talkpolitics | The squatting Slav

An Eastern European type, looking ominously, posing in a squatting position, dressed in Adidas sportswear, cigarette in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other. That's the new mainstream fad that's gained a global scope around these very Interwebz these days.

This neo-Slavic styling has inspired a whole subculture that has transcended the boundaries of Eurasia, using mighty platforms such as 9GAG, Reddit, 4chan, etc.

The rise of the photos with squatting, Adidas-clad Slavic dudes, started about three years ago on the Russian and Ukrainian forums, then grew with the speed that the bratushki drink vodka, and now this awkward fashion movement has become a major thing, and an endless resource for cultural, sociological and psychological humor.

This particular style is comically called The Slav Squat, and is dominated by Russians and Ukrainians, but its flexible boundaries could also include their sweatsuit-wearing brethren in countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Belarus, Croatia, or any other place with considerable Slavic population.

This subculture is mostly composed of young lads from the lower social segments, working class kids with a hooligan profile. Many of them like to pose squatting, one foot in front, arms leaned forward, with a bad look, as if saying "don't mess with me bro, I'm a tough Slavic bloke, alright?"

These specimens tend to pose squatting at most times, a critical amount of them wearing Adidas sweatsuits, this merging two separate phenomena, the squatting Slav with the Adidas sportswear. Two stereotypes are made into one.

Actually this aesthetic derives from a similar predecessor, the so called Gopnik subculture, which by definition is mostly composed of young and aggressive Russians from the poor, uneducated lower class.

This weird fetish for squatting could be traced back to the jail and ghetto hip-hop culture in 80s and 90s America. Being in that rather uncomfortable position emerged as a fad among gangstas in the US jails at that time. Many rap stars have popularized the art of squatting like a bad motherfucker on loads of photos featured on their albums.

The hip-hop culture had immense influence on the youth of the Eastern bloc in the early 90s, and the typical "jail rap squat" was thus transferred on Slavic soil in a post-socialist context. The squatting position provided an opportunity for aesthetic identification with the cool and tough ghetto denizens.

The young Slavs also took another visual element from the hip-hop catalog, using cars as a badass background.

Now transported into the 'hood realities of Eastern Europe, this aesthetic underwent a series of mutations. The Slavs were squatting in front of broken, almost derelict BMWs, Audis and Mercedes cars, often even Soviet-era jalopies like Moskvich and Lada.

Instead of the palm-lined LA boulevards and avenues, these images included pothole-marred, dirty backstreets, concrete residential blocks and other such commie-style landmarks. Usually, the Siberian cold could be felt from a single glance at the photos. Many of them were made in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus after all. But that only added to the overall toughness and badassery.

As for the sweatsuit, it's a nostalgic reference to those awesome 90s, when that sort of dress code had taken epidemic proportions (additional accessories like the heavy neck chainlet and the baseball bat were also customary). Sportswear keeps being a preferred "casual" feature of modern youth lifestyle by the way, well beyond this particular subculture.

Alcohol and tobacco are the other sacred elements of this Slavic visual bacchanalia. The art of squatting in an Adidas sweatsuit wouldn't be entirely authentic and complete without the presence of a fuming nicotine stick at the end of the mouth, and a bottle of vodka in hand. The beverage could also be beer, whisky, rum, gin or tequila, but some aesthetical purists insist on posing in the absence of any "capitalist brands", which adds extra authenticity points to their image.

The squatting Slavic dude in a sweatsuit is a socio-cultural phenomenon with an interesting and controversial visual impact. On one side, they're a testament to poor taste, misery, degradation, alcoholism, and the insipid perspectives in the post-communist societies of Eastern Europe. On the other hand, they provide a rather entertaining and remarkably self-introspective commentary on the power and potential of regional fashion and stereotype, and a sign of the Slav's ability to self-derision in a historical and cultural context, which I guess is some kind of survival mechanism in the difficult circumstances we've lived in for an entire generation.