i was 4.

By the end of 1969 I was eleven and looking admiringly at tonic trousers, "Crombies" and Ben Sherman shirts in Slater's of Wigan's shop window. I'm still looking...

Always moving on, eh Chris?

'69 was probably THE year at The Ivy Shop from a financial point of view, with lines of people waiting outside & six sales assistants in that small space.

Squire had the French Look first, I think, so what you say makes absolute sense. The West End would have been more fashion-forward, leading up to Squire II & the start of The Village Gate chain & the big impact that that was to have on fashionable English menswear.

Obviously it also went wrong in '69 too, as bone-head Skinhead was born, overshadowing the Suedeheads, Smooths & Sussed Skins who were much more interesting.

But I think '69 marks the point where the Ivy underground went overground for a short spell, only to soon return back underground again as the French look took off & took over.

So... Maybe '69 was the English Ivy "Boom Year"?  After then it would been the early '80s before the next mini boom.


Maybe?

We once had a guy on here who likened Ivy in England to Northern Soul in its 'Keep The Faith' aspect and so, if you keep that comparison going, '69 for Ivy was like when Wigan Casino was discovered by the media & ruined.

I wonder if that further comparison works?

... Fun to play with these ideas instead of working...

^ Yeah, we used to take regular trips down to the Kings Road Sguire on a Saturday......but my earliest purchases from Brewer Street were ivy.

Last edited by Chris_H (2010-03-17 09:21:22)

One thing that happened to me was that I spied my first pair of what I came to know and love as Royals.  I recall the moment very well.  It was at a disco in Chelmsford.  I was wearing the then standard fare of bd (probably Ben Sherman) with mohair trousers and Solatios on the feet.  These new shoes that we called 'brogues to the back' having no other language at the time, stood out from the bunch of slim lightweight Italian inspired shoes that abounded at the time.

There was a vague idea that these brogues to the back could be obtained from a shop in Brewer Street called Squires or something like that.  This was summer 1969, I was 16.  By the autumn of that year we were regular visitors first to the Squire Shop and then to the Ivy Shop.

I have said it all before.

Yes it was shoes and shirts. School was the source that put me onto it. Squire Shop in Brewer Street first - like Brideshead. There was a strip club nearby quite memorable when you are a schoolboy.

Prices seven guineas for all shoes. 69/6d for shirts. I used to get thirty bob for working Saturday in Woolworths and an LP was 32/6d. A single was 6/8d. You did a lot of looking at LP covers but not much buying. Live music was cheap though.

I never went to Squire or Ivy Shop without the intention of buying something. It was not somewhere to hang around. The governor was not my mate or my mentor. I did not know who he was. I did not know the Saturday staff( I always went on Saturday). They seemed to change any time I went there. Clearly the shop was making a fortune though. Some shirts were discounted in sales but I do not remember shoes in the sale.

The other stuff is of not much interest here, but all the High Streets had tailoring stores like Burton and Collier and you could get a huge variety of cloths and any style you wanted. It was not bespoke but it was heavily customised. Getting an 'off-centre' vent and patch pockets was no bother for a schoolboy. I still find that remarkable in hindsight.

Coats were of more importance. Those navy blue gabardine raincoats were realy good quality and could be part of school uniform. Someone I know still had that coat as his drinking coat and a very fine job it did too. Cloakrooms at dancehalls were fraught with worry that you might not get your own coat back.

Blue striped shirt fabrics in poly cotton are something I do miss. Ben Sherman shirt materials were better than US polycottons. Plain blue Oxford cloth seem a bit boring in comparison. Only stripes you see these days are university or butcher, bengal etc. Too uniform to wear all the time.

Jumpers were not dear. Certainly not Yank prices. I  had little regard for shetland and do not understand people buying used ones. Slipovers were better cut and did not have negative 'tank top' connotations. That came later. Cardigans were not considered to be exclusively grandad gear either.

'69 I was twenty one and a regular in and out of the Ivy Shop.  The one shirtmaker I always sought out in the racks was the Wren Shirt Co.  The weave of their shirt fabrics was sublime and my favourite was a herringbone weave identified on the label as "King Henry VIII". Mine came in a salmon colour and looked the business under the half-lined wool jacket also from the racks in the Ivy Shop.  When I wore a tie it was a silk paisley that had a subtle nap and the whole look was anchored at the base by black 'Royal' brogues. 
As for music - in '69 I was playing session piano for Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label at the CBS studios in New Bond St. so it was blues and tracking down rare imports of Chicago bluesmen from specialist suppliers.  Mike Raven's show featured some of the best.

Welcome on board!