Nu Rave
[ 14 August 2007 ]
“Recently I’ve been becoming really enticed by this season’s “new rave” trend, as I love bright colours and weird patterns but I don’t have a clue how to go about dressing myself in lurid, dayglow colours without looking like a clown!”
The Nu Rave look is tricky to pull off, since I feel quite strongly that neon colours were probably never created with the intent of people splashing them onto clothes. When you think about it, garish green, shocking pink, eye-watering yellow & brain-crushing orange don’t really go with anyone’s skin tone. I mean, yes, it can be worn, but it’s not neccessarily flattering.
However, cautionary tale aside, obviously you want to pick up on the trend, so here are some ways to do it!
Secret Genius Tip
I think the way to master the “nu rave” look is to imagine you’re a senior citizen, & you’ve just caught the bus to Atlantic City to do some gambling for the weekend. However, while you were packing, your cruel grandchild spiked your tea with psychedelics. Now: dress accordingly.
Try to keep neon colours away from your face as much as you can. It’s really easy to look washed-out or ill if you’re wearing the wrong colour under your chin.
Those House of Holland t-shirts have been a huge hit & sell for a keen price on Ebay. Chain stores have picked up on the trend & you can now buy a knock-off for a pittance. Over here in Australia, Supre has a whole lot of white t-shirts with “BAD HAIR DAY” & “LOVE YOU LONG TIME” printed in neon green. If you’re not sure how long the trend (or your interest in it) will last, going for one of these cheaper, “gateway” items might be your best bet.
On your bottom half, try wearing colourful leggings, skinny jeans in sky blue or lime green, or a bubble skirt with crazy stockings underneath. Ksubi (pictured above) have an incredible range of wild skinny jeans, & Urban Outfitters have skinny jeans in fuschia, green & blue.
As always, colourful accessories are the way to go. Buy some crazy platform sneakers or cheap fake Converse & cover them with paint & sequins & gee-gaws. Buy a plain tote & spray a stencil on the side in hot pink paint. Load up on colourful jewellery, neon wigs & silly sunglasses. Paint your nails white or neon.
I had a look around Patricia Field’s online shop &, other than having a huge crush on her, I discovered she sells a whole lot of things which will supplement your look. For example:
Sequinned visor, $22, in a huge range of colours.
Mighty Fine retro Bambi t-shirt, $36. I looooove this.
High waist sequin shorts, $74. (Okay, not strictly nu rave, but totally hot nonetheless.)
Neon splatter sunglasses, $16, & again, a huge range of colours.
Tripp zebra tunic minidress, $48. (Not strictly nu rave either, but you could rock it.)
Timmy Woods lip purse, $250 & worth every CENT goddamnit. It’s SO Amanda Lepore.
Psychedelic Daisy t-shirt, $36. Very easy to wear.
Bling sequin “fanny pack” (bum bag), $24, every colour under the sunnnnn.
For the brave (& those well-acquainted with an eyeshadow brush), my friend Sophie (right) rocks this neon rainbow makeup like it was designed for her. I think she looks AMAZING. Might be something to try!
Finally, something from the Urban Dictionary...
“Nu Rave is when rich young children ‘rave’ in a licensed venue, listening to average indie pop bands who call themselves Nu Rave to get the rich young kids to buy their records and make them and their record companies/the venues money.“Hey Ollie are you coming to Koko Nu Rave night tonight, it’ll be jolly good fun. We can buy GLOWSTICKS and wear colourful trousers and act all kerayzeeeeeee, then we can come back to mine and get Jeeves to russle us up a couple of VODKA AND TONICS!..... man”“
Wink wink, nudge nudge! Have fun!
Extra For Experts:
Poprave Blog is an awesome blog designed for followers of nu rave culture, with recommendations for clothing, shoes, vinyl toys & all manner of ridiculousness.
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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When I see neon in fashion magazines i get the biggest attack of the giggles.
