DA Info Pro - May 31st. Just a decade ago, colorfully dressed guys were everywhere - ardent representatives of youth subcultures, who, with their non-standard outfits and defiant behavior, tried to oppose themselves to the society of the 2000s. You can still meet punks who will not “die out”. And even sad emo girls who received a black and pink wardrobe, a set of pins and a Tokio Hotel discography as an inheritance from their mother. But all this is just splashes.

How does a cow tongue?

It seems that subcultures disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. But, despite the opinion of would-be researchers, this is not entirely true. Or rather, yes, but not quite. Naturally, some of the tomboys who “stood out from the gray mass” long ago abandoned dreams of a general rebellion, but the other half never stopped transforming youth ideas, adapting them to new circumstances.

A peculiar evolution allowed ex-followers of subcultures to successfully adapt to modern realities, and in some cases to form completely independent movements and styles, in particular musical ones. And this despite the fact that the typical external attributes in the lion's share of cases were replaced by the widespread fashion for beards, tattoos or hair dyed in all the colors of the rainbow.

But to be blunt, most of the rebel youths really had to forget about the spirit of struggle forever. The rest chose a different path. We will talk about both the first and the second.

Not about everything, but in order...

Youth subcultures of the late 2000s protested against the still fragile system of state values, and also had their own attitudes, a certain philosophy and, often, ideology. Without delving into details, we can say that the first informals appeared during the Soviet era. And already in 1991, punks, in the literal sense of the word, were sitting importantly on tanks parked near the Government House in Moscow.


At one time, the Union, which took the position of a parent, demanded to inculcate a certain number of values, and some of the youth, as befits “children,” had to protest. And she protested. Then forms of self-expression that were objectionable to the USSR authorities began to be “smuggled” from the West.

In essence, this is what it is Short story the appearance of the first dudes, rockers, punks and others in the Union. The “parent” tried to punish, prohibit and re-educate. And the “children,” in turn, resisted, ran away from control, “licked their wounds,” but did not give up. After the collapse of the USSR, the situation changed. The place of a single state ideology was replaced first by the pluralism of Perestroika, and then by absolute democracy, which almost completely destroyed the established value system.

The main “enemy” of youth disappeared, but the war, which, according to Viktor Tsoi’s behest, was “the work of the young,” still continued. If there was no enemy, then, of course, he had to be appointed. Society was once again chosen as a rival, but to do this it had to be provoked by any available means, including: music, clothing and non-standard behavior.

Then the empty space of centralized structures, for example, the Pioneers and the Komsomol, began to be occupied by peculiar interest groups - the same ones that became fertile ground for the prosperity of motley rebels in the mid-2000s. These groups, rapidly growing in number, will soon begin to copy the already developed ideology of foreign subcultures, which will later be altered, adjusted to the very realities of the 2000s, by the second wave of their followers.

Path number “one”: assimilation

The core of absolute subcultures has always been students and schoolchildren, whose appearance in one or another informal group was often predetermined by musical preferences. And also aesthetic tastes, which rarely coincided with generally accepted norms. Without going into details, you can remember the strange appearance of punks, various kinds of rockers or goths.


First hand:“In a nutshell, Gothic is a passive protest against mass social values, philistinism and philistinism, the futility of being and achieving “success” in the understanding of society. In general, we didn’t disappear anywhere. We simply consider it beneath our dignity to exhibit ourselves. What are we, some kind of hipsters?

But the young rebels grew up and, as a result, increasingly encountered the same society that, as practice has shown, did not care about any pseudo-cultural revolutions. As a result, yesterday’s informal students had to go in search of income, which means, both literally and figuratively, to wash off their usual war paint from their faces, which increased the chances of being liked by the employer.

First hand:“Even now I can tell you that everything is decay, materialism is evil, and money is trash.”

Such assimilation, naturally, can be called disappearance, but only partially. Since it clearly does not imply a wholesale change in worldview. Moreover, not all movements did this. Some of them flatly refused to support traditional values, even as a joke.

