garments. The term was coined by TikToker @thealgorythm, a former WGSN trend forecaster turned freelance, who explained in her video how this new style is "all based on basic elements that rebel to the point of losing their usefulness". A sensuality made of bold cuts, rips, twists, layering, flaps of fabric held together by straps and safety pins that thrive in a cultural terrain where the cut-out of emerging brands, the naked bodies of the Y2K return and DIY kitsch clothing, meet, laying the foundations for a new aesthetic that smacks of avant-garde and the past at the same time, but also of rebellion.

The rediscovery of the relationship with the garment in the most empirical sense, the redefinition of sexyness - after years in which sex and flesh have been a taboo for fashion - the amateur modification of the garments against the aesthetic homologation of the basic garments of Fast Fashion lead to jeans open on the hips by Maison Margiela, pierced pullovers by Prada worn one on top of the other in contrasting shades, the romantic minimalism of Nensi Dojaka, the rave atmosphere of KNWLS, together with the geometries of Isa Bouler and Stefan Cooke. Among the brands that are closest to subversive aesthetics - even in an ideological sense - Ottolinger deserves an honorable mention for making the cut out the manifesto of a sci-fi universe, bordering on the dystopian, in which the garments are dissected to represent the loss of certainties in postmodern society, in a sort of post-fashion. Deconstructing and rebuilding are terms most commonly associated with the punk movement of the 1970s and following Martin Margiela's avant-garde aesthetics, but the duo behind Ottolinger are bringing this rebellious approach to design back to the fore by advocating a defeated, seemingly confusing aesthetic, but definitely the result of "meticulous mistakes".

With DIY, fashion has become an evasion tool during the pandemic. Trends like cottagecore, regency core, summer camp-core - virtually any "core" helped the wearer transcend reality as people struggled to cope with the uncertainty of the year, a departure from the trendy aesthetic that "minimalist and functional clothes" now flows into a plethora of teenagers who turned to TikTok to create their own subversive pieces with socks and old T-shirts. As in Fontana the act of cutting the material object opens us to parallel universes, other meanings, the fall of the cornerstones of the traditional style materializes in the literal destruction of the status quo of fashion which also coincides with the destruction of the gender binary, the loss of usefulness of the collections divided into seasons, of the distinction between day and evening wear. The subversive basics, due to their subversive nature, know no bounds.

In this time of cultural change, wearing shredded tights all over the body could be normal, if not chic, and as the rules are rewritten, what classifies as a top or dress becomes the subject of debate. For a part of the generation like Gen Z that utopically hopes to overcome all differences and categorization, there can no longer be an ideal of sexyness that does not carry a deeper message, which gives power to the wearer and to the at the same time you tell the story of a generation that found itself facing a decadent society and an anachronistic value system compared to the rhythms of technological progress. In the era of capitalism, of the cult of wealth and success at any cost, perhaps the only act of rebellion that teenagers can afford is to walk around dressed in pierced socks, the mirror of that system - equally pierced - that they would like to change for ever, even if you don't know how to.