Mod to Suedehead

[Brideshead]



In my area of East London/Essex borders, 1968/69 was not a bad time to be white working class.

We had money in our pockets and we spent it. I had a made to measure mohair suit, Prince of Wales jacket and a real crombie. Shoes/shirts/socks from the Squire shop, Levis from 'The Lane'. And a lot more. We were 'flash' and we knew it.

'Flash' was the word at the time.

 

[Bob the Badger]

Flyfronted if you still live in W10 you must be 'rolling in it'. I had a mate who lived on the Fulham Road, over Chelsea way, and his family were considered poor. I hope he bought the family home and still lives there. He would be a rich man today.

 

[flyfronted]

Flyfronted if you still live in W10 you must be 'rolling in it'. I had a mate who lived on the Fulham Road, over Chelsea way, and his family were considered poor. I hope he bought the family home and still lives there. He would be a rich man today.

Yeah Fulham was poor right up until the early 70s when the Chelsea factor meant the kids of the rich brought up all the double fronted homes. Sadly instead of doing up our lovely victorian double fronted with halls 3 bed - they pulled it down as slum clearence and stuck us miles away in a flat .

 

[flyfronted]

Some beautiful footwear of late and especially these!

Going back to flyfronted's point, I have heard it argued that Modernists were the first truly 'modern' youth movement as they looked forward rather than back - as Teds did. Their tag (Teddy Boy) was indeed a reference to the fact that their attire (if not their attitude!) harked back to the Glory Days of the Edwardian period.

In her excellent book ‘Fashion for Men’, Diana de Marly argues that in the early post-War years, British society was lacking a male fashion lead with no Prince of Wales and a Duke of Edinburgh that had no interest in clothes. The vacuum was unexpectedly filled by working-class young men in south London who adopted in 1953 the ‘Edwardian look’. As the look rapidly spread across the country it exaggerated the original model with a lengthening of the jacket to mid-thigh and the introduction of the DA hairstyle. Familiar story eh?

What shocked society and especially the upper classes who had, until then, set fashion in England was the speed with which this working-class movement gathered pace....

But apparently they copied the upper class ( rumoured Homosexual ) dandy's of the Coldstream guards young officers who had these whistles made up in Saville row and were often pictured in the sunday papers . If you look at very early pics of the first Mods ( well the first article in a paper on them ) - jewish north london sons of tailors ( Marc Bolan being the Face in the article ) they actually look quite Edwardian in tailoring style .

 

[Brideshead]



But apparently they copied the upper class  ( rumoured Homosexual ) dandy's of the Coldstream guards young officers who had these whistles made up in Saville row and were often pictured in the sunday papers . If you look at very early pics of the first Mods ( well the first article in a paper on them ) - jewish north london sons of tailors ( Marc Bolan being the Face in the article ) they actually look quite Edwardian in tailoring style .

Yes, they did copy the upper class fashion that emerged after the war and I think some of that crowd (Cecil Beaton and co) were homosexual. And I agree the very early 'Teds' (I bet they didn't have a name either until the popular press latched on) took the look very seriously indeed. But it soon went the way of most youth fashions - including the one we are all so passionate about.

 

[Brideshead]

Back to shoes -

Not really skinhead style but rather a classic English brogue from John White c 1988, the Midhurst. Then JW enjoyed a Royal Warrant and made very acceptable shoes - mine have only recently come back from my man in Suffolk after their first re-sole in 25 years!

 

[Botolph]

Very nice brogues, Brideshead.

Here's my Loake Royals

And my Alden shell cordovan gunboats

Truth be told i've gotten more mileage out of the loakes, they were 1/3 the price and thus less "dressy".

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



I always thought "Napoleon Solo" was a smart Dresser.

I'll give you that!

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



Last people have wrote in books that the Original skinheads was anti fashion well it may have been, but we was not conscious of this at the time..to us we dressed like our mates and the clobber looked smart.

To my mind, Roy - and I think you might agree - the people who wrote that didn't know what they were talking about. We were anti- the kind of fashion they liked, but if we had been completely 'anti-fashion' we'd all have gone round in boiler suits.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



Yes, I agree with all this. I also had to take two jobs to fund my habit - a paper round and a short-lived evening job in Tesco. I think our mums and dads had no problem with what we wore but rather with how we often behaved...

The other thing about the declining standard of living is that now all the 'emerging' economies are fighting for a piece of the action. The Chinese now like cheese so the ******* price of a piece of Stilton rockets!

Just so we're clear that the immigrants are as much victims as anyone else. They're lured here because businesses want to get labour on the cheap. That's all I'm going to say on the politics of the matter.

 

[flyfronted]

To my mind, Roy - and I think you might agree - the people who wrote that didn't know what they were talking about. We were anti- the kind of fashion they liked, but if we had been completely 'anti-fashion' we'd all have gone round in boiler suits.

All the 'Skinhead ' clobber was sold in the best fashion shops - skinhead WAS the fashion.

 

[flyfronted]

Yes, they did copy the upper class fashion that emerged after the war and I think some of that crowd (Cecil Beaton and co) were homosexual. And I agree the very early 'Teds' (I bet they didn't have a name either until the popular press latched on) took the look very seriously indeed. But it soon went the way of most youth fashions - including the one we are all so passionate about.

But we all chose to ' Hold Dear ' the good clobber and forget the jeckyle one's .. no one would bowl about in Jungle greens , army boots and a Crombie from the market with a union shirt on nowdays . Its only the classic pieces and labels that are remembered.

 

[Lasttye]



All the 'Skinhead ' clobber was sold in the best fashion shops - skinhead WAS the fashion.

Not to sure of that Flyfront, All the cloths we wore had been around for many years, Crombie, Harrington, BD Shirts, Brogues, Near every bit of Skinhead clobber was classics, But in 68/69 they was not fashion, like what the Mods had become, Bell Bottoms, flower shirts all the stuff we hated at the time.
But I suppose we the Skinheads made those classic cloths fashionable again but only to us,

 

[Bob the Badger]

Our 'fashion' came from the streets. No marketing, no advertising, all word of mouth. Not anti-fashion but anti-fashion people telling us what was 'in' or 'groovy'. We picked up on what other smart boys were wearing when visiting the Dance Halls , football terraces, pubs, clubs and school. That's what was so good about it. It belonged to us. No one dictated to us what to wear. We were our own fashion police.

 

[Lasttye]



Our 'fashion' came from the streets. No marketing, no advertising, all word of mouth. Not anti-fashion but anti-fashion people telling us what was 'in' or 'groovy'. We picked up on what other smart boys were wearing when visiting the Dance Halls , football terraces, pubs, clubs and school. That's what was so good about it. It belonged to us. No one dictated to us what to wear. We were our own fashion police.

When you think about it the Skinheads weren't anti establishment or rebels, Most of us was good lads at heart,came from good homes, knew the right from wrong..was disciplined. smart in our appearance, and loyal to our mates, We may of cause mayhem for a couple of years but most of us ended up leading pretty ordinary lives afterwards, some fell by the wayside but thats life in general.