Dizelaši

Dizelaši (Cyrillic: дизелаши; singular dizelaš, Cyrillic: дизелаш) was an urban street youth sub-culture popular in the 1990s in Serbia. It has been described as a mainstream fashion and social subculture, that of a working class, similar to the British chav, French racaille and Russian gopnik. The French movie La Haine (1995) is often mentioned in relation to these subcultures. It was characterized by turbo-folk, hip-hop and dance music (such as Đogani), mass-appeal designer clothes (such as Diesel), embroidered sweatshirts and sportswear (such as Nike Air Max and Reebok Pump shoes and Kappa sweatsuits) and large link chains. Track jackets were tucked into the bottom pants which in turn were tucked into socks, as to conceal goods; it is said that legendary gangster Knele (1971–1992) popularised it, having used it as a tactic ensuring his gun would slide into his socks rather on the pavement when running from the police.

It emerged in Belgrade in the late 1980s and became popular by 1992, in a period of embargo on FR Yugoslavia following the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars. The youths were stereotyped as gangsters (also called mangupi), involved in illegal activities such as fuel smuggling. The Russian counterpart is the Gopnik sub-culture, with which it is grouped together into "Post-Soviet fashion" that has become popular in recent years. In contrast to the dizelaši, the opposing sub-culture was called padavičari, including hippies, rockers, headbangers, metalheads and ravers. A typical dizelaš was seen as:

A youngster, short-cut [hair], in a track suit, with a gold chain around his neck, a mobile phone (possibly a good car), often tied to criminal activities.

The resurge of the fashion has been dubbed Neodizelaši. The 1995 documentary about Belgrade gangsters, Crime that Changed Serbia, is an icon of the culture.

Modern-day subculture closely related to old dizelaši is called gaseri (Serbo-Croatian) / gaserji (Slovene).

In movies

• Dva sata kvalitetnog TV programa, 1994 film
• Crime that Changed Serbia, 1995 documentary about Belgrade criminals
• The Wounds, 1998 film about a violent teen duo in Belgrade
• Skinning, 2010 film
• Welcome to Dizeldorf, meaning Welcome to Düsseldorf, Mashan Lekitch - Mašan Lekić 1994 documentary about Belgrade nineties culture

See also

• Chav, sub-culture in UK
• Gopnik, sub-culture in Russia
• Šatrovački, sociolect

Sources

• Eric D. Gordy (1 November 2010). Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives. Penn State Press. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-0-271-04368-5.
• Ivana Kronja. "Urbani životni stilovi..." Komunikacija. Archived from the original on 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
• Rečnik savremenog beogradskog žargona: preko 4500 žargonskih reči i izraza. Istar. 2002. ISBN 9788690231164.
• Milosz Miszczynski and Adriana Helbig, ed. (27 March 2017). Hip Hop at Europe's Edge: Music, Agency, and Social Change. Indiana University Press. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-0-253-02321-6.
• Papović J., Pejović A. (2016) Revival without Nostalgia: The ‘Dizel’ Movement, Serbian 1990s Cultural Trauma and Globalised Youth Cultures. In: Schwartz M., Winkel H. (eds) Eastern European Youth Cultures in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London

External links

• "Kupio sam Gucci cvike, a i Air max dvojke". Popboks.
• "Za diplomski o dizelašima Milica dobila 10 u Rimu". Mondo.
• Aleks Eror (13 February 2016). "the international ubiquity of the tracksuit". i-D; Vice.
• Aleks Eror (1 February 2017). "Is Post-Soviet Fashion Ethically Problematic?". Highsnobiety.
• Aleks Eror. "Dizelaš: the 'Serbian gopnik' style that defined the 90s is making a comeback". Calvert Journal.
• Milorad Milovanović (31 March 2017). "Slike devedesetih zbog kojih nas podilazi jeza". NOIZZ.