Mod to Suedehead

[Get Smart]

if you go back to the roots of the scene, it could be summarized as guys who were into the mod movement but as it transitioned into late 60s hippy bullshit, they kept their mod ethos intact, just infusing it with some harder street looks....cutting the hair shorter, paring down the look of mod attire etc. Basically stripping mod of all its peacock feathers.

there's plenty of guys who I'm sure got into skinhead because they like to drink, fight and **** **** up while wearing Docs and listening to punk, and while that's a meathead approach, i guess it has its legitimacy too since even some good friends of mine in the skinhead scene are more "punks" and see the traditional skin scene as being fagotty because we like to polish our shoes and dance to soul, heh

 

[AntiHero84]

Actually, that brings up another question regarding skinheads, or maybe just gender and style in general. The skinhead is popularly viewed as a very male dominated subculture. Where men are manly, working class, and tough as nails. Interest in style and fashion, on the other hand, is often viewed as a very feminine trait. I find it interesting that skinheads are able to keep this macho image intact, openly professing their interest in style, while most other men (even the iGents) are called into question for their sartorial devotion.

 

[Get Smart]

Originally Posted by AntiHero84

Actually, that brings up another question regarding skinheads, or maybe just gender and style in general. The skinhead is popularly viewed as a very male dominated subculture. Where men are manly, working class, and tough as nails. Interest in style and fashion, on the other hand, is often viewed as a very feminine trait. I find it interesting that skinheads are able to keep this macho image intact, openly professing their interest in style, while most other men (even the iGents) are called into question for their sartorial devotion.

haha yea it's a huge contradiction by today's standards. and especially when you consider that a very purist skinhead would be quite fanatical about making sure certain details in attire were absolutely correct. There was very little room for self-expression outside these lines, but when skinhead evolved into suedehead that's when the cult really hit its stride, at least sartorially, since other ideas were accepted and it wasnt as uniform or dogmatic as skinhead.

 

[Get Smart]

also, a big difference is that a skinhead knows he needs to get "gear X Y and Z", whether it's the type of shirt, boots, jackets etc, but he wont ask "how does it fit" or any of the myriad questions asked around here. after all you know you got the right shirt, who gives a **** what anyone else thinks of how it fits. On skinhead forums where we've talked about clothes it's always about "where to get this item" or "check out this item", but NEVER "how do I look wearing it". I think that last question is where teh **** rears its (purple tinted) head

 

[raWorkshop]

That's an odd approach to consumption though. Seems kinda fashionista and contrived, especially since the fit doesn't matter. What determines which companies make the cut? Who made that call (and when)? Does it have to do with how the companies treat the workers or how they're run?

 

[Get Smart]

of course fit matters (probably more so to a skinhead/mod type fellow than the average guy on street), but no one asks for anyone's opinion on it. You know if it fits or not

and yes it's a bit contrived way of consumption, but that scene has always been a bit regimented about what brands are "correct", at least for younger guys/newer guys, who want to appear properly attired. I dont think older guys could give a **** since they do their own thing anyways, which is how it should be.

as for brands that made the cut...that's an interesting question, as to who is on the "ok list" and how they got there. Some of the gear was brand driven, some desired in concept regardless of make (like harringtons). These are my theories:

-Fred Perry....he represented the "working class" since he didnt come from a rich family and won Wimbledon 2x, beating out players coming from more monied backgrounds.

-Ben Sherman...wasn't actually British but he lived there. He made shirts that mimicked ivy league American style shirts (like Brooks Bros) with the 3 button collar design, sewn down full back pleat, tall collars etc. BS was a nicer alternative to Jaytex and Brutus, who made similar shirtings

-Doc Marten....originally designed to be a working class factory boot. Plenty of threads about Docs on this forum

-G9 Harrington....again, an american ivy league staple, but popular with skinheads. Brand wise there wasnt an allegiance to any particular one. Despite Baracuta being "authentic", it's said that most original skins weren't wearing Baracuta but some cheaper marketplace knockoff

-Brogues and Loafers (penny and tassle) were popular....Again, it was more of a stylistic choice than a brand per se. American longwings were sought after and Paul Gorman's "The Look" has John Simons talking about how The Ivy Store would get American brogues and there'd be a line to get a pair, with guys buying them in the wrong sizes if sold out, just to have a pair. Frank Wright made the classic tassle w/kiltie that the current Loake "Brighton" loafer is fashioned after (and Doc Marten made their own version years ago of this loafer with air wair sole)

-crombie coat...again not the actual brand Crombie, but usually knockoffs.

-Levis....one of the few actual American brands that were highly sought after. Seems everything was American inspired, except the denim which had to be actual USA product. Shrink to fit selvedge jeans with cuff so .5" of the selvedge line shows. Most skins nowadays wouldnt know **** from sunshine about selvedge, but the purist traditionals all make sure their jeans are redline Levis with the small turnup (often sewn down in place). Besides the denim, Levis Sta-prest were necessary skin gear. Basically like Dickies work pants with a slimmer cut

-Suits....the real faces had to have tailor made suits, nothing off the rack. The typical skinhead suit would be tonik mohair. high buttoning 3 or 4 button cut. sometimes 5+ buttons on the sleeve, and in some absurd cases multiple rows of ticket pockets on both sides(!!!) with slim cut tapered trousers ending at no break or slightly higher to show off some sock or boot. Narrow lapels a must.

