Quote: calf length USA sports socks and Redwing boot.

I was expecting Birkenstock Boston's

AlveySinger:

Sunday afternoon, Birmingham City centre. It's overcast and might rain.

Coming through a sea of urchins in sweatpants I clock him.

We have the hillbilly, hipster hunter.

A Carharrt waistcoat with roomy cartridge pocket, faded jean shorts with carpenter pockets, white, calf length USA sports socks and Redwing boot. The ball cap perched on his head features some 70's style logo.

He is young but has nurtured a beard of such epic proportions that he looks almost like a cartoon character.

In my mind I can hear duelling banjos.

All that is missing is pick up truck and a shotgun.




Sounds a lot better than hoodie and sweatpants

This winter they're back in force.

You spot them working in indie coffee shops and tattoo parlours. Gone are the chore jackets and Breton tops. Now we have wooly hats worn indoors ( watch caps appears to be the de rigueur term) and green baker pants rolled up to show the cream socks. Black Vans or Red Wing boots.

Beards have been trimmed and moustaches are waxed. Hercule Pioret I presume.

No longer Hillbilly hunters but French trawler men.

Nicely put Tomiskinky. I applaud those making an effort stylistically now. I'm only 55 and do not wish to be pessimistic, but in how I dress, I feel absolutely the end of the line in my circle. It's nice to see someone put the effort in to their own thing.

I think we evolve from the roots, ours were in 50s-60s style. Now it only goes back as far as Gap in the 1990s and the bland uniformity that created, along with the all conquering rise of street wear. Clothes absolutely do not matter anymore, so long as you don't stick out. Even expensive luxury street/athlesiure clothing looks the same as the cheaper versions.  Deciding to stick out is the risky choice and in many places around the world including here and USA, it can even be dangerous for you.

Having said that, I made it dangerous for myself with a literal target on my back in the early 1980s.... then later with a clubby look in later 1980s.....then with the Acid/rave/hardcore years. It was a genuine relief to find a simpler modernist (small M) / Ivy style and as my name tag here suggests.... I appear as part of something that is only seen to those who know of it and broadly unseen to everyone else.

The Unseen Scene / A Unscene Seen

Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2024-11-15 05:49:40)

My interest In Americana or Ivy strangely was nothing really to do with 50/60's - or so I thought.

It just happened to be a rejection of the mainstream heavy rock look or new romantic type thing that was around at the time.

Birmingham in the early Eighties was a sea of denim jacket, often with the arms removed, worn over biker leathers with band t shirts. The Motorhead image and gothic type was very popular. It was worn by everyone and in truth looked awful but I had a soft spot for the t-shirt not knowing who Motorhead were.

I started to notice guys wearing loafers instead of trainers, cotton trousers instead of jeans and button down 3/4 sleeve shirts in pastel stripes. I thought it was all  brand new at the time. I didn't know that they were being informed by vintage clothing stores and record covers. Pretty soon I had gelled back hair, a pink polo shirt and Weejuns.

We used the term Soul Boys. It fitted-in with the music we were listening to and set us apart from the other groups.

I never heard terms like Ivy or preppy. Def not linked to Mod that attracted too much agro.

At the time the UK jazz funk music scene although still underground was about to explode and that was a unifying thing. I didn't realise or even care that a lot of the stuff we were wearing had any kind of heritage to it for at leats a couple of years. You saw something different and automatically would think of it as a new thing. The fact that some items were imported from the States gave them even greater value

Thinking back now it's hard to explain how a button down shirt with 3/4 sleeve was so different. Especially the colour ways of light blue with mint green stripes.