It's about what Kevin Rowland wrote for Paul Gorman...
And all the questions it raised... The stuff we'd like to ask Kevin Rowland about this...
It's that London (street) Look that came after Mod and before Skinhead went headline news....
... and about the influence of the Ivy League Look on these kids, of course...
Who went to the Ivy Shop in Richmond?
What about JS' other shops?
Where else did you go?
What clubs? pubs? terraces?
How did it start, and how did it end?
What were the years?
I guess, it's all after 1965... when the Ivy Shop opened...
When "Skinhead" was covered by the Daily Mirror in Sept. 1969 it was almost over....
I do not think it can be boxed up like that. You cannot say it is 1968 so this has all finished and this has all started. Clean break.
For example, I was offered a second hand scooter as transport in 1969. Scooter drivers still wore parkas. I was at school.
There is no finite beginning and end. It is seamless. Pubs, clubs etc could be many and varied - depending on where you lived.
A lot of it is fairly mundane. I am not sure why Rowland would be an expert. In 1965 he would be 12. I can remember a lot about the older kids but that is all second hand knowledge.
Nobody in Harrow back in the day was wearing tartan jackets like Rowland has :-
http://rockpopfashion.com/blog/?p=80
Except that by about 1974 who then was wearing Ivy League clothes in the UK? Not even Johnny Simons was Ivy then. At least the 80s allowed us the space and distance from the horrors of the 1970s to find our own niche and rediscover an old style. The irony is that the return of an Ivy look (Weejuns, 501s and Harringtons being absolutely the hipsters' choices in early-mid 80s London) was probably provoked by the conservatism of Thatcher's Britain and Reagan's USA. 'The Preppy' in the States and the 'Classic/Traditional American Dresser' in the UK could only gain a foothold amongst young people once their was a socially reactionary undercurrent to underpin it all. We were all looking backwards all of a sudden. Prior to that most youth movements were inventive and creative. Suddenly we got all nostalgic for a golden age most of us had never experienced. As a bleeding heart liberal this is not a connection I feel particularly comfortable with but I think it is undeniable. Ivy clothes and cultural conservatism are natural bedfellows. Beyond the wind-up of dressing very conservatively our Ivy wardrobe is a visual expression of order, tradition and craftsmanship - all components of a reactionary mind-set.
GG
Last edited by Kingstonian (2009-10-07 08:44:43)
Last edited by Russell_Street (2009-10-07 09:40:56)
That Mark Powell style is just vile isn't it? That gangster thing - how ugly. And he is ugly - always strutting round Soho giving it the professional Cockney nonsense. His customers just epitomise that whole bags of cash and no idea about style thing. The problem with Kevin Rowland is that he clearly GETS Ivy. He feels it. He understands the magic of the look when it transcends its roots. But he is a 'pop star' with all the associated ego issues. Ditto Weller. Weller got it right for 2 years - 83/84. Rowland got it right in 1984/5. Beyond that - useless. Most of us have been doing this stuff for decades. The real Ivy heroes are the little known individuals quietly doing their thing - Strachan, Lally etc etc. I hate pop stars.
GG
Last edited by ScarletStreet (2009-10-08 15:58:53)
^ Because it's a warbrobe that WORKS.
Last edited by Alex Roest (2009-12-26 10:28:40)
The interesting thing for me regarding Ivy in London is that it was/is about young ( and some older ) men quietly doing their thing as in without seeking media attention. Just individuals or in some cases small bands of ( otherwise probably very different ) people sharing an interest in looking sharp. No silly ideologies or definitions attached to it because it's not some sort of cult. Those who are truly interested will always notice and find a way in somehow, though....
I was being a bit sly, wasn't I? Without saying it I wanted to say that those who were laying down the law are not currently posting. They're always very welcome to come back though...
I'd quite like a thread where we all laid down the law. With luck we'd pool our resources nicely by doing that. The key thing would be that we'd all acknowledge that our laws applied only to ourselves & that we couldn't enforce them on others as being correct. No more phony 'Curriculums', please - But everyone is allowed to have their own personal one based on whatever level of knowledge & taste they might have. We just don't get to dictate what the whole style is all about.
Might be interesting?
Last edited by Alex Roest (2009-12-27 10:29:28)
Didn't think the majority of the kids made too much fuss over names like "peanuts" or "skinhead" (as skinhead was coined by the media wasn't it). Like Kingstonian say, you can't box it up like that. Every region had it's own thing going on, it's own clothing details, It can't be pinpointed. And with region I don't mean London or another city, or even the london districts. It could've been much smaller then that even. One gang would wear Army Great coats, while the other think it didn't match their sartorial taste.
There where kids in around 1966 probably (not too sure) who didn't want anything to do with the mod yobs and their parka, scooter and purple hearts combi, but where all about the cloths and maybe a little bit like the humble beginnings of the "modernist" thing again. Rather then early beginnings of the " skinhead" thing, I think these are the ones you are looking for. When I read about those, they where coined "Stylists", but as I said they probably couldn't give a damn about silly names.
I can't remember where I've read or heard it, so you need to do some diggings to find about it. Hopefully anyone here remembers it.
And as I was born in '88 and in the netherlands I didn't experience the thing myself so I have to do it with the things I read and heard.
Last edited by loempiavreter (2009-12-27 12:47:18)