There is no way I’d be able to pull it off. Airbrushed UV fake tattoos – maybe, neon – no.
PS: Your friend Sophie looks amazing.
omg! i love the nu rave look! its so….funky!! im more for the goth/emo look but i still think the nu rave thing looks amazing
This comment has nothing to do with what you have written, but I felt oddly compelled to leave you a comment to say, this blog makes me sooooooo happy! I’m all about simple pleasures, and your writing brings a little ray of sunshine into my life. I just thought you should know!
I’m not sure I’d be able to pull it off, but it is very fun to watch.
Right now I’m very comfortable rocking my JINBEI.
Kisses from Mexico.
i’ve never heard of this style…
or well, the label.
it reminds me of my favoritest d&b dj,
Mr. John B!
http://www.myspace.com/johnbbeta
http://www.john-b.com/
he’s got this 80’s electro/jungle thing going. i
I read this post thinking, “I’m too old for this post” (1980s, anyone?). Then I saw the zebra mini dress – haha, yes! :-D
Oh my b’gosh, I’m glad this is coming back. I actually witnessed the aforementioned bright jeans on a friend of mine at Urban Outfitters. Quite lurid. And by ‘coming back,’ I mean, whatever happened to raves? They were EVERYWHERE for a while. I feel like they faded out. Or maybe people I knew just stopped doing so much Ecstasy. Either way, the colors are enticing, to say the least. Every time psychedelic colors get involved I get all my hopes up waiting for that revolution…maybe this time we’ve got it coming to us. Who’s our Ken Kesey? Somebody step up!
I dig that rainbow eye make-up. Reminds me of certain Jem characters.
Hayley Williams of Paramore (http://www.buzznet.com/www/search/photos/hayley%20williams/) pulls this look off pretty well – so does the rest of the band actually. But I always considered her look “scene” Why is it that all of these styles coincide with each other? Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between “emo” “scene” and now apparently “nu-rave”
Interesting post! I don’t think I could pull this off, but I love all the colors!
Oy, I must say, I find th whole nu rave thing quite passe. Watered-down club kids. Though I adore those sequin hotpants, I’d totally wear them with bright stockings and a 1920s sailor blouse!
I’m not big on nu rave – I think it straddles the line between ironically bad and claudia kishi after she’s been blinded by too many strobe lights.
Not that i’ll ever say no to a neon legging-ed, blue-rinsed psychotropic-fueled bingo game when i’m an old lady!
Okay, that said, I NEED THOSE SEQUIN SHORTS. Though possibly I’ll have to purchase some twig-like thighs, too :)
Your cruel grandchild, or your TOTALLY AWESOME GRANDCHILD?!
Song — Ain’t she a peach?!
Becca — Ohhh, thank you so much! That is totally sweet. I’m glad you like it! xxx!
Julie — What is a jinbei?!
Nadine — Dude, even I think I’m too old for this style, & I turn 24 in a month! Haha. I remember neon in the early nineties & it was BAD then, so… you know. I still like bright colours, just in moderation! & not neon ;D
Sarah Decay — Hahaha, I love your comments! You are hilarious!
valuska — I know, aren’t they incredible?! I don’t have the legs for it but if I did, you better believe I would wear those goddamn things EVERY DAY.
Natalie — Yeah, I’m with you. But hey!
SamiDoinDriveBys — Hahahahahaha. YES!
Those splattered sunglasses! I found some in Greece for €3 and bought them for my friend [deep inside joke about Klaxons and New Rave], they were in Artrocker magazine shon as $9 [US Dollars] from FredFlare.com and now those are $16! Yay! I got a bargain!
Nu Rave doesn’t seemed to have caught on over here yet, but I am WAITING IMPATIENTLY for it to happen!
Walking down the street and seeing kids all done up in day-glo would make me go :-D
Those sequin shorts are definitely a winner. I looove Valuska’s idea of how to wear them…I see them with a pair of velvet sky-high wedges and a billowy tucked-in blouse!
