Teddy Boys and the performativity of dangerous fashion: Zones of threat

This article develops a theory of the performativity of dangerous fashion through an analysis of 1950s British Teddy Boy dress. Drawing on concepts of ‘performance’ and ‘performativity’ from theatre and performance studies, the article critiques the tendency in fashion scholarship to dichotomize these terms and advocates for a more integrated reading. The theory is articulated through three interconnected ‘zones of threat’: the active zone, where clothing enacts a live threat through embodied subcultural performance; the commercial zone, where commodification dilutes and distorts subcultural meaning while amplifying social anxiety; the dispersed zone, where stylistic remnants circulate through revivalist and derivative forms, sustaining symbolic menace. Using a qualitative content analysis of 1950s newspaper representations, the study positions Teddy Boy fashion not merely as a signifier of youth deviance but as a performative force that produces ontological disruption. This performativity reveals fashion’s capacity to constitute identity, provoke moral panic, and complicate the relationship between authenticity, threat and social control. Ultimately, the article proposes a framework for understanding dangerous fashion as a site of both constraint and subcultural intervention.