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London. Fashion mecca and club capital of the UK. When mixed, it seems the big smoke's fashion packs travel in tribes. From cool cats with idols like Frankie Goes To Hollywood to the ladies who love their year-long tans (bottle or bed, the only color to be seen in is orange) the stereotypes are live and kicking on the clubbing circuit and when night falls or the sun's long risen, London's finest fashion crowds, including the weird and the wonderful, take to creatively expressing themselves on the dance floor.
So who are they? Where do they go to get their groove on and what do they wear while their doing it? Read on to discover the kind of characters you might just run into on a wild night out in London Town...
Meet the...
90s Revival Boy
This guy's a cool dude. The hippest of all of them, he embraces geek-chic and usually in his late teens/early twenties, exudes a super-hip nonchalant attitude. The 90s boy studies by day and parties by night - all night.
His look combines an effortlessly stylish 'thrown together' mix of oversized cropped hooded sweaters, spray-on jeans and a Jonny Borell Razorlight-esque white T-shirt that's as old as he is. On Sunday nights, he takes his pretentious east-end attitude and late 80s undercut (complete with fashion-forward side swept fringe) down to T Bar to look good and moodily dance long into Monday morning. He'll move his body to the sound of super-cool tech DJs like Claude VonStroke and be first to bag tickets, most likely through a friend in the industry, to the upcoming intimate ‘A Night With...' gigs run by Derren Smart and Rob Star. After all, he knows his music and if there's somewhere underground to be seen, he'll be there.
On school nights, the 90s Revival Boy will head to kitsch Nottinghill bar Trailer Happiness and listen to a well-blended soundtrack of everything from Depeche Mode and Empire Of The Sun to La Roux before skulking off somewhere equally cool or back to his Brick Lane warehouse/rat nest for a marathon after-party.
The Essex Princess
Affectionately also known as ‘Perma-Tan Pam' by the other packs, this lady has class like no other. Everything about her is fake, from the twelve-month tan to the surgically enhanced cleavage. Yes, the WAG reigns supreme in London Town, and at the heart of ‘it' clubs from Chinawhite to Buddha Bar, Mahiki to Pacha, the urban glamzon parties with no fewer than three ‘BFF" (best friends forever of course!). Unlike the 90s Revival Boy, this lady heads not the coolest, but to the latest haunt. Not so into her music, her main goal when clubbing is to be seen in the places to be seen in and if lucky, be mistaken for a potentially z-list celeb and papped.
On the subject of celebs, the Essex Princess' idol ranges from Paris Hilton and Cheryl Cole to footballers wives Abbey Clancy and Colleen Rooney. She loves fashion and is a shoe addict, particularly partial to heels so high you can guarantee either she'll be carrying them by the end of the night, or its her that'll need carrying.
On Saturdays, you'll find her hunting down her latest footwear hit and her weekly clubbing get-up, before heading out, knocking back the sambucas and strutting her stuff to a mix of Hed Kandi releases, David Guetta's floor fillers, Dizzee Rascal's chart toppers and the aforementioned Cheryl Cole's finest.
The Brit Kid
It's a fair bet to say everything about the Brit Kid is average. His height is average, his dress sense is average and his music taste is average. If he drank Carlsberg, it'd be average.
With standard issue style, the Brit Kid stays loyal to his native brands sporting a Fred Perry, Penguin or Bed Taker (that's Ted Baker to the uninitiated) polo or T-shirt and loose fit G-star, instant ‘rock-star' status jeans. For Saturday night pulling tactics, he can be spotted looking ‘fly' in, unbeknown to him, what's otherwise known as a sexual-suicide T-shirt. Or rather, according to Mr. Brit himself, a guaranteed shag T-shirt. Whatever. It still reads a winning quote like "Eat. Sleep. Mate. Repeat". Style? Fail.
Frequenting cool haunts like Matter, The Egg and Pop in Soho, the Brit Kid gets down to the sound of Basshunter and Tiesto or once again holding his country close to his heart, Pop-champions Kasabian. Whilst throwing shapes on the dance floor, his main mission on a night out is to snare a Perma-Tan Pam. And with his quintessentially British bad dance skills, who would be crazy enough to resist?
The ‘anything-goes' Wild Child
This is where the big smoke gets interesting. From the Cyber clubber to full-on fancy dress, the wild and the wonderful come out to play in London.
Throughout the week you'll find them parading their alter-egos long into the smallest hours at everywhere from fetish party Torture Garden, where regulars become performers, to the beautiful family feeling parties at Jaded. According to Krista Yeah! head honcho and ringleader at Jaded, the girls arriving at her parties from Paramount are "the most creative and luxe in what they wear - always immaculately turned out with beautiful-inspirational make-up". As for those arriving from Gramophone club: "they are provocative and sophisticated and where they wear their labels, they do it well," says Krista. And when it comes to Sunday clubbing, those affectionately known as the ‘jaded children' dress to impress in "a mish-mash of styles with lots of vintage and hand-made elements".
If they're feeling particularly creative, the girls may even visit boutique hair salon Kaizo in Shoreditch where simply let them know your dress-up plans and be it a horse-tail extension or an androgynous up-do, they'll custom-design you a hair style to match. But style doesn't stop there for the Wild Child, with an enormous trend for ‘endurance dressing', its not unheard of for girls to go the distance in three or more outfit changes as they party-hop. No such thing as elegantly trashed? Think again.
On the other end of the scale, you'll find Cyber clubbers with full makeup partying to hard house whilst Candy Ravers exchange tutti-frutti coloured plastic jewellery and Cyber Goths flaunt fluorescent tubes as hair, glow in the dark tutu's and day-glo masks as they zone out to old school rave at Slimelight, Club Antichrist and Union in Vauxhall. Frankly, the scene is very much otherworldly and not for the faint hearted, old or unadventurous.
Feel more acquainted with the big smoke's clubbers? Good. By no means exhaustive, the four tribes (and naturally everyone else) continue to divide, experiment and discover different directions in both fashion and music. However, one thing remains sure, London's nightlife is a colourful scene, to say the very least.