A striking example of this are skinheads. The desire to eradicate underground champions of ideas of racial superiority led to a kind of rebranding. The official ban on wearing the usual paraphernalia with neo-Nazi motifs forced admirers of the stylized swastika to repaint themselves in the colors of football clubs and adopt a new coat of arms - the Celtic cross. This resulted in the creation of ultras movements, some of which are notorious not only for their ardent devotion to the team, but also for the flourishing of nationalist or pseudo-patriotic ideas.

Bushido, or the Way of Rappers

Today, Russian rap is called the main music of Russian youth. But the first more or less suitable masters of rhyming words to beats appeared in the CIS only in the early 1990s. They could not yet boast of individual technique, clearly inferior to seasoned overseas performers. Even despite the fact that the latter, if they were understood, it was only after the notorious “motherfucker” connection.

The younger generation, who considered themselves to be one of the branches of hip-hop, and often these were schoolchildren, wore wide denim pants, loose T-shirts and bright hoodies. Massive jewelry glittered on their wrists and necks, and their heads were decorated with Panama hats and other attributes of a typical wardrobe. Now all the above-mentioned wealth is considered archaic.


It is clear that against the backdrop of seemingly reckless goths, punks and metalheads screaming “heavy metal rock” at every corner, representatives of the hip-hop environment looked almost appropriate. So to speak, in the spirit of free time.

However, the rise in popularity of rap music came at a time when most subcultures, in fact, were already relics of their time. Or they were in decline. The thinning “fauna” exposed the hidden rebellion and radical romanticism of rap, which only added fuel to the fire of youthful maximalism.

But rappers, who were the leaders and trendsetters, had one extreme that played a key role not only in the sustainability of the subculture, but also in its unprecedented flourishing. More than the gray society, hip-hop artists hated only each other. On the one hand, this led to eternal splits and branches, and on the other, it made rap culture incredibly tenacious.


In the heat of the confrontation, the performers tried on new images. Soon, some of them deliberately stopped wearing the notorious wide jeans, contrasting themselves with their colleagues in the shop, who were allegedly fixated on external attributes, and not on the craftsmanship. It was then that it was not the brightness of the clothes that began to come to the fore, but the technique and filigree of rhyme.

This phenomenon, which allowed rappers and their audience to exchange the “uniform” for the quality of the musical product, helped not only preserve the subculture, but also turn it into the global something that it is now.

Where have the emo gone?

Where have the emo gone?

Veterans of the movement reminisce

In the mid-2000s, emo was the most widespread and visible of the youth subcultures. These were young people who listened to American emotional hardcore, wore side bangs, skinny jeans and numerous scarves and badges with black and white or black and pink prints. The State Duma was worried that emos were promoting suicide, skinheads saw the emotional subculture as ideological enemies, and among schoolchildren the phrase “emo-sax” was a universal answer to all questions. At some point the emo wave subsided. Unlike other subcultures that can be found in city parks and squares, emo is neither seen nor heard. VOS talked to veterans of the emo movement to understand what it was and where everyone went.

Jacob, 24 years old

Was an emo boy from 2005 to 2007. It all started for me, the stump is clear, with unrequited love and seas of alcohol. Then I heard about the music, and then about the direction. For me it meant being part of a good group of people who supported your musical tastes, wanted to stand out from the crowd, basically like any teenagers. There was no public position. It all looks more like a club of interests and just a hangout. We looked for registrations (vacant apartments of friends or acquaintances, where we could hang out in a huge crowd at night), went to concerts (gigs), drank cheap alcohol, Blazer and Jaguar. And the ideals in this culture itself are simple: to be sincere, not to hide your feelings and emotions, but, naturally, most people don’t care.

I dressed in skate shops, because in the 2000s it was wildly problematic to buy bright and tight clothes, especially skinny jeans. The main thing is to emphasize your thinness. From music I listened to emocore / screamo / emoviolence, because this music originated in the USA. Bands like The Used, Drop Dead Gorgeous, From First to Last, Orchid, Funeral for a Friend, Underoath. Russian alternative scene, but, in my opinion, we played exclusively nu-metal and metalcore, and not emocore, with the exception of the group “Origami”.

