Greasers of the 1950s: Styles, History and Vintage Photos

The emergence of the "greaser" look in America in the 1950s can be attributed to influential figures such as Elvis Presley and James Dean.

This style, characterized by smooth hair, cuffed jeans, leather jackets, and a strong association with automobiles, became widely popular.

Photographs depicting greasers of the 1950s provide a fascinating insight into the fashion trends adopted by the youth of that era, including some of the famous stars of the 1950s.

The subculture became prominent in the mid-1960s and was adopted by certain ethnic groups, particularly Italian Americans and Hispanic Americans, especially in urban areas.

The etymology of the word greaser is unknown. It is estimated that the term originated in the United States in the late 19th century as a derogatory label for poor laborers, especially those of Italian, Greek, or Mexican descent.

By the time of the Civil War, the terms "greaser" and "greaseball" had come to have racist and separatist connotations.

"Greaser" was later used to refer to automotive mechanics.

It was not used in writing to refer to a mid-20th century American subculture until the mid-1960s, although in this sense it still evoked a derogatory ethnic connotation and an association with machine work.

The greaser subculture may have emerged in the post-World War II era among motorcycle clubs and street gangs in the late 1940s in the United States, although it was certainly established in the 1950s, when it was popularized among ethnic urban youth. Was rapidly adopted by.

Marginalized by lack of economic opportunity despite the post-war boom or by the general household shift toward homogeneity in the 1950s, the original Greasers became associated with a sense of working-class and lower-class disillusionment with American popular culture. Was.

Most were men, usually ethnic or white working-class outsiders, and often interested in hot rod culture or motorcycling. A handful of middle-class youth were attracted to this subculture because of its rebellious attitude.

Ethnically, the original Greasers were composed mostly of Italian Americans in the Northeast and Mexican-American Chicanos in the Southwest.

Since both of these groups were mostly olive-skinned, the "greaser" label assumed a quasi-racial status, implying urban, ethnic, lower-class masculinity and crime.

This development led to the blurring of racial distinctions between poor Italian Americans and Puerto Ricans in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s.

The most notable physical characteristic of greasers was the greased-back hairstyle they created for themselves through the use of hair products such as pomade or petroleum jelly, which required frequent combing and reshaping to maintain.

Males wore hairstyles adopted from early rock 'n' roll and rockabilly artists such as Elvis Presley, among them the Folsom, the pompadour, the elephant trunk and the duck's ass, while women usually combed their hair back, She used to comb hair or tease them.