Mod to Suedehead

[Get Smart]

looks like "This Is England '86" is airing starting september

http://www.channel4.com/microsites/T/thisisengland86/

definitely think Woody looks strange as **** with his grown out hairdo. It's a bit disconcerting looking actually. Lol still looks good. The other guys look typical of post-skinhead types moving on into other scenes. The little kid sure looks all grown up now. Wont be as creepy to see him making out with Smell.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Interesting variations on a theme!

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

I hate having my pic taken, but this is me at sixty y/o - still wearing the Harrington and a button-down shirt, still with a No1 (very little choice - I share a hairline with Patrick Stewart). And those aviators!

 

[Get Smart]

good pic MoM...nice to see you still making the Look work for you, it's a very easy style to grow old gracefully with (as you show here), as long as you toss out the bleachers and 14i boots once you hit a ripe age.

 

[AntiHero84]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

looks like "This Is England '86" is airing starting september

http://www.channel4.com/microsites/T/thisisengland86/

definitely think Woody looks strange as **** with his grown out hairdo. It's a bit disconcerting looking actually. Lol still looks good. The other guys look typical of post-skinhead types moving on into other scenes. The little kid sure looks all grown up now. Wont be as creepy to see him making out with Smell.

Wow, everyone has really changed since the film. It's almost sad to think that so many of them have moved away from the skin scene, but I suppose that happened in real life too. I'm a bit curious to see what other subcultures they're trying to represent. I think I can see a football casual, it looks as if Woodie's gone mod (or perhaps he's a Smiths-esque precursor to Brit-pop), Smell seems to have retained her New Wave/Goth look, and Shaun seems to have dropped the whole skin identity altogether.

 

[loempiavreter]

MoM great pics!

What London Area are you from, at that time?

I think your about the same age as one of the older Skinheads on ukskinheads.co.uk (he was first one of the "flashier" mods, but saw his friends change into flower children and didn't like concept albums, so he went to an other set of mods and west indian kids). He told me about bad blood between the older lot and the new younger kids coming in '69. You experienced any of this (younger gangs going after the gangs with older lot)?

As you where also from '67, do you remember leather bomber jackets with knitted collars and cuffs? Jungle greens (or Cotton Twill Baggy Trousers as alternative?), slipover + white t-shirt? Reaver Jackets?

Also the detail of only putting the top button into work on that cardie I was told it was an West Indian "style" influence, is it?

Interesting that the Grease used "Skinhead" as some sort of namecalling first (just as you used Grease to them), did you consider yourself still a mod even with the skinhead name around?

Or you actually used terms as hard mods around your way?

Although Colin/Rocksteady68 from Ukskinheads told me a lot it's always good to have a views from someone else!

 

[RugbyCub]

Yeh MoM Awesome pics... and while a lot might find the look boring.. its a classic, and if its in yer blood, its in there... I know 'cus i never really was able to gave it up either... I'm 52 and in some ways it still looks kinda fine for me... (I think?) OK i did splurge on for 400$ Raf Simons Patent Doc shoes last year but the rest is my old stuff.... much like I had when I was 12 in 1969 in Northants UK (where my family even made the original AirWairs... in the Factory there... I found these pics from this year... sadly the kiddy ones are long gone (we didnt take pics much in those days - coudnlt afford it... only on holidays I remember)

The new film looks interesting..... Still though its a film... I'm glad i was around then for the real thing.....

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Originally Posted by loempiavreter

MoM great pics!

What London Area are you from, at that time?

I think your about the same age as one of the older Skinheads on ukskinheads.co.uk (he was first one of the "flashier" mods, but saw his friends change into flower children and didn't like concept albums, so he went to an other set of mods and west indian kids). He told me about bad blood between the older lot and the new younger kids coming in '69. You experienced any of this (younger gangs going after the gangs with older lot)?

As you where also from '67, do you remember leather bomber jackets with knitted collars and cuffs? Jungle greens (or Cotton Twill Baggy Trousers as alternative?), slipover + white t-shirt? Reaver Jackets?

Also the detail of only putting the top button into work on that cardie I was told it was an West Indian "style" influence, is it?

Interesting that the Grease used "Skinhead" as some sort of namecalling first (just as you used Grease to them), did you consider yourself still a mod even with the skinhead name around?

Or you actually used terms as hard mods around your way?

Although Colin/Rocksteady68 from Ukskinheads told me a lot it's always good to have a views from someone else!

Some interesting questions there.

In 1967 I was actually in Blackpool in Lancashire, with the Northern mods. In 1968 I moved, with my parents, to the leafy suburb of West Wickham in Kent. The crowd that I went around with at first was in Bromley, but I was at college in New Cross (London SE14) and lived at various times in Catford (London SE6) and Brockley (London SE4). My favourite West Indian record shop was in Deptford High Street (London SE8), and the best disco was at the Savoy Rooms, Catford; the DJ was Steve Maxsted.