I left in 2007, when a bunch of so-called poseurs appeared, who simply made fashion out of this culture and it ceased to carry any meaning. I decided to simply remove the external attributes, piercings and long bangs, so as not to classify myself as one of them. But I still like this kind of music, I listen to it with pleasure. The subculture exists and has not disappeared anywhere, the time has just passed when every third person was an emo, all the fagots simply left from there, since it is no longer fashionable to look like that. In my opinion, there are still guys who are just in the know.

Ellina, 20 years old

I've been emo since about 2009. I was small, but I got very deep into this subculture. Everything serious started in 2012. Those were great times. At the moment, I don’t want to classify myself as a member of any subculture; each person is individual. But it was emo culture that made me understand this. You know, emo is the most peaceful subculture, I agree with all the positions it represents.

There was also misunderstanding on the part of people. But they are all a gray mass, they will never understand what it is like to express their emotions openly, they thought that we were abnormal, so be it. But we do not force ourselves into the framework of society and do what we want. The emo spirit will probably stay with me forever.

Anton, 20 years old

I became emo in 2008. At first, for me it was just a cool appearance, music, I felt that it was close to me. Later I delved deeper into the ideology of culture and became convinced that I needed it. The essence of culture was detachment from public opinion, non-following of stereotypes, patterns and prejudices laid down by society, positioning oneself as an autonomous unit and not part of a system, freedom of expression, freedom of expression of emotions and opinions, not being afraid to accept oneself for who you are, openness.

I listen to emocore, both domestic and foreign, early post-hardcore, mall-emo, pop-punk. In 2008, I dressed in what I still wear now. Tight jackets, hoodies, T-shirts, shirts, sweaters, rather elegant and not brutal clothes.

The subculture is alive, evidence of this is emo publics with a large number of subscribers; fashion has simply passed and those who were in it only because it was fashionable. Now they belong to the subculture that is fashionable now. For me, they weren't emo, just fashionistas. Those who were ideologically in this movement remained in it. In fact, now it is also slowly becoming fashionable, “bring back 2007.” The whole essence of the subculture is in its views on the world, I have always said that emo are not made, emo are born. After all, without a certain worldview, a certain state of mind, a certain way of thinking, would this be interesting to me?

Three emo girls (in unison) Bangy,
Mardzhera, Polly_Di, each 22 years old

We became emo in 2006, I think. A certain party was formed, and everyone was hanging out at the Theater and Manega. And the rest - I don’t bother. All their workers knew each other. And the leftists, no matter what, came and we threw eggs at them. The main message was that it is important not to hide true emotions, to be who you are. Maybe it was a way to express myself, who knows. At school, all the teachers thought I was a goth. It was just fashionable. That's all. We were all Emorians, and we weren't much different. Just like then everyone started hanging out at Solyanka. And now it’s fashionable to go to techno parties.

Vasily, 20 years old

I have been in the emo party (I propose to call it a party) since 2007 - the peak of the popularization of this culture in the sense that this peak is associated with its heyday, acquiring the status of the dominant youth subculture at that time to such an extent that, due to its popularity, it ceased to be similar in this regard to a subculture, but has become a mass culture, embracing large sections of young people. This same emo wave did not leave me aside. Many of my friends and acquaintances gradually began to master a new style of behavior, clothing, new music, adopting and copying all these attributes from each other. It was truly a wave that absorbed more and more new guys every day. As we know, it is difficult to resist the pressure of the wave, even being in such a weight category - at that time I was only 13–14 years old. And according to all the laws of physics, this same wave carried me far and for a long time. I succumbed to the general euphoria.

