Nazi chic

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Nazi chic refers to the approving use of Nazi-era style, imagery, and paraphernalia in clothing and popular culture.

1 Popular usage
2 Nazi chic in fetish clothing
3 Nazi chic in Asia
4 Nazi involvement in the fashion industry
5 See also
6 Footnotes

[edit] Popular usage

In the 1970s punk subculture, several items of clothing designed to shock and offend The Establishment became popular. Among these punk fashion items was a T-shirt displaying a Swastika, an upside-down crucifix and the word DESTROY — which was worn by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, seen in the video for "Pretty Vacant". Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie & the Banshees was also known to wear a Swastika armband. These musicians are commonly though to have worn such clothing for shock value rather than being into any far-right ideologies, and those with such interests likely became part of the Nazi punk or white power skinhead subcultures.

In 1984, two T-shirt designs featuring Adolf Hitler became popular. The more famous of the two was the "Adolf Hitler European Tour" design, which featured a picture of Hitler against the backdrop of a map of Europe, with conquered territories shaded. The writing accompanying the picture read:

September 1939 Poland
April 1940 Norway
May 1940 Luxembourg
May 1940 Holland
May 1940 Belgium
June 1940 France
September 1940 England Cancelled
April 1941 Jugoslavia
May 1941 Greece
June 1941 Crete
August 1942 Russia Cancelled
July 1945 Berlin Bunker.

A person attending an REM concert on September 28, 1986 wearing the "Adolf Hitler European Tour" T-shirt was asked to leave by Michael Stipe. A less popular T-shirt featured Hitler giving the Roman salute, and a yo-yo hanging from his hand. The text read "European yo-yo champion 1939-1945". Sale of the apparel led to a legal case in Germany, in an attempt to have it banned as "glorifying genocide".^[1] Local courts ruled against the shirt makers, although Bavarian state courts later ruled in their favor.^{[citation needed]}

In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Bryan Ferry, the English singer and musician, acknowledged that he calls his studio in west London his "Führerbunker". He was quoted as saying, "My God, the Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves. ... Leni Riefenstahl's movies and Albert Speer's buildings and the mass parades and the flags - just amazing. Really beautiful."^[2] (Later Ferry denied ever making this quote, and the newspapers printed a rectification.) The American glam metal band Mötley Crüe inserted in the booklet of the album Mötley Crüe (1994) an image of Nikki Sixx dressed as a Nazi. Officially, that photo was related to a lyric about the mistake of judging by the appearances, but actually it was inserted to mock the media^{[citation needed]} The discographer decided to cancel that photo and to reprint the whole booklet. In the Mötley Crüe autobiography, The Dirt, the band writes about their "Nazi Wednesdays", in which they used to walk down the street dressed in Nazi uniforms.

Agata Siwek, who grew up near Auschwitz, has been selling key rings and shirts in the Netherlands with pictures of holocaust tattoos and Nazi slogans.^[3] She claims that by seeing reminders of the Holocaust every day, such as having an "Arbeit Macht Frei" key-chain, requires visitors not to forget the era. However, her work is extremely controversial.

In early 2005 a designer using the pseudonym "Helmut Doork"^[4] began marketing a parody souvenir t-shirt with the slogans "My grandparents went to Auschwitz and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!" and "Arbeit Macht Frei."^[5] In response to a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League, the design was removed from CafePress' website in late 2006.^[6] However, the t-shirts have since been made available through another online retailer.^[7]

Prince Harry was criticized for wearing a costume with a swastika armband ^[8] causing considerable embarrassment to his family. He later issued a public statement apologizing for his actions, but his lack of apology in person angered some groups. Harry's impromptu costume resembled the Afrika Corps, rather than more political units such as the SS or the Wehrmacht.^[9]

[edit] Nazi chic in fetish clothing

Nazi chic is a controversial topic in the fetish clothing subculture. The symbolism of fascist, communist, and other regimes remains popular, and a common compromise is to adopt the main design features of Nazi-era clothing — such as peaked caps, jackboots and trenchcoats — but not to include any explicit Nazi symbols. Sometimes substitute symbols are used, with designs that clearly reference the design styles of Nazi symbols without directly copying them.

[edit] Nazi chic in Asia

Uniforms and other imagery related to Nazi Germany have been on sale in east Asia, where some considered it cool. Hong Kong and Japan have each witnessed a growth in the casual wearing of SS uniforms, as well as increased interest in white power music (also known as Rock Against Communism). Sometimes in east Asia, Nazi uniforms are used as part of cosplay. In South Korea, an area generally isolated from Nazi cultural influences during the Nazi era, Time magazine observed in 2000 "an unthinking fascination with the icons and imagery of the Third Reich."^[10] Nazi-inspired imagery featured in various early releases from Japanese band The 5.6.7.8's.^[11]

In some parts of the world, World War II is not taught in schools as a battle of political ideologies, but as a conventional war. This type of education means that Hitler and the Nazi Party are not treated as war criminals or evil, but merely as charismatic and powerful leaders of countries during wartime. Some east Asians are interested in what Adolf Hitler said about east Asian history and philosophy; the Nazi work ethic; as well as militaries that wore Hugo Boss uniforms and drove tanks made by Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. George Burdi, the former head of the neo-Nazi record label Resistance Records, claimed to have sold many CDs to Japan, because some Japanese believed themselves to be the white men of the east. In Turkey, Hitler's book Mein Kampf is an annual bestseller.^[12]^[13]

Western reaction to the Asian phenomenon has been one of sharp criticism and utter astonishment. Western diplomats, especially Germans and Israelis, have complained heavily, pointing out that Asians suffered under Japanese Militarism and occupation, and frequently compare them as an Asian version of Nazism in order to convey their discontent. German and Israeli embassies in Asian countries have pressured local authorities to shut down Nazi-themed bars, but this has usually resulted in the bar re-opening with only a changed name and no real change in attitude.