Comments on: Types of people through 14 years

Types of people through 14 years

jouke — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:36:35 -0800

Tableaux: In 1994 Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek made a series of 12 photographs of have gabbers and put the pictures in a tableau. They've been making tableaus of types of people for 14 years now and it's all on their site. Some random examples: gabber bitches Rotterdam 1996, football supporters Rotterdam 1997, smas Rotterdam 1997, scream Beijing 1999, bundaboys Rio de Janeiro 2000, skins Rotterdam 2002, girls on their first communion Maastricht 2006, retired Dutch men, proper girls Rotterdam 2006, yupsterboys New York 2006, yupstergirls New York 2006, pin-ups London 2008, city girls London 2008, hipsters Rotterdam 2008, flexmanagers Rotterdam/Paris 2008, the girls of the affluent 7th district of Paris 2008, geeks in London 2008

This post was triggered by seeing this tableau in todays NRC paper of so called "sapeurs in Paris; men of Congolesian descent who are part of La Sape, le Société des Ambianceurs et Personnes Élégantes. These are predominantly poor men who dress well to forget their sorrows." previously

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:51:53 -0800

I wonder if there's a word for guys in their twenties who dress practically rather than for style?

By: sidereal

sidereal — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:54:37 -0800

"have gabbers"?

By: 5MeoCMP

5MeoCMP — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:57:32 -0800

Have gabbers, will blobber?

By: jouke

jouke — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:58:17 -0800

strike the 'have' smm, you can fit in with the frat boys who dress in some form of business casual.

By: gubo

gubo — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:02:04 -0800

Is London really a magical place where pin-up is a real fashion trend and all geeks are rail thin?

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:02:25 -0800

oh no! not the frat boys D:

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:03:17 -0800

previously By which you mean 'this is a double post'.

By: jouke

jouke — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:18:40 -0800

A lot of pictures have been added since 2003 and a lot of new metafilter members joined. So I thought people would like to see these fascinating pictures. It's not against metafilter policy to post a link after such a time I think. But feel free to flag the post.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:22:33 -0800

poor men who dress well to forget their sorrows ...dress like rich men who dress well to forget their sorrows.

By: oxford blue

oxford blue — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:35:53 -0800

This is fantastic, thanks so much for posting it! :)

By: oxford blue

oxford blue — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:39:47 -0800

He's choice of nomenclature is also fascinating; gabberbitches, yonkerboys. Seems honest, yet contrived also.

By: oxford blue

oxford blue — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:45:27 -0800

This is now the picture next to my mental definition for the word 'happy': http://www.exactitudes.com/big.php?nr=19#03

By: bitslayer

bitslayer — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:48:37 -0800

More proof of the truism that everyone is one in a million... there are thousands of people just like you.

By: Forktine

Forktine — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:55:51 -0800

I really liked those. Some of those "types" are the same as I see every day here, while others are very different.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:07:38 -0800

By: jouke

jouke — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:12:42 -0800

Actually kuujjuarapik, that was a look; one side tucked in but the other not. But it wasn't specific about the left vs right. That was probably done for the tableau.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:38:39 -0800

What's a gabber? I can only think someone who "gabs," ergo, someone who talks incessantly?

By: Inspector.Gadget

Inspector.Gadget — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:41:24 -0800

Apparently douchebag is contagious.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:52:59 -0800

Chefs de Confort Moderne has a nice ring to it - if only this tribe tribe were bearded, and with slightly less garish t shirts, I would have finally found my people.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:57:22 -0800

Oh, here they are... knew there must be a place for me.

By: Mental Wimp

Mental Wimp — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:59:53 -0800

Small, but still NSFW. I'm almost too good at spotting such things

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:04:52 -0800

Small, but still NSFW. The dread tribe laughs at how the Man opresses you, Mental Wimp.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:12:59 -0800

Previously Joke. The Bechers made me see things in new ways when I was a kid and I love seeing how their motifs have been used by others. Versluis and Uyttenbroek's photo sets are fascinating.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:15:16 -0800

Where do you get those sideways hats?

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:32:00 -0800

Those 'geeks' are hipsters.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:34:19 -0800

Ha... manipulators. I wonder if the models knew what they were signing up for?

By: jouke

jouke — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:37:23 -0800

atreides, in the 1990s gabber was a type of hardcore house music and a type of person that they pictured associated with the music. The word is not derived from English 'to gab' but from Dutch 'gabber' = mate, pal, from the Jiddisch 'chever'= friend.

By: greenie2600

greenie2600 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:37:34 -0800

Women listen to gabber? That...surprises me. I thought gabber was the only genre of music that was more of a sausage-fest than grindcore.