Now many have jobs and families, but for this minority, who remained in the party after the decline in its popularity by 2010, these ideals remained for life, and friends in the movement became friends for life. We still gather in large groups and organize gatherings. Everyone is no longer the teenagers they were then. But the so-called spirit still lives. Everyone remembers the past - the time of freedom and carelessness, childhood joy and childhood grievances, first love. This is probably why many of us have matured in mind, but have not aged in heart. We can say with confidence that the ideals laid down back then are still manifested in communication between us. I'm an emo as long as I have someone to see and spend time with. I'm emo until my soul and my heart grow old and die. There are fewer of us, but this culture will live forever. Despite the decline in the popularity of the emo movement, there are still teenagers who are interested in emo culture and get into the party.

Ksenia, 20 years old

It all started in 2007, I was 12, if I’m not mistaken, and continued until I was 14. How it happened, I don’t know. I often came to Moscow since childhood, saw it all, and was interested. And there were such people in our city. Now, oddly enough, they are successful, many have moved to America, are engaged in business, and I remember them with side-swept bangs and wearing tutus. Everyone already has families and children. I was the smallest in the company.

There were fights a couple of times. Boys would come up to us and start talking rudely, but fortunately for us, in most cases we could explain that there was nothing wrong with it. Once, my friend and I got into a fight with two boys, they were about 25 years old. A boy, an acquaintance of ours, came up and separated us. And at school there were many altercations with teachers and classmates. I didn’t care about the school uniform, and I wanted to wear black and pink leg warmers on my arms and shave my temples. I smoked, listened to rock, dressed strangely. Mom was against all this, she constantly cursed, but she decided that I would get over it - and so it happened. They cut off my side bangs one day and that was it. It's gone with that. I sat and cried, and by the evening I had calmed down and felt good.

It's very funny to say that I have grown up. It’s just that at some point you begin to understand that it’s not always good to show your emotions and let people know what you really think. And you don’t want to stand out, you want to do the same thing you did, but no longer stand out. There is no desire to gather in the city center dressed in pink.

It was fashionable to have bright color combinations, bright with black, thus showing positive and negative emotions that everything in your life is striped. There were girls, they wore pink tutus, striped T-shirts, and leg warmers.

Thanks to the subculture, I began to understand people in many ways, their bad sides. At that time I stopped loving my hometown, I wanted to leave there. It seemed that all the people were kind and wonderful, but it turned out that they were not.

The emo era ended, and thanks to the acquaintances I made in the 2000s, I began to get tattoos; people appeared who set me on the path of a musician far from emo culture. At least the appearance remained similar. The funny thing is that many of the “chelkaris” I knew became completely different people. Someone is running around, painting carriages and walls. Someone became a football player. But still, the majority became musicians. Some even began to lead an ordinary, measured family life.

Today's youth are for Last year Has changed a lot in appearance. Until recently, the gray mass of people was diluted by teenagers who dressed in wide trousers, arafatkas, hung huge crosses on their necks, pinned numerous badges on their clothes, and colorful pins on their jeans

Nowadays you rarely see teenagers in such clothes on the streets of Kachkanar. Everyone became similar to each other. Even those who consider themselves to be “purely real boys and girls” increasingly began to dress in colorful fitted shirts with short sleeves and faded jeans.

As a hairstyle on the heads of young people who yesterday wore punk mohawks, side-swept bangs or buzz cuts, today they have long, neatly styled hair, often dyed or highlighted. Where have those same rockers, punks, hippies, emo gone? It turns out they are still close to us. It’s just that some have stopped expressing their individuality so clearly through their appearance, while others believe that fashion for their lifestyle is being replaced by hated glamor. I talked to the guys who used to call themselves informals, and this is what I found out.

Masha, 18 years old

It seems to me that they have become fashionable. They were no longer noticed on the streets of the city, no longer reacted to them the way they would like. Some simply grow out of this childhood state and begin to dress normally, behave appropriately, change their style and outlook on the world. Instead, there are now glamorous girls and guys to match them. We are already accustomed to this; today it is considered normal and acceptable to the crowd.

Nastya, 17 years old

I think that most of the guys have become smarter. Maybe they are tired of sidelong glances from the outside, eternal persecution. Or maybe you just wanted to put on heels and a skirt, and the guys wanted to take off their piercings and go to the gym. Now, instead of informals, there are people who grew up from informal society. They became interested in completely different things, their views changed.