**then there's tons of other stuff that were worn like Fair Isle Sweaters, donkey jacket, sheepskin coats, denim jackets, etc etc. I'll scan and post some pics over the weekend from Nick Knight's book that was originally by Jim Ferguson as SoulStylist pointed out. It's pretty interesting as it illustrates the changes from 1969-70-71 etc

 

[Get Smart]

From Nick Knight's book "Skinhead"....style section by Jim Ferguson (as scanned)

1968...the first skinheads were technically around during the mod period of mid-later 60s, usually referred to as "hard mods". 1968 was probably the first wave of original "skinheads" who werent mods

1969...the dominant year for skinhead. This is when it almost became a part of the mainstream, as there were tons of records made to court the skins (aka Trojan record singles)

1970...skinhead began to evolve into suedehead

1971.....suedehead evolved into "smoothies"

Here's a good photo evolution of a fella going from skinhead to suedehead to smoothie

 

[Get Smart]

Originally Posted by raWorkshop

That's an odd approach to consumption though. Seems kinda fashionista and contrived, especially since the fit doesn't matter.

This reminds me....back when my friends and me were first getting into the scene this was all pre-internet and you couldnt just click on the right shirt, right pants, right boots and order it. For Fred Perry's we'd comb all the local SoCal mom/pop tennis stores (from Oxnard down to San Diego) and see if they had any deadstock shirts in the back that hadnt sold and we'd buy our freds that way. Most of the time they were too big but we'd buy them anyways, and I was lucky that my mom knew how to sew so she'd fix them up for me to fit better. Only a couple stores sold Doc Martens so you'd have to find a way to get there if you had a friend old enough to drive, or we also wrote to Shelly's in London and corresponded thru snail mail and finally would mail some $$ and hope that some day our Doc Martens would arrive. Amazingly we never got ripped off and anything we sent cash to london for, we would get eventually. It was all about the hunt for the right gear and the kind of effort you had to put into it is probably something kids today wouldnt have the patience or state of mind to do.

It's not uncommon to find stories by first wave skins and how their first Ben Sherman shirts might have been so large that they had to grow into it after a couple years, and that would be the only shirt they would own. Some of the originals had a very sparse wardrobe since it was expensive to gear up properly. They didnt have the luxury of having a closet full of shirts in every conceivable pattern and color!

 

[AntiHero84]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

Ah ha! Bleached jeans pre-82 Oi! I still wonder how that developed.


I'm loving this thread, btw. Good job, Spirit of 69.

 

[Get Smart]

some old school photos of skinheads (60s & 70s) from various sources

this guy went on to drum for Motorhead!!

old old pic of glam band Slade when they were skins

 

[Poomba]

Damn skins looked sharp.

 

[Black Cherry]

Since they were posted, gotta confess the illustrations from the Nick Knight book are a major source of inspiration. Flat-out ape some of them, the guy in the hat and shawl collar is pretty much the reason I started wearing hats.

Nice bunch of pics, GS. You are a gentleman and a scholar.

 

[Bullitt]

I like the Nick Knight Skinhead book and also his later work. An other good photographer is Gavin Watson. Recently I saw an exhibition by him with images from the early 80ies Skinhead scene in London. His book - Skins - is easy to find, for example at Amazon.

 

[Get Smart]

yes Gavin Watson's "Skins" is a good photo book of his friends, The High Wycombe skinhead crew from the early 80s. He just put out another book, even better imo, called "Skins & Punks" which are completely different photos from the same time period that were not printed in "Skins". It's a bigger and hardbound book than "Skins" and i think the pics are better since there are more "at home moment" type photos. And you gotta keep in mind when he took these he wasnt a professional photographer, just a kid with a camera, who happened to have a good eye. another old photo

I LOVE this pic, so classic. Used on the cover of "69 Dancehall Skinhead Reggae comp"

early 80s probably

guy on right is Deptford John, bassist of Combat 84. well known fella in the scene. There was even a 1 hour BBC documentary that was made about the band (mostly with controversial singer Chubby Chris) that floats around on youtube, and includes great riot footage from a gig that gets cut short because guys start fighting and throwing chairs and you see it all go down

This is Part 1 (of 4) of the Combat 84 documentary from 1982, it's long and kinda slow but it's really interesting if you're into the band or the oi scene since it's all "real" footage, nothing staged or scripted not a vintage photo, but a cool shot

photos of black skinheads...they look like they've had an ageing effect added to the photos. Don't know much about them, what they were used for, if these cats were actually skins or what, but the images are cool

Screenshot from a BBC short on skinheads

The actual video it's from Black skinhead Barry from Wycombe, one of Gavin Watson's subjects in his book "Skins"

 

[soulstylist]

...just a note on Fred Perry - if you look at all the pics you can find just one(!) guy sporting one - seems they weren't as popular as many people think now...

...another big influence for the contemporary look was for sure the casual movement, which actaually is much more going with the spirit of mod/skin (soulstylists - yeah!) than punk. Thats how sportswear (e.g. Pringle, Lonsdale, Adidas Sambas) became so popular...