The Look goes on...

[covskin]

Talking of Casual, just remembered a brand that nobody seems to mention, Le Shark. This was mid-80s, and may have been a cheap rip-off for all I know, but any connection with Paul & Shark?

 

[cerneabbas]

I recognise that Stone Island/designer jeans look. Yes it does look decent but, for all the interesting texture, it is a bit monotone black-grey to my eyes - or am I just not recognising the more colourful stuff? Wouldn't wear any of those brands personally though, that's just me.

I think that you can do that look in a variety of colours,I have a pair of brown Boss trainers,I wear them with blue Boss or Armani jeans a blue polo and a navy M+S or navy Lyle and Scott v neck and a blue Harrington.
The older Lyle and Scott lambswool v necks are good quality,as I said I try to avoid the yellow eagle logo on the chest,if you want more colour you can still find the diamond v necks...should brighten the dullest day !.
Yes I remember Le Shark,at the height of logomania,probably the logo was based on Lacoste crocodile ?.
I remember someone telling me that they had spent half their holiday in Italy wandering around street markets looking for and buying clothes with obscure Italian logos and in strange colours as at home people would think that they were some expensive designer brand...no internet then so that "plan" wouldn't work now.

 

[baggycasual]

Can't bring my self to spend more than £100 (well, £40-50 really) on trainers especially when they're probably made in the same Vietnamese factory and of roughly the same quality and materials as Adidas Originals or Nike. In fact often 'designer' trainers are of worse quality. Adidas especially I find are rather well made.

 

[cerneabbas]

Can't bring my self to spend more than £100 (well, £40-50 really) on trainers especially when they're probably made in the same Vietnamese factory and of roughly the same quality and materials as Adidas Originals or Nike. In fact often 'designer' trainers are of worse quality. Adidas especially I find are rather well made.

I got both my pairs of Boss trainers in sales,they are the last "seasons" ( which I couldn't care less about ) and they reduced them by 50% ( and still made a nice profit),I also have bought Boss and Armani jeans in the style that I like at 50% off because this years have different labels etc...anyone who wants to pay full wack to keep up with that has my sympathy.Boss UK has online sales and I have done quite well out of them.
I notice that some polo shirts this year are being advertised as regular fit and the sleeves look more of a traditional length,hopefully this marks the end of the ridiculously short and tight sleeves of recent years.
Has anybody else tried the cotton v neck jumpers from M+S ?,I have a navy one and for less than £20 I am pleased with it,I will be getting a grey one on my next visit.

 

[covskin]

Adidas would have been the one brand I might have worn again. I say might because a year or two back I went into an Adidas shop to look at getting some old-style trainers and maybe an old-style 3 stripe t shirt but was met with a wall proclaiming 'Our story begins with Run DMC' and thought "no it ******* doesn't, not here anyway. And I don't want to be associated with that ****". So much for Adidas.

Another brand I might have worn again was Slazenger, as a v neck pullover, being not so obvious as a Fred Perry polo or a Ben Sherman shirt (neither of which I will ever wear now) - until realising that Sports Direct was stacked with Slazenger hoodies and suchlike. So much for Slazenger.

Now I guess somewhere in Japan there may be a capsule shop, the only outlet for a line in retro-minimal tracksuit tops - perhaps navy shoulders above a horizontal 'rain cape' seam at mid-armhole height, with white below, maybe a silver zip, no logo, and no extra stripes anywhere! - something that might allow one to indulge in a low-key Skinhead/Casual transitional look, but good luck in ever finding it.

 

[Clyde]

Picked this up at a "vintage clothing boutique" recently, not my size but couldn't pass it up. A bit skinhead, a bit casual. Can anyone date it? Maybe wore it, way back when.

 

[covskin]

^ not sure that casuals ever went for jean jackets Clyde but Cerneabbas would know more than me. Skinheads went for Levi (or maybe Wrangler).

 

[covskin]

In case anyone is wondering what I mean by Skinhead/Casual transitional look, this is a closeup of me as a skinhead in the early 80s in ma1 over casual top.

 

[Gramps]

Picked this up at a "vintage clothing boutique" recently, not my size but couldn't pass it up. A bit skinhead, a bit casual. Can anyone date it? Maybe wore it, way back when.

Looks a carbon copy of a Lee Rider Trucker. Northern Skins anall that.

 

[cerneabbas]

I thought Lee jacket when I first looked at the picture,I thought the Lois tabs were sewn on but as Gramps says a carbon copy,I don't ever remember seeing one and Casuals here or that I saw other places at football didn't wear them,however that doesn't mean that they weren't worn by Casuals somewhere.
Lois jeans and cords were popular here early 80s,then it was the very bleached light blue Lee,other brands I remember then were Rifle ? and F.U.S which were Jean Machines own brand I think..BTW did Jean Machine become Jean Genie or were they different shop chains ?

I remember the Ma1 being worn with Casual clothes too covskin,I remember wearing brown suede Adidas trainers,the bleached denim Lee jeans (which were quite tight,and we used to slash the bottoms to fall over our trainers) a polo or a sweatshirt and an Ma1,I used to wear this to football in the early 80s not designer enough to be Casual but not skinhead either,something like Steve Mcqueen in the Hunter (well in my imagination)..perhaps we aren't talking about "the Look" but I am enjoying the memories.

 

[covskin]

^ haha memories. Here's me in Adidas, Lee and crombie. Faster than boots when running from you know who!

I had grown out of my crombie just a little.

I was never a Casual by the way, I just felt the same influences and rolled them into Skinhead. Skinhead hadn't yet been fixed into its dull and dogmatic 'Spirit of 69' straightjacket.

 

[baggycasual]

^ haha memories. Here's me in Adidas, Lee and crombie. Faster than boots when running from you know who!



I had grown out of my crombie just a little.

I was never a Casual by the way, I just felt the same influences and rolled them into Skinhead. Skinhead wasn't yet fixed into its dull and dogmatic 'Spirit of 69' straightjacket.

Looks a bit like Charter Place?

 

[covskin]

^ where's that? All I will say is that the can of beer is the girlfriends!

 

[baggycasual]

Charter Place if it still exists is in Watford.

 

[cerneabbas]

I don't recognise the place or the brand of beer...but those are like the Lee jeans that I mentioned earlier I was wearing mine longer so as I said we would cut the seams so that the narrow bottoms didn't pile up on the trainers like an accordion.

Thinking about what I have posted this weekend I recognise that some of my ideas have never changed since the 70s,I didn't want to be a full on Casual but I did wear bits of Casual clothing,I don't want to be a born again Mod,Suedehead or Casual now but I still like to take some of the clothes and shoes from those styles.