I think the Nu Rave movement is something I will watch curiously from a safe distance.
that purse…_
I can’t believe this is happening again. The first time ‘round I sported a very fine lime green T-shirt with GO-GO printed on the front. Oh, & various shades of mismatched ‘fluro’ socks. Anyone remember those awful mood shirts? YUCK!
I do love this whole neon craze (which apparently Vogue thinks should be deleted). The only problem I have is with this whole term ‘nu rave’. I think people should not go around saying they dress ‘sooooo nu rave’ but simply say ‘I love wearing neon and mixing lots of fabric/material styles together’ or a shorter version of that.
There is nothing new about it, nor is it really a rave!!! A rave, in a music sense, is an illegal party, usually hosted in a field in the middle of nowhere, invariably with a soundtrack made up of predominantly electronic music.
One thing also to remember kids is that the term was actually created by Klaxons in an interview with NME – they kinda invented it on the spurr of the moment, something they repeatedly say they regret since there’s nothing rave or new about what they’ve done – they’ve only just re-awoken indie dance, not re-written the bible!
* gets off soap box *
To each their own, of course, but all the neon just makes me think of the 80’s/early 90’s, and I’m so.so.so.so.SO. sick of the 80’s revival. We’ve not only beaten the dead horse, but made it into a bottle of glue, and the bottle is empty. Again, to each their own, and some people can rock the style pretty well. I’m just feeling so bored with the fashion trends lately. When are we going to see something new??? :(
That said, I do have a pair of hot pink sneakers that I dearly love. I’m such a hypocrite. heh.
And I adore those sequin shorts. How flippin’ cute!
Oh yes, and that’s why I love your blog Gala, because I see things outside of the 80’s trend! Sorry, my rant seemed like it might have been attacking you, and I wasn’t. This is what happens when I write things as soon as I wake up…
ok, this is my second comment on this topicy but i got some awesome bright pink skinny jeans today! it was such a coincidence coz it was an hour after i read this!!
god, bright pink skinny jeans rule!
Chesney – you’re way cute!!! xoxo
Nu-rave is okay to watch from a safe distance.
Unfortunately, I live in the home of nu-rave, so there is no safe distance. Nu-rave kids (and they really are kids, 14 years old and up, they make me feel old and wrinkled) swarm up from the suburbs and invade every weekend. They hang around outside the pubs and bars they are too young to actually get into and still think they’re cool.
The fashion simultaneously makes me cringe and makes me interested. People can do it well, or they can do it really badly. It is also a really high-consumption trend, and I have to agree with urban dictionary – it is mostly rich kids participating. There’s a magazine practically devoted to nu-rave called SuperSuper (http://www.myspace.com/thesupersuper) and I have a copy one of my friends picked up – it’s all “buy this buy this!” and party photos. You might find it quite entertaining actually, maybe I should send you a copy, if I find another.
oo lookit, it’s me! :D (i should probably clarify – i don’t usually wear that makeup, i was at a nu-rave themed party!)
anyway, i have to admit that i love the nu-rave trend mainly because it’s just so FUN. it’s just about dancing and wearing bright colours and not taking yourself too seriously, it’s fantastic!
having said that, i just can’t bring myself to like slogan t-shirts. they were fine in the 80’s, but after seeing eight billion overweight girls wearing neon leggings and t-shirts with ever-more-obnoxious dayglo slogans as dresses at college, the novelty has most definitely worn off. i now have a game with myself to spot the most ridiculous slogan (they’re all over the shops here in the uk) – contenders so far have been “i’m bringin sexy back” and “call me nu-rave and i’ll kick you in the face”.