Why did I stop classifying myself as an informal? I think because I became interested in a different society, I matured.

Maxim, 17 years old

There are fewer of us because fashion has changed. But those who ceased to consider themselves non-for, therefore, never were. They simply wore appropriate clothes: sneakers, arafatkas, chains. By and large, all these accessories do not play a big role. The main thing is to live and feel like an informal person. There are informal teenagers in our city, and what kind of stereotype is this that informal teenagers must be emo, goth or hippie? An informal person is a person with informal thinking.

Olya, 15 years old

In my opinion, it was just a fashionable wave for informal looks. When it passed, many put on regular clothes, took off their piercings and trimmed their bangs. There are, of course, even now individuals who can be called informals, but they do not care at all what others call them. It doesn’t matter to them, they don’t walk around the city beating themselves in the chest, saying that they are informal.

I stopped classifying myself as a member of the informal society, not because the fashion had passed, it just became clear to me that no matter how a person calls himself, he still remains what he is. So today I am just me.

Hortensia, 19 years old

I think the exnephors just matured and realized that this is not the main thing. You don't have to stand out from the crowd with colorful T-shirts, shocking hairstyles and numerous piercings. In general, they grew out of all this!

Who is replacing them now? I don’t even know what to answer. Probably ordinary young people who do not strive to prove anything to anyone with their behavior and manners. Why did I leave the circle of informals? I just grew up.

Light + Ka

Guys and girls? What do you think about it? Where have the informals gone? Why did the “emo” style become fashionable? And how does the concept of “informal” generally stand for?

Back in 2007, long before the appearance of Scryptonite’s songs, Yuri Dud’s show and cuffs on jeans, Russian teenagers lived in the era of subcultures: they dyed their hair black and pink, cried to the music of Animal Jazz, walked through cemeteries and talked romantically about death. In our material we talk about where all the informals have gone and whether they can be revived again in the conditions of modern Russia.

It seems that all the long-haired informals who wear gloomy T-shirts with the image of Tokio Hotel and insert piercings into any part of the body visible to others have been washed away by a wave of bearded hipsters and young schoolchildren who do not let go of their iPhones. It’s hard to believe that subcultures that so diligently built their ideology and gave birth to so many musical groups suddenly disappeared without even having time to explain themselves to their admirers. The harsh informals, who seemed aggressive and uncommunicative, were unable to find a common language with the people in the gateways and went underground.

The heyday of subcultures occurred in 2007-2008 - a time when in almost every Russian courtyard one could meet sad emo boys who became depressed for any reason, and among teenagers there was a great love for things made of black and white checks (the main color of the subculture " ska"), Avril Lavigne songs and skulls on backpacks. At the same time, despite their great love for dark things, such informals lived ordinary life: we went to school, work, concerts of our favorite bands, enjoyed the dollar exchange rate of 30 rubles and ate cheap hamburgers at McDonald's.

It was a completely ordinary time when teenagers, in parallel with their studies and preparation for the then even less severe Unified State Exam, were sad about unrequited love to “Three Stripes” by Animal Jazz and “Autumn” by the group “China”, did not think about illegal rallies and a change of power , and also lived without vloggers on Youtube.

A generation of tender and sensual teenagers lived and felt sad in a country in which at that time everything was fine: no sanctions, high dollar and euro exchange rates, free entry to Kyiv and complete harmony in Ukraine. Against the backdrop of Russian stability, melancholic emos and aggressive goths looked quite funny, but this pseudo-intellectual sadness expressed their protest to the older generation, who were enjoying happy times.

Several years passed and depressed teenagers had no time to be sad: stability in Russia was undermined, an economic crisis began, and young emo, having left school, found themselves in real world, where adults, as it turns out, have practically no time for melancholy. Having thrown out the dark clothes from their wardrobe and erased all the songs in the alternative genre from their phone, the former informals got bogged down in everyday affairs like getting a diploma, finding a job and personal happiness.

Yesterday's informals have turned into completely ordinary people, drowning in problems and hiding their sadness over a glass of beer on a Friday evening.

