This really is a great thread - it encouraged me to sign up here a few weeks back.

Thanks Lewis for the plug BTW!

jesmond - that could almost have been me.  Thinking about the next purchase is as good IMO as actually making the final step.  Sometimes better!  Like yours my look has gradually evolved.  I don't seek to reproduce the past in my style but rather to enhance my current look by retaining the best of the past.  Penny and beefroll loafers, for example will never be absent from my wardrobe.  Some of the more extreme skin or suedehead styles like the 'half-mast' trouser can no longer be incorporated though - I'm afraid....

Over on modculture bomber has been waxing eloquent about some of the shops in London that helped to bridge the gap from skinhead to a softer French style including Quincy and sister shop Jones, Stanley Adams of Carnaby Street area and Woodhouse.  Great memories.

Cheers

John

Some great posts here. 

I met an old guy, probably about 80, not too long ago, that was a travelling salesman for J&M.  I posted about it here, I think.  I'll try to find the original post.    He also worked with Dexter in Maine, who did some of LL Bean's stuff.  Until recently, J&M did 3 remaining styles in the USA, but the quality wasn't great, and the price at $300 or so was way too much, I thought, considering what else was out there in remaining high-quality US shoes.

I like the white t-shirt under the polo shirt.  I've always done that, come to think of it, I think that was a pretty popular collegiate style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd_GcDz7UQc&feature=related


edit:  I want a Crombie

Last edited by Horace (2007-12-20 15:19:38)

What are the cultural connotations of Crombie?  Is it true what the one commentator suggested, that some of these clothes were upper-class items that were adapted to a certain youthful look?  Would these items, like the Ben Shermans and the Sta-Prest Levi's have been expensive for these young guys who apparently had few employment opportunities.

As for Hush Puppies, if I recall, the American cultural connotation was that it was a very "staid," middle-of-the-line traditional shoe popular with the American populace.  I don't recall guys in my circle wearing them.  Maybe as really small children, though.

Here some online Fanzine called called Liquidator more to do with music then clothers but still a great read
http://www.liquidatormusic.com/Fanzine/Liquidator2.pdf
and a few pics

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhoto&albumID=148607&imageID=8084453
(A happy Little Mod)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhoto&albumID=1036090&imageID=8629703
(Skinhead cartoon)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhoto&albumID=148607&imageID=3704507
(Lewis the Suede)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhoto&albumID=1036090&imageID=8629703
(Suedehead drawing)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=99701276&albumID=0&imageID=2850063
(2 skinhead women the one on the right is Jims cox other half how i stole this pic from her myspace page-sorry)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=99701276&albumID=0&imageID=4501214
(Jim Cox's taken from the same wedsite)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=43411002&albumID=0&imageID=1287320
(2 Suedehead posing)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=43411002&albumID=0&imageID=4569774
(Red socks,Brown brouges and Chec k Lev's Sta-pres)





Lewis

Last edited by Suitedbooted2000 (2007-12-31 09:21:01)

Cheers for your comment lewis,fads may come and go but style lasts forever in my humble opinion.
only the other day i went into a local clothing store that was still trading after 40 odd years,
we all used to use this shop back in the early 70's and to my amazement there on a rack was an original Levi jacket exactly the same as one i had back then, the one without the slash pockets that appeared in the early 80's .it was my size and the only one they had and it was priced at £20 unbelievable !! i bought it there and then took it home and the first thing i did was remove the leather Levi Strauss badge and put it above the left breast pocket just as we did back then.
i still have my old Lee jacket which i wore to the holy grail of northern soul the Wigan Casino,
on this jacket are 6 cloth northern soul patches bought at the Casino in 1976, last year my wife and i were walking through a record store, i was wearing this jacke,t a guy about the same age as me came up to us and pulled out £200 in cash offering to buy the jacket and badges on the spot, the thing that puzzled me was that he was about 3 sizes bigger than me !! and to my wifes horror i turned his offer down!,
i explained my reason to her that although its just an old jacket its the memories it holds that are priceless.

this thread is interesting to me because it reveals where the American prep/Ivy/collegiate/TNSIL style diverges with the English style.  For example, I would've never worn, save levi 501's, a trouser that was really narrow at the ankle.  Apparently, some of you guys did or do.  I think for me, most of it was pretty straight cut.  Though some Corbin and the like, which for me is the ideal trouser cut, was slimmer but still "moderate" which is the key to American prep/Brooks dressing, I think. 

Another thing that was probably popular here and abroad was the beefroll weejun, but I always saw the roll as an unnecessary flourish.  They were right next to each other in the Bean catalog for ages, they may still be, I don't know.  But it was a little "too much" for me.