Quote:
Originally Posted by Darksideoftheforce 
Question for the non-American posters on the site:
Although it may not seem like the question has anything to do with traditional skinhead fashion, it does.
I was just reading an article online that generally speaking Americans are considered the worst dressed people in the western world. By worst dressed the article stated slovenly and lazily dressed. GQ magazine voted the city where I'm from Los Angeles as the country's second worst dressed city. As an insider I can definately attest to that. In a city where flip flops, loose fitting t shirts with tacky prints and shorts are the norm, people here consider a button down shirt and a nice pair of fitted pants and a pair of plain caps or wingtips to be "formally dressed" and will often get you stares to the point that you are made to feel like some arrogant tosser full of himself. Properly tailored fitted pants that fit the wearer like they are meant to fit are considered "tight" and "gay" looking in America where lose and baggy are nearly uniform here. In America people don't seem to have a concept of what constitutes formal attire and what constitutes looking smart and presentable. To me formal means a suit and a tie, semi-formal is a suit without a tie.
Its been established from previous discussions on this board that American fashion was an important element of the traditional skinhead attire, American long wings, and the smart ivy league fashion. Did you original skinheads growing up in the 60s view Americans back then to be smartly dressed, unlike today when Americans have a notorious reputation for looking scruffy? Even expensive stores in America considered "hip" and "high end" like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister are just full of boring shitty looking clothes that would be considered crappy style by European standards.
Having visited London and other parts of Europe several times myself I can definitely say that the stereotype of the badly dressed American has a ring of truth to it. I mean compared to the average Londoner or Parisian Americans certainly have no fashion sense. Did you original skinhead guys feel differently about American fashion sense in the 60s?
Question for the non-American posters on the site:
Although it may not seem like the question has anything to do with traditional skinhead fashion, it does.
I was just reading an article online that generally speaking Americans are considered the worst dressed people in the western world. By worst dressed the article stated slovenly and lazily dressed. GQ magazine voted the city where I'm from Los Angeles as the country's second worst dressed city. As an insider I can definately attest to that. In a city where flip flops, loose fitting t shirts with tacky prints and shorts are the norm, people here consider a button down shirt and a nice pair of fitted pants and a pair of plain caps or wingtips to be "formally dressed" and will often get you stares to the point that you are made to feel like some arrogant tosser full of himself. Properly tailored fitted pants that fit the wearer like they are meant to fit are considered "tight" and "gay" looking in America where lose and baggy are nearly uniform here. In America people don't seem to have a concept of what constitutes formal attire and what constitutes looking smart and presentable. To me formal means a suit and a tie, semi-formal is a suit without a tie.
Its been established from previous discussions on this board that American fashion was an important element of the traditional skinhead attire, American long wings, and the smart ivy league fashion. Did you original skinheads growing up in the 60s view Americans back then to be smartly dressed, unlike today when Americans have a notorious reputation for looking scruffy? Even expensive stores in America considered "hip" and "high end" like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister are just full of boring shitty looking clothes that would be considered crappy style by European standards.
Having visited London and other parts of Europe several times myself I can definitely say that the stereotype of the badly dressed American has a ring of truth to it. I mean compared to the average Londoner or Parisian Americans certainly have no fashion sense. Did you original skinhead guys feel differently about American fashion sense in the 60s?
Back in the 1960s, 'American' to us meant the Motown acts and Napoleon Solo.
