The "Rebel without a cause" cult movie , directed by Nicholas Ray in 1955 , fully enetered in the history as groundbreaking attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth during the post war.
Just over sixty years have passed from the untimely death of the leading actor James Dean, who died in a car accident the same year the movie was released in theaters, and yet his magnetic gaze and his simple style are a rich source of inspiration for the fashion world of today and yesterday.
Many young people who were aged between 18 and 20 during the second half of the 50's were angry and rebel because of the strict values imposed by their families and the society.
A urban style coming from a English heritage: white t-shirts, jeans or leather jackets, motobike boots, skinny jeans and hair back combed with the brilliantine. These were the main traits the greasers shared, the young subculture based on speed and rock' n roll, a life devoted to the rejection of the middle-class values.
One of the most famous scene, the "chicken run", test of courage between Jim (James Dean) and Buzz (Corey Allen) who had to drive at full speed with their cars towards a precipice and jumping out the vehicles only at the last second, before the car disapperead in the ocean.
In addition, the untimely death of other two actors of the same movie, Sal Mineo,who played Plato, and Natalie Wood, the sweet Judy, who drowned under mysterious circumstances, contributed to strengthen the belief that the movie was damned.
Editorials
