Anti riot suit stylish shaped and influenced young women's fashion from the 1990s to the present day. Even though there was no "uniform" in this movement, certain tendencies and developments moved from the subculture into the mainstream. This appropriation failed to bleach the politics from the clothing, and its influence continues, unabated, today.

The term was created by Jen Smith, an early associate of the band Bratmobile, when she wrote "This summer's going to be a girl riot" to lead singer Allison Wolfe. Later on, members of Bratmobile collaborated with Kathleen Hanna and Tobi Vail to create a zine called anti riot suit. The name stuck.

The Philosophy of anti riot suit

The anti riot suit Manifesto emphasized female solidarity, and networking with other women and girls to create a female-centric scene. Early zines like "Girl Germs" and "Bikini Kill" dealt with traditionally feminist issues, such as domestic violence as well as male domination.

Unsurprisingly, for a movement started by people in their early twenties, the philosophy of anti riot suit was enthusiastic and a bit jejune. In early zines, writers like Kathleen Hanna and Allison Wolfe spoke out against racism, sexism and other -isms, with very good outrage, if not coherence. Many articles dealt with personal encounters of sexism, as well as explaining what feminism meant to the author.

Element of the movement was against the "anti-sell-out," purer-and-cooler-than-thou atmosphere of punk, and a somewhat similar atmosphere in conventional academic feminism. Although members of the movement claim there was no set of rules, I can find no evidence of politically conservative or perhaps libertarian bands in this movement. Rather than rebelling against academic feminism, most members of the movement seemed to accept it is dogma, whether or not individuals differed on details or in private.