[OBEY ME] Decades of Fashion
This was a project I've been working on for a while, but it required a LOT of research to get done.
The idea was this: The boys have lived for thousands of years, and as such, they've had to adhere to certain fashion changes over time. But in the midst of me really wanting to show Beel drinking Pepsi Blue, I realized that each of them really fit into a style over the course of seven decades.
[PLEASE BE WARNED I MAY TOUCH ON CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS HERE]
Lucifer - 1940's [Post-War Americana]
Oh boy, those coats were popular in the 20's and 30's. I thought Lucifer worked well with the vibe of an old-style gangster. But really, this look worn in the 40's would have been one of showing off wealth. During the second world war, we had a shortage on EVERYTHING, including fabric - when nylon was needed for parachutes, women used to draw makeup lines on the backs of their legs to indicate a seam where their stockings would go. As a result, suits in the 40's were trimmed back as far as fabric usage. Coats no longer had capelets around the shoulders, jackets no longer had flaps on the pockets, pants were restricted to a certain width, and 3-piece suits were nonexistent - no one sold suits with vests anymore.
Incidentally, that's why Zoot Suits were so popular in American minority communities - it was a "fuck you" level of luxury to have suits with so much excess fabric!
Mammon - 1950's [Rebel Style]
From gangster to greaser! While we associate Greaser subculture with the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando, the term actually originated with Hispanic teens - "greaser", in addition to referencing their slicked-back hairstyles, was the name for Mexican workers who greased the wheels of shopping carts, and there was actually a law in California called the "Greaser Act" specifically put in place to protect "law abiding" Californians from these rowdy (but un-armed and non-dangerous) teens.
Not only does the Rebel style really suit Mammon in general, associated with sleek cars and loud boys and an inarguable style, but I've always thought of Mammon as being kind of Latino. However, it also bears noting that Greasers were very anti-materialistic. Sure, you wanted money, but Greaser culture was more geared towards rebelling against the ones who had it.
Leviathan - 1960's [Japanese Ivy]
Post-war Japan had a certain loss of identity as they were occupied by the American military and exposed to cultures from around the world. But by the sixties, Japanese culture was absorbing everything it found and making it their own. The popularity of Disney and TV animation gave rise to anime that began early in the fifties, but was really in its prime by '65, and much of that then spread to the rest of the world. Mach Go Go Go became Speed Racer and Mighty Atom became Astro Boy in the US. In partIcular, based on Levi's current anime tastes, I think he'd be a huge fan of Cyborg 009 and Mahoutsukai Sally - The original Magical Girl who would eventually lead to the creation of the invented anime The Magical Ruri Hanai: Demon Girl.
But along with animation, Japan absorbed something else in 1964 - American Ivy League fashion. Magazines with spreads of American university students in sweaters, blazers, loafers, and cotton trousers became incredibly popular and inspired a fashion style simply called "Ivy" in Japan - and this style persisted until the mid-eighties!
Satan - 1970's [Collegiate]
'70's fashion in America was lawless. As the youth of the day broke free from society's constraints and pursued their own agendas, they brought with them a rebellion of peace and love that had been brewing with every fight and war since the 40's. As opposed to the Mod fashion of the 60's, modern fashion was more about comfort and natural colors.... and bellbottoms. So many bellbottoms. But there were no fucking rules. Wear your jacket on one shoulder or two or none, mix colors and patterns, wear that corduroy jacket with the suede elbow patches, fuck you dad, I went to college!
I feel like it also bears mentioning that god DAMN, white belts with gold buckles were weirdly popular.
Asmodeus - 1980's [Pop Trend]
Pop culture was skyrocketing in the eighties, as was the sheer accessibility of fashion. It was never as cheap to wear the hottest trends as it was here. Stars like Madonna popularized the inexpensive, bright-colored messes of style that the day's teens HAD to have. Plastic jewelry, acid-washed jeans, hair-wrecking crimping and curling, bright and heavy makeup... and leotards for EVERYONE. Jazzercise and videotape aerobics also threw their hats in... or rather, their leg warmers and tights.
And while it doesn't have much to do with fashion, I could see Asmo being at his absolute prime here... Queer community and sexuality was coming out of hiding around here, and with it, the stigma and horror associated with the gay agenda, promiscuity, and the AIDS epidemic. Fuck those assholes.
Beelzebub - 1990's [Urban Sport]
The 90's were... experimental. As we entered the Internet age and the approach of the new millennium, a lot of shit happened. Hip-Hop and R&B culture that began in the late eighties influenced a lot outside its own minority sphere, from fashion to music to celebrity. Things once worn as sport gear, windbreakers and basketball shoes and baseball hats, were adapted to the increasing physical presence of stars in music videos and movies. (I don't really know how much of a position I'm in to talk about how much cultural appropriation inspired a lot of that, but it did. And then they talked smack on the sources they got their shit from.)
As for those stupid parachute pants with the zip-off bottoms... I don't know whose fault that was. The Y2k bug, I guess. Swatches were cool though.
But Beelzebub probably would have been going nuts with all the experimental snack foods we loved back then. Soda with little chewable balls of questionable origin? 3D nacho chips? Yogurt in a TUBE? HOT POCKETS!? A glutton's paradise. I drank Crystal pepsi when they rereleased it and it tasted like old bubblegum. shit's nasty.
Belphegor - 2000's [Emo/Goth]
This is it. This is what years of punk, grunge, goth, and The Cure led to at the turn of the millennium. We took Tripp pants that were popular in blue denim in the nineties and put so much shit on them that it was hard to walk, but we DID IT. Because it looked cool. Do you hate life? Do you hate everyone? Smear liner in your eyeballs and belt your legs together in two denim dresses, and wear bracelets and belts that get banned at high school because someone started an urban legend where you have to have sex with someone if they snap your black jelly bracelet off. That shit never happened but damn if they didn't try to convince us it did.
Emo and goth subculture was actually seen as pretty toxic. And I can say that because I was in it. People who did this stuff were seen as idolizing self-harm and suicide. Some people actually did. Most of us probably approached it the same way zoomers gleefully post memes about ending themselves all the time. In Belphegor's case... yeah, he probably does hate the world.
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