Mod to Suedehead

[Pressure_Drop]

Mods, skinheads, suedeheads, smoothies were different (are different) - we chose to stand out from the crowd, we chose to be different, we chose not to adhere to the rules, we were cut from a different cloth.

That's my suggestion for the title: 'Cut from a different cloth' with the subhead something along the lines of 'Mod to Suedehead - a pictorial history'.

 

[flyfronted]

Mods, skinheads, suedeheads, smoothies were different (are different) - we chose to stand out from the crowd, we chose to be different, we chose not to adhere to the rules, we were cut from a different cloth.

That's my suggestion for the title: 'Cut from a different cloth' with the subhead something along the lines of 'Mod to Suedehead - a pictorial history'.

however i remember EVERY kid being a skinhead / suedehead - it was a hight st fashion by 1970 and every kid between 10 and 18 wore the clobber ... hardly elitest .

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



Paul we was not rebellious...especially against the establishment,{ that was for smelly hippies} We was just a pain **********, Most of us was just good boys at heart,

Keep the original title for the book, I just cant think of anything else.

I've been listening to other suggestions, Roy, but on balance I'm with you on this. I don't think our original one has been bettered, so that's the title I'll be submitting it to publishers under.

Got to finish it first, though!

 

[Little Queenie]



 A Good Hard Look

This is very good, catches your attention, then makes you think, then makes you think again. Titles can make quite a difference as to whether you even consider picking up a book or not. Whatever we may be told, books are judged by their covers (and titles)! It needs a more defining sub-title though.

 

[Mr Knightley]

So Kevin Rowland (from Dexy's Midnight Runners) replied to me on another discussion portal, there's a possibility we can get him to give some input for the book.

Here's what he replied to me:

I am still trying to catch up with everything here and on 'other portals'.
I also saw this (not sure if it is the same site) and KR made reference to the book we are proposing and how he hoped it would put the record straight.

He was responding to a mischievous post by an 'Original Modernist' who chose to include that very 'staged' pic of skinheads and hippies in Piccadilly Circus and said this was a 'good reason for it ending in 1966'.

 

[Gsvs5]



What is worth mentioning in a book about the Originals, is the Rudies, They played their part in the Original scene, A lot of rubbish has been written about the West Indian influence on 60s Skinheads. Black lads had their own way of dress, and it was not Boots, Braces and Donkey jackets, But their was copying by both groups. One of the biggest influences on me was a Black lad called Lenny V, He was my mates Cousin a little older than us , And was one of the smartest blokes I ever meet, he dressed more Ivy than Skinhead.

Maybe we weren't rebellious in the classic sense of fighting the establishment,but the look we chose was frowned upon by most of our white elders.
I distinctly recall walking down the Stone Rd in Stafford ,on my way to the Youth Club.It was a road full of mixed race.I was dressed in short blue line POW strides,black socks,black box tops,black Barathea and blue pinpoint Oxford.It was summertime,and there was a group of Jamaican men chatting outside the front.They started slapping ther fingers,smiling and generally saying positive **** about our look.It was the first and only time I recall anyone older giving us a positive nod.It just put an extra bounce in our step that they "understood" the look.

 

[Sirryacus]

What were you expected to have worn?

 

[Gsvs5]



What were you expected to have worn?

The irony is that what we were wearing was not particularly offensive or extraordinary,but partly something obvious and partly subliminal.My Dad could easily have worn the exact same kit and looked like a Conservative candidate for the North Midlands!
It's the way the jacket was buttoned,the length and cut of the trousers,the sound of the shoes,the step of the walk,the style of the hair.......in other words it was 60% clothes,30% how you wore them,and 10% attitude.You can fudge the numbers however you like,but without all three elements you could never carry it off.
My fist real encounters with Americans were the Mormon Missionaries that used to appear every Summer back them.What the **** they hoped to achieve or for that matter,how they ever found the Midlands was beyond my comprehension? Whatever,these lads had the look down pat.They were the fist to wear Longwings,striped ties,Oxford B D's and sharp suits.They were a walking Billboard for Brooks Bros.The things was though,,they were safe.They had no attitude.They carried themselves in a passive manner.They smiled at everyone,a sneer was not in their vocabulary.That's the difference my friend.You can have all the right gear,but you've got to know what to do with it to get what you want.
There are unwritten rules that do not cross cultural boundaries also.....A 60 yr old Jamaican can wear Longwings,half mast strides and look cool.Nine times out of Ten a 60 yr old white guy looks a ****

 

[yankmod]

Some great stuff above from Gsvs5 for the book (in my opinion) The Stories of a Midlands Skinhead.The Mormon story especially cool.I have had many positive encounters with an often lonely pair of 18 yr old missionaries.Imagine being thrust into Manhattan and tryin to engage people who are 5 steps ahead of themselves as it is.They always looked immaculate and true Ivy League.