Once in adulthood, former emos and goths realized that their ideology did not bring any benefit. Russian society, and thus forever buried any idea of ​​​​the revival of these subcultures. Emo, goth, ska and punk were killed in less than a year by their creators who decided to forget about their teenage past.

It cannot be said that informals have completely abandoned Russian reality. Of course, the fashion for black and pink clothes, long bangs and piercings all over the face is a thing of the past. Now informals express their commitment to a certain subculture in a different way and, as a rule, do not particularly focus on their appearance for the sake of social rules (you can be an absolute punk at heart, but you still have to wear a suit to work).

But Russian informals enjoy attending concerts of alternative rock bands, whose repertoire has remained almost unchanged since 2007, and sometimes take patrols with skulls out of the closet, nostalgic for the past. And although it seems that the number of informals has noticeably decreased over a couple of years, depressed emo and goths are still alive and well: they order clothes from "Neformarket" (a store that every Yaroslavl informal knows), go to concerts of the group “Slot” and AMATORY and review canonical films of informal culture (like “Requiem for a Dream” or depressive films of Bergman).

Point of view

Let's start with the fact that there is the concept of “subculture”, and there is the concept of “informal”. Now in Russia there are two subcultures ruling the roost - rappers and hipsters. But they are not informals, because hipsters are based on retro style (and this is considered normal in society, because everyone wore these clothes once), and rappers simply cause laughter and are not considered something unique to our society.

For the most part, informals have 4-5 main directions: punks, goths, emo, rivets, etc. Actually, the very concept of informal comes from the fact that these people, at least, do not look like everyone else, because... To belong to these stylists, you need to wear special merch/look. Punks have leather jackets and mohawks, metalheads have long hair and metal, goths have black clothes and dark makeup.

Now real informals are a thing of the past. Of course, there are many people who support the ideas of informals and listen to the corresponding music, but they look like everyone else. I would even say that this is a modern trend. If you look at photos of current punk performers, you will notice that they look like ordinary people. Nowadays people have less and less need to stand out from the crowd, the lines between styles are increasingly blurred, so over time there are fewer and fewer real goths/emo/punks.

For example, I don’t remember the last time I saw a spiritual nephor live, although I know a bunch of “spiritual” nephors. I know a huge number of people who support the punk movement. Among my friends there are goths and emo. It’s just that now, whether in Russia or in the world, there is no need to wear non-Fora merch.

/Alexey Fedorov, videographer/

The fact that there are fewer informals is very noticeable. Nowadays you practically won’t see goth, emo or specifically bright representatives of other subcultures on the street. The very aesthetics of subcultures has remained in creativity, music, and in some other areas of life, but in clothing and in everyday life all this is now not particularly fashionable.

Those who were informal 10-20 years ago, now, as a rule, have grown up, started a family, and consider this whole style to be something “beyond their age.” Or leaves some individual parts- long hair, small accessories. But sometimes former nefors bring their children to us and happily buy them paraphernalia with different groups. Our clients are very different, without restrictions: from children to pensioners. Most of all, perhaps, schoolchildren, but this has always been the case and, apparently, will be so.

True, among our clientele there are still people who like to look bright and interesting. It’s just that now people come to us to buy not white powder and not spiked elbow-length bracers, but a stylish, genre-specific, but much less flashy ring or bracelet. They will not be visible on the street for a kilometer.

The informal trends themselves have long been blurred and turned for the most part into something like a simple hobby for music or piercing, anime or steampunk, or whatever. Nowadays, apparently, there is simply no need to dress “subculturally”, pretentiously and somehow especially characteristic. Most likely, most of the external attributes have left the streets for festivals.

As for the ideological component of subcultures, many ideas remain. Many people love the same gothic style, all this dark aesthetics. Punk in general is eternal - it is both music and a philosophy of its own. They also listen to rock and metal, and how.

The subcultures themselves, in the form in which they were understood, say, 10-15 years ago, as a phenomenon, have probably just slightly exhausted themselves now.

/Lis Nikanor, Neformarket store/