CLOTHES maketh the man and clothes breaketh the man. In a silly season when hoodie youth has already become this year's rottweiler or asylum-seeker in the public paranoia stakes, we have yet another sartorial rumpus to report this week.
Sixteen-year-old Melissa Fletcher , sporting red and black hair and a pierced lip, was turned away from the Triangle shopping centre in Manchester. She had money in her pocket, but security guards at this sprauncy venue plainly did not like the look of her.
It is one minor injustice in the life of one teenager, but it does raise bigger questions about what we think of as our public spaces. As more and more stores fall within malls, what were once shopping streets become retail fiefdoms where the lord of the manor decides the rules, no matter how daft, and watches us all on CCTV to make sure we obey them.
So, while any number of shops in the Trafford Centre will sell you a hooded top, you are not allowed to wander the mall's golden acres wearing said item with the hood up. And while the Triangle enjoys the edginess of having the odd skate shop, they may not exactly lay out the red carpet when the genuine skaters, in all their tatty glory, try to walk in off the street.
How do I know this? Because my 14-year-old son is among the black-clad moshers, skaters and goths who roost in Exchange Square and behind Urbis like so many crows. Like others who have made this their stomping - or sulking-ground, he is an intelligent, considerate, law-abiding teenager. He may be enraptured by the music of Marilyn Manson and Cradle of Filth, but the nearest he comes to getting in touch with the dark side of life is buying yet another black hoodie.
Several of his friends have, like Melissa Fletcher, been refused entrance to the Triangle. He tells of these encounters with a brimming sense of outrage, though one suspects that being considered persona non grata in an upmarket shopping centre is a comforting confirmation of their outside status.
Sophisticated
But just how sophisticated a society are we if we continue, even after generations of youth culture, to take fright at people on the basis of their clothes? And how can the Triangle, somewhat light of footfall at the best of times, afford to turn anyone away?
The irony is, of course, that the Triangle was, before the IRA's contribution to town planning, Manchester's alternative shopping place in the shape of the Corn Exchange. It was full of hippie, gothy clothes stores, second-hand record stalls, vendors of crystal therapies and hairy blokes selling the equipment with which to enjoy wacky backy.
You can see a modern-day version of this today in Leeds's Corn Exchange - a vibrant collection of small stores frequented by skaters and kids with facefuls of metal and funereal fashion sense. These thoughtful miserablists do not present any threat to public order. It's the chavs you need to look out for.
As evidence that you should never judge a book by its cover, I offer my recollection of 1977 - the year when the Sex Pistols were in their prime, and the year when I thought it would be a good idea to venture forth in a black tee shirt ripped apart and patched together with safety pins. Perhaps I looked like someone who should not darken the door of a swanky shopping centre.
The irony was that while passionately embracing Anarchy In The UK - I was a law student.
Do you think the shopping centre was right? Join the debate below or cast a vote.
Comments
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Totally agree. I used to hang around in the corn exchange and oasis (the underground market) when I was a kid and they both hold a place dear to my heart. The re-development of Manchester may have given us a spring clean, but it's important for these kids to have somewhere to belong. Do we really need another "Next" or "Top Man" or other such rubbish. These places speak nothing to the counter culture. Why not give us back the Corn Exchange we once loved and not the posh shopping experience with no customers.
Paul Taylor comments in a red herring fashion that shops which sell clothing with hoods ban the wearing of them. These malls have roofs on so there is no need to wear a hood up and doing so entitles the mall staff to assume it's for a nefarious purpose. He refers to skate shops not allowing people to skate on the premises. Self evident that one Paul. If we are to continue the argument in that way then we should be able to buy an umbrella and walk round the mall with it up. We could buy lingerie and expect to be able to wander semi-naked. We could buy feminine hygiene products (or 'unmentionables' as my mam used to call em) and expect to be able to change them in public. We could buy condoms and not expect to be thrown out for copulating there! No Paul, don't fudge the issue. The Triangle belongs to the centre's operators. Not to you, goths or other fanciful groups. They make a commercial decision when formulating their policies and 'would be' customers make a moral or idealistic decision when seeking to enter.
