THE ECCENTRICITY & ABSURDITY OF TECHNO.

WRITTEN BY ANNA-MARIE GUENTHER + ILLUSTRATION BY LILY GLANTZ

While standing in line for hours in the first flush of the morning clad in almost exclusively black latex and leather ensembles may sound unusual, this routine is hardly out of the ordinary for Berliners.

The city itself uses the lack of closing time to lure in visitors, presenting an opportunity to delay sleep for consecutive nights of total freedom. The evolution of techno as the music genre that is largely associated with Berlin nightlife began with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the absence of regulation that came hand-in-hand with abolishing curfew. Abandoned powerplants, factories, bunkers, underground stations, and hangers became home to uninterrupted nights of dancing and exploratory drug use. These ownerless playgrounds, void of legal restrictions, became the quarters of the city’s underground party scene. The sense of privacy, paramount to a night in Berlin, grants an undisturbed celebration of feeling alive and present in existence.

Just as the techno scene has morphed into a nocturnal phenomenon, the exhibitionistic clothes of its participants have seen an ascent into mainstream fashion. Although no rigorous dress code is the difference between being granted entrance or denied, the decider is often whether the appearance is one of conformity to a perceived unspoken rule or a level of comfort in oneself and an outfit. If you were to catalog the clothes appearing on club crawlers, the following for a dark gothic-style embellished by elements borrowed from erotica and BDSM culture would be of note. Lingerie, chains, latex, faux leather, animal print, fishnets, and chokers are staples of party-goers but not tickets for guaranteed entry.

The embodiment of authentic individuality translates to acceptance into the spaces that make a point of disregarding the limitations of time and the labels of identity. Rather than interpreting this requirement for entry as strict conformity to a set of rules entrenched in techno culture, the willingness to be wholly honest

Although Berlin enjoys global attention from the allure of hush-hush, untamed, and burgeoning nightlife, there is much to be said about its reputation as the epicenter and birthplace of techno. Rather, techno as a musical concept began in Detroit, Michigan. Once an industrial metropolis with luster, much like Berlin, the underground party scene was a direct consequence of a craving for escapism.

The crystallization of techno in Detroit encapsulated the city’s vision for the future but allowed for aggression and frustration with the present conveyed through the trance of the head-bludgeoning bass and ice-synth melodies. The sensationalized aspects of Detroit’s history in its struggle and triumphs often overshadow its contributions to the creative orbit, particularly in its conception of techno and related ties to street and hype fashion with workwear brands such as Carhartt.

The difference between them, however, is the celebration and monetization of its mainstream success and popularity in the European sphere and, comparatively, the music genre and its associated culture’s complete failure to integrate into the United States. Now, used as a backdrop for an inferno of dance, drugs, and creative expression, techno has mutated and been co-opted for its service to european audiences. Synonymous with raving attire, techno has birthed its own dedicated fashion sector that can now communicate an understanding of the scene’s social etiquette and its historical basis or, rather, demonstrates the appropriation of its origins and its insignificance to those chasing drunkenness and euphoria.

WRITTEN BY MEGHA GUPTA