New Jersey not to blame for this, apparently

Boing Boing picked up on the ‘Guidos’ pics, and a lively discussion ensued.

“The origin of this picture is actually probably not NJ, but rather a
techno discotheque in Vienna, Austria, called “NACHTSCHICHT”
(“nightshift”) whose patrons are primarily from working-class
backgrounds.

The habit of using ridiculous amounts of tanning lotion – coupled
with regular visits to the solarium (“soli”) – is so commonplace here
that you barely spend a day without seeing at least a couple of these
guys on the streets. There are numerous videos and galleries on the web
that provide you with “best-of” compilations of this absurd trend…

The skin hue is referred to as “Prolo-braun” (Proletarian Brown).
Many of these fashion victims refer to themselves as “Krocha”, which is
also the name of the style of dance that they like to practice (related
to the europe-wide “jumpstyle” trend). Note that not all Krocha are
Prolo-braun.

“Krocha” comes from “Krachen” (to crack), and from the expression
“In die schicht einikrochn” (to burst into the nachtschichtg). Some
scholars think it also has something to do with the effect of solarium
abuse on the skin of the affected.

Other notable rituals include the sporting a celebratory “VoKuHiLa”
hair style(“Vorne Kurz, Hinten Lang” = a mullet basically), the wearing
of “de puta madre” t-shirts, ed hardy caps and, for the girls, the
famous “Arschgeweih” (“Ass-Antlers” a tatoo near the bottom of the
spine).

The newest style on the hard streets of Vienna is actually wearing
cheap 5€ neon-colored baseball caps (3 colors available: pink, green,
yellow – particularly effective under black light conditions),
preferrably in large groups of associated “Krocha”. It is not uncommon
to see 10-15 of them – all sporting pink headgear – loitering around
the exits of local u-bahn (subway) stations, most notably along the U1
and U6 lines. These serve the eastern side of the city (on the “other
side” of the danube), the 21st and 22nd district, which is also where
the “Nachtschicht” is located and where most “Krocha” seem to originate
from.

Interestingly, although many of the “local” (Austrian) followers of
this style could be classified as having a right-wing and generally
xenophobic orientation, “Krocha” come from many different cultural
backgrounds, including Turkish and Eastern-European. Especially (sic) the Turkish Krocha are taking the style to new heights by combining it with
a weird mix of punk/biker attire, many wearing tight black jeans, loose
t-shirts and black leather jackets.