The meaning of style? Style reflexivity among Danish high school youths
In much of the cultural theory literature on youth, style has been said to have started as an expression of subcultural class and transformed into individualized identity projects in neo-tribal sociality. This article discusses young, Danish consumers' discourses on style and style practice. The key characteristic of their style practice is the reflexivity they bring to bear on their negotiation of global style expression in local identity projects. This style reflexivity manifests itself in two themes: style switching and style code reflexivity. The article shows that consumers' reflexivity of style consumption constitutes not only a ‘folk theory’ of consumption that reflects the academic and popular vernacular of style, but also postmodern consumer research scholarship's mode of expression about style. How individual consumers handle style in a reflexive manner through folk theories of the market is unexplored in previous research on the consumption of style. 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.