Eternity – you described supersuper magazine so well! unfortunately i am a shameless consumerist and therefore i love it :x
another nu-rave “staple” is the british sitcom/teen drama ‘skins’ – it pretty much coincided and, in my opinion, helped to kick off the nu-rave trend here in the uk. most of the episodes are available on www.tv-links.co.uk, episode 8 is especially “rave”!
whew, here endeth my essay.
xoxo
To each their own… but
YUCK YUCK YUCK
The only time neon colors should be on a body is if they are literally a flash from the past 80’s victims, it’s in your hair (viva la hair dye!), you enjoy japanese street fashion (and sometimes that even hurts), or if it’s an 80’s themed party (Like “Desperately Seeking Susan” themed, hmmm puffy shoulder pads).
And I was reading some comments and there was talk about “scene kids.” To me Scene is taking whatever is popular in a different scene and wear it. Anything from Gold, Diamond Studded Grillz to Dolce and Gabbana whose-it-whats-its. Thus the term Scene. Any scene and putting it on as their own. They listen to any kind fo music that suits them at the time (but mostly new age alternative). Now it’s not a bad thing, at all, I have quite a few friends who are scenesters. They are having fun with their lives and that’s what is important.
Gala,
Sorry for hijacking this thread so much but it’s quite interesting what some people are saying…
Sophie – your style looks hot but I don’t agree with this statement you made –
“it’s just about dancing and wearing bright colours and not taking yourself too seriously, it’s fantastic!”
I’ve not been to a single night where ‘nu-rave’ DJ’s and bands have been on the bill where the crowd isn’t completely full of themselves and really quite boring individuals. The mentality of ‘emo’ kids and ‘nu-ravers’ is basically the same although the uniform and soundtrack are different. The main problem about scenesters is that they’re too busy ‘scening it’ that they actually forget to have fun!!!
:O. this is my 3rd comment. ahh well.
Sophie – Your makeup in the photo looks sooo awesome!!!!!! I would tottaly try to wear that to school but id get a week of detention so i wont :(.
hehe. i love this thread.
robin – that’s a damn shame, really. i’ll freely admit that i used to be an obnoxious ‘scenester’ type who was more interested in whether my hair looked good than if i was having fun or not, but luckily i’ve grown up a lot since then and realised that life’s far too short. a lot of the ‘nu-ravers’ i’ve met while i’ve been out have been the same, they don’t really care what they look like as long the music is good and they can dance like twats – perhaps i’ve just been lucky enough to avoid the obnoxious ones? haha.
jessabee – please do it! i’d love to see the looks on your teacher’s faces…
Sophie – Haha I love skins :)
Argh – which venues are you going to Soph?
Must have been going to the wrong ones!!!
Yes – Jessabee… Please rock the neon make up look at school as you’ll brighten up everyone’s day no end!!!
This is really random, and not majorly related to NU RAVE, but, I saw a 80-years-young woman wearing those flashy hot-pants/short shorts yesterday, at a local restaurant.
The effect was quite neat, as she had great legs for her age.
:3
Haa haaa… my friends and are I still Old Rave! All the kids I know who rock the flourescent tops and skinny pants are emo and punk, us old raver farts still wear camo and search the racks for the disappearing big pants.
Nu rave reminds me too much of my favourite outfit circa 1989. Black and neon yellow leggings, a neon yellow and pink tank top, and a gold pin in the shape of a “J” that I stole from my mother’s jewellery box. If I was feeling particularly fashionable, I’d add my neon yellow slouch socks to the mix.
That’s right—I said neon yellow three times. I’m not proud. But I was a wee child at the time.
Thus, I pass on the rave/nu-rave/scenester look.
i love this look!!! i bought that bambi tshirt when i was last in new york. it’s so cute!! and i have a sequinned visor of the american flag. hee hee
A JINBEI is some kind of japanese pijama (I think, I didn’t understand really well. My friend tried to explain it to me, but I got lost n_n) It is really comfortable! And nice for summer.