By: greenie2600

greenie2600 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:39:51 -0800

I thought the same thing, dunkadunc. Reel geeks look geeky by accident. Those guys are trying.

By: regicide is good for you

regicide is good for you — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:41:13 -0800

Holy crap, geekiness is Serious Business in London.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:46:03 -0800

I wonder if there's a word for guys in their twenties who dress practically rather than for style? Business casual never seemed too practical to me.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:48:52 -0800

Thanks, Jouke. English-centric mindset FAIL.

By: jouke

jouke — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:59:02 -0800

ardgedee, you're right; the Bechers started with tableaux like this. Some examples of their pictures. Personally I think that categorising people as if they were butterflies that you're collecting is mesmerising. These pictures have been appearing in Dutch newspapers for about a decade and it often shows a person that you'd see on the street and wouldn't be able to place in the context of their trendy sub culture, social stratum or age group. So I think these pictures are very powerful when they depict people you see on the street everyday. Which isn't totally true for non-Dutch mefites I expect.

By: greenie2600

greenie2600 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:59:46 -0800

What's a sma?

By: greenie2600

greenie2600 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:03:28 -0800

...and is "combat girl" just another term for "riot grrl"?

By: jouke

jouke — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:09:50 -0800

I had to look it up; 'sma' is a word for 'girl' in Dutch modern multi-cultural street language. I'm not part of that subculture so I can't tell you precisely. But it's probably a word stemming from Surinam sranantongo as these girls seem to stem from the Rotterdam community of Surinam descent. These subcultures or obscure for me, a Dutchman, let alone for Americans or Brits.

By: micayetoca

micayetoca — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:45:03 -0800

These guys are just cool: hombres de la silla

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:50:24 -0800

So these are police photo arrays then?

By: bru

bru — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:07:46 -0800

Thanks, jouke, this is wonderful. Clicking through the tableaux, I was reminded of Karl Schroeder's Lady of Mazes where, in a far, far future, hundreds of billions of people are interconnected and there are always other people who have led more or less the same life as yours. It's at the same time fascinating and totally creepy. Very timely with Halloween and All Saints day.

By: LMGM

LMGM — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:26:43 -0800

Ha. Leathermen. If you're going to talk about looks that are about being "different" in a generic way, this is a great example. (Mind you, not everyone gets into the Leatherman scene because they prize being different.)

By: sonic meat machine

sonic meat machine — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:29:06 -0800

dunkadunc, it looks relatively neat, doesn't offend anyone in any situation you don't have to RSVP to, and doesn't require dry-cleaning. Sounds practical to me. Of course, if you're out chopping down trees or something, you want different clothes, but for your random runnings-around-town there's nothing better.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:06:47 -0800

Women listen to gabber? That...surprises me. I thought gabber was the only genre of music that was more of a sausage-fest than grindcore. Women, much like their male counterparts, listen to whatever they want.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:54:24 -0800

I saw this exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art (don't laugh, they have a fantastic Art Museum in Toledo!)... I spent about an hour in that room, very, very fascinating!

By: ymgve

ymgve — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:32:21 -0800

What's the story with these guys? Was there really a "look" so codified that you had to tuck in the right side of you shirt and not the left? Was it a for-real thing, or did the photographers make them do this? From the About page: "By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code..." I don't really see what's so impressive about dressing 12 people up the same way about once a year.

By: DreamerFi

DreamerFi — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:01:43 -0800

What's a sma? From the Surinam language (a former dutch colony, that's why you'll find lots of the words in the dutch street language originating from it). It means girl or chick.

By: DefendBrooklyn

DefendBrooklyn — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:06:03 -0800

I've been in Paris for a few years now and I still can't figure out WTF tektonik style is. Also, spot on for the girls of the 7th arrondissement.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:43:54 -0800

> they have a fantastic Art Museum in Toledo It's small by current standards but, yes, it's surprisingly good. They don't have much to show by the capital-G Great Artists, but the curators have an eye for finding excellent work by the less famous.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:12:16 -0800

Wonderful. I remember seeing some of these in a Youth special in de Volkskrant a while ago.

By: mippy

mippy — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:26:32 -0800

Those men, trust me, are not what geeks in London look like.

By: jouke

jouke — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:55:55 -0800

Yeah, gnfti, they've been appearing in the NRC too for at least a decade. And I saw them once in de Kunsthal in Rotterdam too. Defendbreukelen, when you google for "tektonik dance" you'll find some youtube videos. And I found this definition: A new style of underground dancing originating in France, combining popping and rave style on filthy and eletro beats, requires high energy and lots of arm movements and shuffling feet.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:27:22 -0800

Thanks for this!