 

[Sirryacus]

I've saw the Mormon missionaries around they seem to dress more like michael douglas from falling down around here never saw them with a jacket most likely because of the california heat, I used to be best friends with someone that attended the mormon church was the most un-mormon scraggly person you'll ever meet (but hell so am I),as were most of the people he knew from church, I'm not so sure most of them were sharp dressers outside of the confines of church activities, I usually have quite a distaste for any religion that goes out trying to get new recruits but the Mormons aren't usually as forceful as the Jehovas Witnesses with their attempts, they usually know how to dress for church though,some of my greatest vintage and modern finds in the realm of high fashion have been at church rummage sales I'll give them that much.

 

[browniecj]

I was influenced by the Jamaicans-the Look,the Records etc.,because those were the Clubs I was going to.Do not forget,I was 19 so I was not going to Youth Clubs anymore.By the late 60s American Servicemen were not so prominent around the West End.When late `69 came Skinhead had become a Uniform and a lot of it was copied from the early Mods.Boots and cropped hair were about in `64/`65,J.Simons opened originally for the Modernist Market-so that stuff was here early 60s.In the mid 60s I was going to the Marquee and others and was influenced by what was being worn there.`68/`69 I was going to the "Limbo" and sometimes the "Roaring Twenties"-when you could get in.The same thing happened.

 

[Watermelon man]

Watermelon man,it was not the Record itself-I did not have it in `69.It was a Title suggestion and the year was right.Nothing more,nothing less.How about giving some suggestions?
Anything with "Skinhead"in the Title these days would automatically get kept off the Shelves.I would be honest here and say that I do not mind Sales in America.

Righto. I don't know what the original title was. But since I've come late to the party, it would help to know:

1. Who is the intended readership/market? (old skinheads after nostalgia, hoolie-lit readers, historians/sociologists, fashion students etc)
2. Why is it being published? (to set the record straight, to present material that hasn't been seen before, to provide a definitive historical record, to bring together diverse elements of the style (music, clothes, attitudes) under one cover... etc)
3. Will the book be self-published or commercial?
4. Will the book be paper printed or digital or both?
5. What is the content? (Roughly speaking. I know it's not just clothes, but what are the main subjects and what proportion of the book is devoted to each?)
6. What period will it cover?
7. Is it to be an anthology with several authors (and therefore different styles of writing), or is there to be one principal author?

All of these have a bearing on the title and subtitle.

 

[yankmod]

I was influenced by the Jamaicans-the Look,the Records etc.,because those were the Clubs I was going to.Do not forget,I was 19 so I was not going to Youth Clubs anymore.

Important to keep the Jamaicans in the story.And the difference between the young-uns and the older cats.Cheers browniecj.

 

[Mr Knightley]

For me it was not really about borrowing from any particular culture but rather, as I think it says somewhere in the Button Down Types, a total rejection of what Mod had become - brawling on the beaches. It was a return to those first modernist principles of clean living in a difficult climate.

As such the look drew heavily on early modernist elements but pared back and even sharper.

 

[Watermelon man]

For me it was not really about borrowing from any particular culture but rather, as I think it says somewhere in the Button Down Types, a total rejection of what Mod had become - brawling on the beaches. It was a return to those first modernist principles of clean living in a difficult climate.

As such the look drew heavily on early modernist elements but pared back and even sharper.

'Clean living in difficult circumstances' was an inspired title.

You're right about being pared back. It's a bit like Beau Brummell. Although what he wore seems flamboyant to us today, his clothes were very simple and understated compared with the OTT Regency style he rejected. It applies to scooters too -- the mirror-festooned Mod scooter gets cut back to a skelly.