On Wednesday 6 December, Dazed Studio hosted a public webinar open to all, in celebration of its latest report. Entitled Redefining Subcultures: How Can Brands Be Relevant in the Era of ’Midculture’ the report expands on Dazed Studio's CTRL SHIFT, the annual future youth culture report launched in July 2023. 

The comprehensive study, conducted between September and December 2023, involved surveying over 3,000 individuals aged 16-26 worldwide, collaborating with industry experts, and incorporating insights from Dazed Media group publications, along with in-depth focus groups with Dazed Club members.

Joining Dazed Media’s Group Strategy Director, Isobel Farmiloe, the panel featured creative director and stylist Ademide Udoma, Dazed’s feature editor Günseli Yalcinkaya, and TikTok’s Strategic Partnerships Manager Beatrice Mustocea.

Sharing some of the key findings from the study, the talk revealed that 88 per cent of youth still believe in subcultures and find them to have an influential and prominent role in their lives. While subcultures are spread across both niche and mainstream communities, many young people expressed that they related to several different subcultures. The widespread emergence and embrace of subcultures and niche and esoteric interests also indicated young people’s growing discontent and instability within mainstream culture.

“I think it’s important to look at the history of what we mean when we say subculture. Historically it’s about collective identity and a backlash to a dominant culture and that’s usually, by nature, linked to subculture,” explained Gunseli Yalcinkaya, speaking on the rise of counterculture due to cyberculture. “What I think has changed because of the internet is that it’s changed from a localised to a globalised situation, where more microcultures are available to everyone all at once which broadens the scope.”

Discussing the role TikTok has in the democratisation of subcultures, Beatrice Mustocea added, “TikTok is a place that has taken subculture and brought it to a few more people and made it a bit more accessible and democratic. I think it’s the most beautiful thing about the platform, anyone can add their words or thoughts on a subject that is already happening.”