ISSUE 02 / Agenda

TRIBE: TECKTONIK

  • Black kangaroo zip thru hoody with contrasting drawcords and woven striped back neck tape 100% Cotton

  • Black smart leather belt

  • Brown cracked retro Dunlop bag

  • Asics white and blue 'Mexico BAJA' triple velcro strap trainers

  • Black retro half frame retro clubman style sunglasses

  • Ben Sherman Charcoal Tonic Suit Jacket With Notch Lapel Side Vents and 5 Button Waterfall Effect Cuf f

  • Navy polo t-shirt with white and burgundy cut and sew panels

  • White crew neck t-shirt with multicoloured Jungle Book image print

  • Surf the web blue smart textured polo t-shirt with contrast tipping

  • Oxblood red marl textured smart polo with contrast tipping

  • Navy and white polka dot polo t-shirt with tipped edges

  • Ben Sherman tan suede "Ezra" Desert boots

  • Black leather Harrington style jacket with checked lining

  • Matt Black square frame flat top sunglasses

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Black kangaroo zip thru hoody with contrasting drawcords and woven striped back neck tape 100% Cotton. Machine washable.

Price: USD 12.00

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Black smart leather belt. Width 2.8cm Made in Britain 100% Leather.

Price: USD 24.00

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Brown cracked retro Dunlop bag. H-28cm, W-34cm, D-13cm. 100% PVC.

Price: USD 48.00

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Asics white and blue 'Mexico BAJA' triple velcro strap trainers. UPPER: COW LEATHER, LINING: 100% TEXTILE, SOLE: 90% SYNTHETIC, 10% RUBBER.

Price: USD 120.00

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Black retro half frame retro clubman style sunglasses. UV cat 3 100% Hard Plastic.

Price: USD 32.00

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Ben Sherman Charcoal Tonic Suit Jacket With Notch Lapel Side Vents and 5 Button Waterfall Effect Cuf f. 51% Viscose,47% Wool,2% Lycra/Elastane. *Please note this item can only be returned by post. This item cannot be returned instore.

Price: USD 250.00

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Navy polo t-shirt with white and burgundy cut and sew panels. 100% Cotton. Machine washable.

Price: USD 20.00

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White crew neck t-shirt with multicoloured Jungle Book image print. 60% Cotton,40% Polyester. Machine washable.

Price: USD 44.00

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Surf the web blue smart textured polo t-shirt with contrast tipping. 100% Cotton. Machine washable.

Price: USD 40.00

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Oxblood red marl textured smart polo with contrast tipping. 50% Cotton,50% Polyester. Machine washable.

Price: USD 40.00

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Navy and white polka dot polo t-shirt with tipped edges. 100% Cotton. Machine washable.

Price: USD 40.00

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Ben Sherman tan suede "Ezra" Desert boots. 100% Leather.

Price: USD 140.00

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Black leather Harrington style jacket with checked lining. Outer shell-100% Leather. Inner lining-54% Polyester, 41% Wool, 3% Viscose, 2% Nylon. Professional Dry Clean Only.

Price: USD 250.00

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Matt Black square frame flat top sunglasses. 100% Hard Plastic. Do Not Wash.

Price: USD 28.00

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Take To The Streets With The Mohawk-Sporting Electro-Dance Warriors Of Europe
By Fiona Cook

Of all the dance subcultures to ever take to the streets Tecktonik is by far the most bizarre. It’s a very unique style of dance, which takes its cues from break-dancing, body-popping and raving but often winds up with its enthusiasts looking plain mental. It rose to prominence in its native Belgium in the early noughties, and has since snowballed into a fully-fledged lifestyle choice. Although Tecktonik is rooted in the 90s nightclubs of Belgium and The Netherlands the scene really exploded in France in 2002 when two French party organisers Cyril Blanc and Alexandre Barouzdin – who wanted to capture “the joyful environment of a rave” – began diluting the harder sounds of northern Europe with the softer chimes of the south. In 2002, they began using the Métropolis nightclub in Paris as their base, holding three “Tecktonik Killer” parties – Blackout, Electro Rocker and Tecktonik Killer. Dance has remained one of the key components, which Blanc explains was developed organically: "Little by little, the clubbers who came invented a choreography.”

Borrowing dance styles from other street subcultures, advocates are seen pumping their arms in a “glow-sticking” movement, with one hand geometrically tracing the other, and making rapid foot actions with their feet in a vague about-to-start break dancing style: “I would say it’s 80 per cent arms, 20 per cent legs,” explained a dancer who helped to put on a number of the first Tecktonik dance nights in Paris. It is easily one of the best examples of a movement which the internet has helped to define. YouTube videos spread early Tektonik dance-offs throughout the world, ensuring a uniform style that viewers were only too keen to take to the streets, particularly in the boulevards, parks and subways of Paris.

The appearance of Tecktonik enthusiasts en-masse can be quite something to behold. Boys tend to have their hair cut into a Mohawk with designs shaved into the sides, while girls opt for good old-fashioned mullets. In Métropolis, hairdressers would set up shop right beside the dance floor to give clubbers an authentic Tecktonik cut. if you are intending to join their clan, slim fit jeans are de rigueur (the better to dance with) and white and black t-shirts decorated with neon coloured logos are popular with both boys and girls – emulating the fashions of the late-1980s rave scene. The Tecktonik look is often completed with a bucket load of glow-in-the-dark accessories and some face paint. You may also come across the terms “Tck”, “Electro Dance” and “Milky Way” because “Tecktonic” and “TCK” have been copyrighted by the movement’s founders. The man put in charge of the brand, Guillaume Lascoux, explains it’s because they don’t want others to tarnish the scene or put on sub-standard replica nights, where people don’t dance so crazy. “We won't go in the sector of sex or weapons or drugs or alcohol,” he says. “Tecktonik has some very positive values…"

Fiona Cook is a contributing fashion writer to Topman GENERATION and DazedDigital