Aye. It's all food for your essay, Alex.

Last edited by Russell_Street (2009-09-24 03:57:52)

Sticking with shoes I wanted to come back on the Desert Boot first.

My clear recollection is that Desert Boots were not part of the hard mod / skinhead / suedehead look from around 1969 – early 70s.  But, I am talking about my experience of London and the South East.

Now Solatios.  Don't they now seem shrouded in mystery?   There was a shop in my home town which I believe was part of a small chain, called Mintz and Davis.  It existed from around the early 60s until??.  My first Solatios were from there. They were brown lace up in a kind of Norwegian style but with a slimmer Italian look and feel.  I suspect they were not made in Italy.  My next pair (which incidentally I was criticised by my mates for getting as they saw them as already dated in early 1970) were based on the same style but were black with a basket weave vamp.  They were much slimmer than those depicted either over on MC or in the drawing above.  I remember very clearly travelling to a shop (a sister shop of the above mentioned?) in either East or West Ham in the spring of 1970 to buy them.

Royals - I was talking to John Simons a couple of months ago when I bought a pair of Florsheim Imperial Longwing Burgundy brogues.  I asked him to compare the Florsheim, the current Royal Brogue by Loakes (which, of course he also stocks) and the Royals of the late 60s.  Good old John gave very good value as usual.  First he dismissed the current offering from Loake as 'embarrassing really' - certainly when compared to the Florsheim in terms of quality and overall finish.  He produced from his cupboard an original burgundy Royal and pointed out the one continuous piece of leather on the 'waist' of the shoe where the new Loake has two pieces joined.  I asked him again if Loakes made the old Royals and he replied that they were made by the company that made shoes for Timpsons.  I think Russell has mentioned this before....

Loafers - I recall that Lotus shoes made a good loafer and in this pic from 1971 (AAAC piece) I am pretty sure that's the make of mine.  I got them in Brewer Street from a shop called either Anglo-Continental or Anglo-American - anyone know?  The shop was almost opposite the Squire Shop.  The photo is not good enough to reveal the basket weave on the vamp. 

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57062&highlight=skinhead+smooth

Belts - No belts for me back then.  Trousers were generally 'self-supporting' or held up by braces (which I hated actually).  Even when trousers started coming with belt loops as standard issue there was a reluctance I recall to adopt belts.

The current Bass 'Kiltie' fringe and tassel loafer.  Cordovan?  Not for £85!  But it reminds me that burgundy Royals were marketed as 'Cordovan' colour.

http://www.oipolloi.com/store/BassWeejun-LaytonShoeBurgundy-3877.html

Sta-Prest were introduced in 1964, I read somewhere. What about the popularity of Chinos with London modernists before that time?

weren't the Solatios/Crossovers more of a 70s shoe rather than 60s?

Never thought of them as anything "mod" related, more of a skinhead-suedehead shoe.  Personally I think they're ghastly but I understand it's part of the "original heritage" tho imo not everything "authentic and original" needs to revived, and maybe some things are better left in the past.  I know on a UK skinhead forum I post on (mostly traditional styled skins) one fella is working on trying to have them remade for forum members, as he is in contact with the factory and has even met the fella that designed the original Solatio.  He's also doing a reissue of the Hawkins Astronaut boots that are made to original specs for forumites, in the original dark brown color with 11 eyelets.

since the US mod scene was brought up briefly....I remember it quite well in the 80s, I originally got into 2Tone via mod kids at my school when I was 13 or so, back in '83.  It was really big until about 86ish.  But I was never a "mod" and if anything the only label I've ever adopted was "skinhead".  There was quite a bit of mod-hatred among local skins back then, and it wasnt uncommon to see skins beating down mods and trying to steal their scooters.

Yes, I was thinking about this... There's an illustration on the first page of the fashion pages in the Nick Knight book that shows some Continental type of loafers, and it says they wore French or Italian. Maybe something lightweight, with a higher vamp?

^ A very nice debut to the forum, Sir - Welcome!

Best -

Jim