I like this look but I wouldn’t make it “my thing” I would definitely wear some of these pieces but not all at once…..some of them are really cute and would make you stand out of a crowd…that Mighty Fine retro Bambi t-shirt is soooo cute :)
Sophie – Ah yes, Skins. Nu-rave had been around for quite a while before that came out (lol, I live in the home of nu-rave, like I said) but Skins sent its popularity soaring. The thing about Skins though is that only a couple of the characters were nu-rave and it was really the way they dressed, not the music that they were into – IMO nu-rave really has very little to do with music. The music is really indie dance, as Robin said. Nu-rave is almost entirely about image. Even the drugs part of the scene comes a far second to image. It’s a subculture based on image taken to the extreme – goth, punk et cetera were originally based on some sort of deeper ideal, but nu-rave seems to be completely shallow.
Robin – Vogue hates nu-rave? That’s hilarious considering the “Young London” feature British Vogue did last year which featured not only rich teens wearing vintage ballgowns but a few significant figures in the nu-rave scene!
Yeah – Sept editon in the ‘Keep or delete?’ feature. Leggings, Neon and skinny look clothes are in their delete list. I remember that young London feature… I guess you’re referring to the likes of Alice Dellal as being one of the significant figures right?
Ugh… god I had ‘Nu rave’ or as we Wellingtonians call them: the ‘Fluro kids’.
It just seems like the more hideous you can make yourself look the more of an ‘individual’ you are.
the “fluro kids’!!! omg…hehe! that sounds funny!
robin & sophie – eep! im so gonna do it when school starts!
Ah, I don’t think I saw the Sept edition, I don’t buy it but my sister does every few months. I think they’re just determined to squash all the trends they think have gone on too long! Every mainstream fashion magazine in the UK seems determined to move us on from skinny jeans. Yeah, I think so, and they had some DJ or other, I’ve forgotten his name. Ugh! It’s weird I know so much about it considering I’m not into that scene at all, I’m just an amused bystander (with a fascination with subcultures, but still…)!
i accidentally dressed in “nu-rave”-ish attire this weekend when i was out hooping:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/gwennabat/DSC01357.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/gwennabat/DSC01358.jpg
i think i pulled it off well because the accents and accessories were bright and day-glo but the main pieces were not.
rachel — You look gorgeous!
Thanks Gala! =goes shopping=
SOPHIE IS COOL. why can’t these people be my friends?
I can usually appreciate most trends, even if I wouldn’t wear them myself, but this one is terrible.
Maybe it’s because I was born in the late 80s?
Perhaps my dislike also comes from the fact that the ‘nu rave’ trend is not something which can be worn subtly (is that a word?).
I just bought a Frankie Goes to Hollywood shirt that was neon yellow. I think it was atcually colored with a highlighter. So hopefully when I wash it it wont all fade. Or turn my blue shirts green. : /
THIS is the article that made me want to start investing in the Nu Rave style. I love it. I try to base what I wear under a punk, nu rave, or a generally nice outfitted style. I mean, I wear everything anyway, but now what I buy is much more specific.
I’ve gotten many colorful tights for Christmas/hannukah and my birthday. And I’m also starting to use eyeshadows again. I have so many radical colors, but when I get tired, my eyes get puffy and the shadow wipes off. So now that I sleep a lot, I’ve been using it.
Would you say that black should be avoided when attempting a nu rave look? Or is simple black, like maybe jeans or converse okay?
Haha, okay. I also just recieved some purple pants that look just like the ones in the picture, except they have checkers, and no zipper on the bottom. Same style, same shade. I’m on my way to nu rave wonders!
i love in Washington, DC and rock this look. I get pointed at and made fun of but to me, this HAS to be done. it’s time for change. everyone here wears khakis and bland boring colors. i’m sorry but i would NEVER wear that. i’m all about being an individual. just because i choose to wear bright colors doesnt’ make me a follower of a trend. in my opinion, the drones who wear what everyone else wears are followers! why is it that people on here are so quick to judge this style? isn’t the emo style a bit overdone already? and the goth style? come on…