Rockabilly Style

ロカビリー・スタイル / early 1950s– / Style / Subculture Style

The music culture where country and rhythm and blues met in the American South appeared in pompadours, high-waisted wide trousers, loose jackets, dyed boots, skirts and denim, establishing rock and roll's cycle of audiences copying performers.

Rockabilly Style — Rockabilly dress at Field Day, London, 2017 — photo: John Lubbock — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Rockabilly dress at Field Day, London, 2017 — photo: John Lubbock — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Rockabilly Style — AI-generated interpretation 1
AI-generated interpretation, not a reference work
Rockabilly Style — AI-generated interpretation 2
AI-generated interpretation, not a reference work

At a glance

Visual cues

  • High pompadour or rolled front hair
  • Pleated high-waisted wide trousers
  • Short jacket, open-neck shirt, narrow collar or scarf
  • Cuffed denim, leather shoes and strongly colored boots

Best used for

  • Expressing the speed and youth of early-1950s rock and roll in events, stage work and photography
  • Joining western, work and tailored clothing into one performer image

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Dictionary entry

Type
Choose one slanted script or broad sign face and give it the sweep of a record or automobile curve.
Composition
Focus on hair and shoulders above, using the high waist to make one long leg line to the shoes.
Material
Combine gabardine, denim, wool and leather in large planes of red, blue and cream as well as black.
Caution
A polka-dot skirt and pompadour become costume when isolated. Preserve the mix of country and blues and the exchange between performer and audience.
Further study
Memphis rockabilly scene / Country and rhythm-and-blues dress / Elvis Presley's early stage wardrobe

Related entries

More from Subculture Style

Continue through styles in the same Subculture Style family, prioritised by shared effects.

Browse all Subculture Style entries

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https://indexstyle.org/styles/rockabilly
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