List of chics

This is a list of notable chics.

Chics

Ashcan chic

Term used in the United States c. 2005 for a "homeless" style, similar to boho-chic, 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.

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 bikini.[1] 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").[2] See also Seaside chic.

Boho-chic

Main article: Boho-chic

Trend of fashion in the early 2000s (decade) which drew on earlier Bohemian 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.

Bon chic bon genre

See Parisian chic

Camilla chic

Emulating the style, of which Burberry was a feature, of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who married Charles, Prince of Wales in 2005.[3]

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 & Spencer 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.[4] Easy chic ("breezy blouses, slouchy knits and sexy denim"[4]) has similar connotations.

Chav chic

See council house chic

Checkout chic

Referring to fashion ranges promoted by major supermarkets: "Tesco has stepped up its 'checkout chic' war with Asda by launching a design-led range of clothes to tempt female shoppers".[5] 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".[6]

Chelsea chic

Used by the Sunday Times ("The Sloane gets a sexy revamp"[2]) for fashionable trends among well-heeled "Sloane Rangers" (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[7]) in the Chelsea area of south west London.

Communist chic

Main article: Communist chic

See also: Che Guevara in fashion

Council house chic

"Council house chic"[8] or chav chic ("Chav Chic might have sunk the house of Burberry"[9]) referred to the fashions of working class "chavs" who shared Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's taste for Burberry check. See also Camilla chic.

Cycle chic

Main article: Cycle chic

To be well dressed and smart in everyday clothes whilst cycling for ordinary journeys.[10]

Eco Chic

Eco Chic means the use of eco-friendly textiles, such as organic cotton, silk and hemp, and also reconstructed clothing.[11]

Geek chic

"The look of a computer nerd".[12]

Goth chic

Title of a "connoisseur's guide" by Gavin Baddeley (2002) to dark or Gothic culture. Among those associated with the "goth 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".[13]

Heroin chic

Main article: Heroin chic

Heroin chic was a look popularized in mid-1990s fashion and characterized by pale skin, dark circles underneath the eyes and angular bone structure. The look, characterised by emaciated features and androgyny, was a reaction against the healthy and vibrant look of models such as Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer. A 1996 article in The Los Angeles Times opened that the fashion industry had "a nihilistic vision of beauty" that was reflective of drug addiction, while U.S. News & World Report called the movement a "cynical trend".

Hick chic

Hick 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' markets, four-wheel drive cars, labradors, Harris Tweed, Shaker furniture, Emma Bridgewater [tableware] ...".[14] "Hick" derives from "Old Hickory", a nickname for Andrew Jackson, US President 1829–37, a frontiersman who, like hickory 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 Dido 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".[15] 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".[16]

Hippie chic

Also known as Art-school chic and Talitha Getty 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[17] had roughly similar connotations. Talitha Getty chic was applied by Hedley Freeman in the Guardian[18] to the hippie style associated in the late 1960s (and since) with the actress wife (died 1971) of John Paul Getty. Talitha Getty is said to have inspired Ford's hippie-style creations.

Marzahn chic

Also known as Lichtenberg chic

Refers to the clothing style seen in some eastern and northern parts of Germany. It is composed of sweatpants or tracksuits, baseball caps and running shoes, commonly in bright colors like neon pink or yellow. The name originates from the locality Berlin-Marzahn where this style can frequently be seen. It also refers to the clothing style of Cindy aus Marzahn, a fictional character played by German comedian Ilka Bessin.

Military chic

Also known as Soldier chic

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".[19]

Nazi chic

Main article: Nazi chic

Nazi 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.

Northern chic

Occasionally applied retrospectively[20] to aspects of the musical and cultural boom generated by the rock group, the Beatles, 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.

Parisian chic

Also known as Bon chic bon genre

Frequently applied to anything stylish connected with the French capital Paris or to the style of French celebrities (e.g. actress Charlotte Gainsbourg[21] or others living in Paris, such as the English actress Kristin Scott Thomas[22]). Variants included "Left Bank" or "Right Bank" chic (or even "Left Bank chic versus Right Bank polish").[23] 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".[24]

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.[25] 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

"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.

Prairie chic

Flat caps and floral dresses or aprons over jeans.[26]

Radical chic

Main article: Radical chic

See also: Palestinian keffiyeh, Che Guevara in fashion, and Jihad Cool

Also known as Terrorist chic

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, socialites, and high society.

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 "groupie". 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".[27] Moss's relationship in 2005–7 with Pete Doherty of the group Babyshambles tended to emphasise the tag.

Rural chic

Applied by the Sunday Times to a fashion collection designed and modelled by Savannah Miller, Cotswold-based sister of actress and 2000s (decade) "boho-queen" Sienna Miller, for the Hong Kong based label, Shanghai Tang.[28]

Shabby chic

Main article: Shabby chic

The deliberate use of worn and shabby materials in interior design or fashion. The effect of limewashing timber-framed buildings has been described as "shabby chic".[29]

Soldier chic

See Military chic

Talitha Getty

See Hippie chic

Terrorist chic

See Radical 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.[30]

Waif Chic

Characterized by crochet-knit tops, over-sized sweaters that hang loosely off a thin frame, flats, and circle-frame glasses that accentuate a doe-eyed appearance. Waif chic first came to prominence in Cambridge, MA and is a popular look among college students and young professionals in the area.

Wilderness chic

Fashion trend inspired by clothing typical of hikers, climbers, and mountaineers.

References

1. Times Magazine, 22 July 2006
2. Style, 18 June 2006
3. Susie Dent (2005) Fanboys and Overdogs
4. Your M&S, Spring 2007
5. Metro, 29 August 2006
6. Metro, 31 August 2006
7. See Oxford Dictionary of New Words, 1991
8. Susie Dent (2004) Larpers and Shroomers
9. The Times Magazine, 26 June 2005
10. Cycle Chic Manifesto, http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/2008/04/cycle-chic-manifesto.html
11. "World Environment News - A model displays an outfit during the EcoChic Shanghai fashion show". Planet Ark. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
12. Dent (2003) The Language Report
13. The Times Knowledge, 3 June 2006
14. Country Life, 23 November 2006
15. Observer", 1 August 2004
16. London Lite, 2 October 2006
17. Sunday Times Style, 1 May 2005
18. Guardian, 24 June 2005
19. Ken Kessler, The Times, 17 June 2006
20. For example, The 60s: the Beatles' Decade, UKtv 2006
21. London Evening Standard magazine, 15 September 2006
22. See, e.g., The Times Guide to Paris Style & Fashion, October 2006
23. The Times Guide to Paris Style & Fashion, October 2006
24. Sunday Times Style, 22 October 2006
25. Carola Long in The Times Guide to Paris Style & Fashion, October 2006
26. For example, Daily Telegraph, 16 July 2003
27. Times Magazine, http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article687726.ece
28. Sunday Times Style, 20 August 2006
29. James Boutwood, letter, Country Life, 19 October 2006
30. Tropical Chic Style, Home Decorating News, 2 October 2008