The girl was not banned because she was wearing black by saying that you are missing the point and blowing the story out of proportion. She was banned because she was dressed like a "goth". Now theres a difference between simply wearing black and wearing goth clothing. Before you start saying "its discrimination against goths" think about this. Where Exchange Square is, there is a number of these "goths" male and female who hang around outside there. SOME of them not all, SOME are very nasty, intimidating and rude to the passers by. These same few have also caused trouble on the steps going up to the triangle and around the surrounding area they have done this many times. Obviously Melissa is NOT one of the trouble causers, but how do you expect the security guard to know that as all these goths, good and bad, dress in the same way. He has obviously thought that Melissa was part of the gang from outside. Even though it might be a few idiots are the trouble causers, how are you supposed to diffrenciate one from the other. All you who are saying its discrimination etc are jumping the gun, goths have caused trouble in the Triangle on several occasions so the solution is not to let them in. They are only banned because some of them are stupid but if you ban one then you have got to ban them all. Its like saying not all youths in hooded jumpers are violent which obviously they are not. But "hoodies" have caused so much trouble everywhere that now they are getting banned from places which all law abiding citizens agree with. Its irrelevant if the individuals wearing them are violent or not. Apply this to the goth/triangle case and I think you will realise that its the same principal being used.
I'd rather go shopping in a mall full of goths than a mall full of Debbie from Salfords. Seriously, have you even read what you've posted? It's nothing but a diluted form of racism. Would you prefer dozens of burberry wearing scrotes with no respect for law and order in our streets, or goths/skaters/alternative law abiding youngsters who just want to be accepted?
Debbie seems to miss the point and want to rant on about the ills of "goths" instead.
The kids who hang around that area of town aren't "goths" as such, but yes, they do wear black, mope about, have their own distinctive clothing and can be intimidating to passers-by, just as any large group of youths wearing any kind of clothing.
However, if we are going to go around banning people based on their choice of clothing then surely Chavs come high on the list of possible troublemakers.
I've yet to see groups of "goths" shout abuse at people because of their clothing.
I've yet to see "goths" smashing up bus stops.
I've yet to see "goths" begging for money and then threatening violence when they are refused.
I've yet to see "goth" gangs starting fights and beating up those unfortunates who think differently that wander across their path.
All of this, is entirely missing the point at hand though. Should we be refused admission into public areas based solely on the clothing we wear. On a Saturday morning, should I have to plan out exactly what shops I may or may not choose to visit and dress accordingly. Should I have to take a change of clothes just in case I do decide I might have a wander into the triangle and would they be impressed if I did proceed to change right there in front of them?
As someone who does dress in an alternative fashion, I accept that not being allowed into certain bars, being stared at and having insults whispered under breath by strangers as I pass them as all being part of the territory of wanting to be free to dress how I feel.
It isn't right, in a supposedly tolerant society but I acknowledge that when I do go shopping in Selfridges, that the security guard will only be a few paces away and taking a very keen interest in me.
I'm sure that in the case mentioned in the story, it may well have been that other "goths" were indeed causing trouble and the girl had the misfortune to be lumped with the troublemakers and denied entry. However, this and the recent banning of hoodies in the baywater shopping centre are begining to point to a growing trend of throwing all members of a social group together and labelling them as "bad".
Can you imagine the uproar if someone was denied entry into the Triangle solely because they were Black?
It seems we are finally moving away from intolerance on issues of race, creed and colour only to adopting a new policy of segregating people based on clothes and lifestyle choice.
It does sadden me when we hear of storys like this happening around our country, a country we are frequently told is multi-cultural and accepting of others.
I will admit it wouldn't be the first time I have had a security guard breathing down my neck in certain stores like some great vulture just waiting for me to put a foot wrong so he can toss me out and have his store 'normal'.
Goth's on a whole go out of their way to look scary and non-conformist and people have always been scared of what they do not know.
Generally however we are law-abiding youth's searching for something that accepts us for who we are...not who can conform the most to some accpeted norm, there will always be however the odd bad egg in any basket, it come with the territory.
Someone else commented that it is the chavs/charvers you need to look out for and while this does remain relativly true, we are again tarring a group of people with the same brush, a dangerous practice if ever there was one.
To return to the point I started with that to see these kind of storys saddens me, I just want to ask all the adults who feel we are strange, scary teenagers up to know good...take a little look back at what you were like when you were our age...I feel fairly safe in saying I bet there are a number of you were involved in the punk scene, the 'original' goth scene and even a few mods and rockers.
Are we the youth, that different to what you were at our age? Are we searching for anything more then what you were searching for at our age?
Look inside yourself and learn to accept others for who they are, we after all accept you for who you are...even when we view it as exceedingly uncool.
Yours in randomness!
RandomGoth
The Triangle management has worked hard to become a viable shopping centre. If shoppers are put off by crowds of teenagers in the centre - who can be intimidating whatever their clothing-then the investors will have lost their investment and wasted their efforts. As few of the shops sell items that would appeal to the amassing adolescents one has to ask why they wish to use the Triangle - the presence of accesible toilets (provided as an amenity for customers) may be the main attraction.