Karlheinz Weinberger

Zurich:1961

Karlheinz Weinberger is a name not known to many outside of the fashion and photography world. He was not really a photographer after all, but actually a worker at a Siemens factory and amateur photographer with no real social significance at the time, taking pictures of delinquents, “Verlaustan” (lice infected ones) or a group of teenagers who looked like they belonged in “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton’s Los Angeles rather then the conformity of 1950-60’s Switzerland.

As an amateur, Karlheinz used the absolute essentials in his photography, which is a subject to photograph and a camera, nothing superfluous or unnecessary.

He photographed the teenagers on weekends at carnivals, biker-gatherings, and camping trips or in his Zurich apartment and focused on the natural beauty of the models themselves, but more importantly what they were wearing

Halbstarker (Elvis with Skull)

Zurich: 1962    

Their style was somewhat copied from the American “Greaser” look of the time, and mixed with whatever they    could find or make, whether it was ostentatious belt buckles made from scraps of metal, decorated with icons of the time such as Elvis and James Dean, Denim jackets personalized with studs, leather tassels and embroidery and jeans ripped, then put back together with nuts and bolts and accessories that included emptied bullet shells and chains with pendants on, the teenagers certainly created their own, unapologetically unconformist style which must have been a shock to the general Swiss population.

The photographs of these self-styled teenagers certainly didn’t go un-noticed by the Fashion community as Belgian designer Martin Margiela and photographer Steven Meisel featured similar styles after seeing Karlheinz’s images.

Personally, what I love most about these images is that, in these times, you don’t see many images like this. You read about it in books such as “The Outsiders” and watch films such as “Rebel without a Cause”, but you don’t see photographs of the actual “Rebels” themselves, in everyday life.

Seeing images like this, brings about a sense of nostalgia, for a time where people weren’t trying to become the next “Miranda Preasley” and get their hands on the latest Designer collaboration with H&M, it takes the viewer back to where fashion originated which is amongst those who push the boundaries of what is accepted and who feel free enough to wear something and make it their own, by not using it as “Armor” to hide oneself, but rather as a sign to others to show that you are an individual.