I had been to raves and such before.. and noticed the 'candy kids' but it wasnt too 'full on'.
I wasnt really exposed the the culture of it all untill i started going to underground doofs.. they would wear the fat pants, all the 'candy' stuff, glowsticks and there raver names (spike,simba,scooba.. some really weird ones too lol).. but they were minority in this scene.. i was exposed too another culture of 'hippy' types of people.. dreadlocks, very earthy style dress (they were mainly trippers).
But i found it interesting to watch the mix of two different 'sub cultures'.. the candy kids with ecstasy and then the hippys with LSD/Mushrooms. It was the first time i really got an insight into this whole scene.. I think the earthy style has rubbed off on me a bit.. i find it kind of cool, but never a fan of the candy stuff.