No one used the term "mod" any more, and my initial use of it drew some chuckles. "We don't really call ourselves anything," they said. "Maybe 'Totters'." That name was from the part-time occupation of many out-of-work youngsters in the London area of collecting and selling scrap metal etc. That had always been known in London as "totting". As I recall, I never heard the term "hard mod" until recently, even though I now use it myself as a convenient description.

I was able to assess the differences between the North and the South at the time. The North was, in many respects, more attentive to fashion changes, although the fashions tended to move at their own local pace. For example, single vents and side vents came and went, and combinations of pleats and vents in jackets - typical "mod" behaviour. In the South, the look was fairly conservative, not changing much. Three-button jackets had a back vent and that was that! Looking back, I can see how the Northern Soul scene of the 1970s developed out of the tail end of the Northern mod scene (in fact one of my mates from the Blackpool mods went on to become a noted Northern Soul DJ), whereas the skinhead thing caught on in its greatest numbers in London. Of course there were exceptions to this "rule" so please do only take it as a personal observation. If I had known at the time that I was actually making social history and that anyone would have given a damn in 2010, I would have made notes!

The bad blood between the older and younger skinheads in about 1969 - yes I did see that. It's like anything else when your little brother and all his mates jump on the bandwagon - you tend to get a bit sick of it. The original skinhead scene in London kinda fell apart in 1970, although again there were exceptions. I didn't notice the bad blood lead to actual fights, rather there was a tendency for us older lot to adopt more "wally" fashions (longer hair, more stylish jumpers, flares, and so on), and to go to different music gigs.

Bomber jackets. There had always been zipper jackets before the Harrington. "Bomber" is one description, but I always called them "surf jackets" because there is a famous pic of the Beach Boys wearing them. (Hey, Al Jardine - nice loafers, man!)

I first came across them in about 1966 or 1967 up North, but they were usually in dark blue nylon, unlined, with knitted and elasticated cuffs. In late 67 the Northerners tended to have ditched them for Levi jackets, but in 68 they were still being worn in London. As for the leather version, I do recall those being worn, but not widely. However, I recall the first use of the USAF-style bomber jacket in olive green (with sleeve pockets and an orange lining) in 1969.

Jungle green trousers - yes, 1968 in London. I wore a pair on a return visit to the North and they raised a few eyebrows.

Phew... I feel like a visitor from the past...

 

[Get Smart]

Originally Posted by Man-of-Mystery

Bomber jackets. There had always been zipper jackets before the Harrington. "Bomber" is one description, but I always called them "surf jackets" because there is a famous pic of the Beach Boys wearing them.

are you talking about actual MA-1 flight jackets that were popular with new breed 80s skinheads? Or are you referring to monkey jackets, which I've seen called bombers even tho that seems like the wrong descriptor. It looks like the Beach Boys are wearing Monkey Jackets. I'm curious because I've never seen 60s photos of skins wearing MA-1 bombers, but would be interesting to hear that they did, as it's always associated with late 70s/80s skinheads

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

are you talking about actual MA-1 flight jackets that were popular with new breed 80s skinheads? Or are you referring to monkey jackets, which I've seen called bombers even tho that seems like the wrong descriptor. It looks like the Beach Boys are wearing Monkey Jackets. I'm curious because I've never seen 60s photos of skins wearing MA-1 bombers, but would be interesting to hear that they did, as it's always associated with late 70s/80s skinheads

There was a brief spell where MA-1 jackets were fashionable in S E London in 1969. I still had a faux one in 1974, which was well before the revival; I dug it out again in the early 80s when I was roadying for a band who were supporting OMD at Hammersmith (but that's another story).

So yes, in answer to your question, the MA-1 was around in '69.

M-o-M

 

[loempiavreter]

@Man-of-Mystery Thanks for awsnering my questions, appreciated. Another great insight on the history. Small question again, do you know what type of boots the fella on the far right is wearing (the one with the very thin soles):

Sam Shepard alias Bronco Bullfrog/Jo is wearing those thin sole boots as well in this post-bronco bullfrog picture (Del with a mustache XD):

zoomed in:

If anyone wants a big picture of this: http://theeelzine.files.wordpress.co.../bronco_08.jpg This also makes me curious on what kind of shoes the girls are wearing in this pic (the girl in the POW Skirt and Anne Gooding RIP from Bronco Bullfrog). @Get Smart These maybe?

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

No idea. They look very worn, though.

(I saw on one site which mentioned "Bronco Bullfrog" that the Daily Mirror "christened" the skinhead movement. Oh yeah, that'd be right.)

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Just found a pic of myself one Bank Holiday at Margate. For some reason I cut the young lady I was with out of the photo...

 

[Get Smart]

Originally Posted by Man-of-Mystery

Just found a pic of myself one Bank Holiday at Margate. For some reason I cut the young lady I was with out of the photo...

maybe a deep freudian response at play?

Margate still has a lot of good weekend 'do. Seems several times a year they hold a big event there with all traditional sounds

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Nah, just fell out with her. Nice young woman in many ways, but it wasn't to be...