I also rate Dean Rudland's work, caught him DJing in Edinburgh purely by accident and he played some fantastic stuff.
When guys are trying to dress like 1930s factory workers, the look becomes a joke. However, I wonder if all of these things (quality jeans, heavy boots, etc.) have a necessarily workwear and workwear only context. I'm thinking here of the Americana we've been discussing, a la LL Bean / Orvis casual wear which is a bit more rugged.
I figure that students have been wearing Red Wing boots, Pendletons, and LL Bean Norwegian sweaters for decades w/o necessarily trying to look like a worker. One example of this that props to mind are the clothes worn by the protagonist throughout An American Werewolf in London (if Animal House was John Landis' ode to all things preppy, perhaps AAWIL is his ode to LL Bean? I jest.). I wish I could find a decent pic but Google images just turns up werewolf pics. Actually, a better reference might be to Heavy Tweed Jacket's recent 1970s Men's Club Take Ivy posts:
http://heavytweed.blogspot.com/2009/05/back-to-campus-1973.html
http://heavytweed.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-campus-life-1974.html
Post Ivy, perhaps?
Also, I think as annoying as the total fetishizing of all things worker in Free & Easy, there are tons of pics of stuff a lot of you guys would really like. They are really good at tracking down awesome American vintage threads and each page is like a porn spread of threads w/ minimal editorial intervention.
Last edited by Decline & Fall (2009-05-13 16:01:53)
Also, Tom's weekend pics have made an excellent visual case for how certain workwear / Americana pieces can be worn stylishly without any cartoonishness.
Last edited by 1966 (2009-05-13 16:38:09)
Yeah I would agree with that. I have worn Bean, Redwing, Carhartt, Dickies, Pointer etc. in some form for the better part of my life. I still manage to integrate some of this in with my personal style. All sorts of garments start out as function and end up as fashion. The problem lies in what was pointed to above. When a whole look or outfit is based on this "premium work wear" it becomes hilariously bad form. I'm of course aware of the trend via the internet. I see the stuff pop up from time to time around here but in Kentucky going into the wrong place with the wrong haircut and in those clothes will, in the local vernacular, get a mudhole stomped in your ass.
I meant to add, Long_Playing, great posts! I remember seeing your name a while ago but not much since. You should post more often.
I'd say certain brands have become a bit of a no-no among the UK contingent, having moved from rare and desirable to easily obtainable and therefore of little interest. Once something goes overground in England it loses its appeal. Having said that, the youth here remains clueless, so maybe we should wrest it all back from the nebbishes, just as we are wresting Burberrys' (raincoats exclusively) back from the chav-scum/footballer's wives brigade.
There is that thing called 'Hard Ivy' in Japan isn't there? A more rugged take on those old campus classics with workwear & more tough outdoorsy stuff mixed in.
Very good to hear AAWIL getting a mention here again. I could never find any good pics from the film either. I especially liked the Doctor's style as well as the ll Bean-ish clad boys. The Doc should be an Anglo Ivy icon!
^ If I'm correct the Clark's Wallabee first appeared around 1970. This old chap got with the times I guess, wearing a relatively new type of crepe soled mocassin. On another picture there is a young girl sporting some sand coloured ones. This illustrates an observation one of our US friends posted here earlier: during the early '70s Wallabees got thrown into the old Ivy mix. As you know, I'm partial to these particular shoes myself, I always felt they went well with my other stuff.
Same with simple flat soled Incontinence pants numbers - judging by these pics they were all the rage on campus as well back then. Some of the wearers aren't exactly exponents of our "High Ivy style" anymore - especially the hair got bad during these years - but yeah I like seeing these shifts in fashion.
Last edited by 1966 (2009-05-14 04:45:47)
I'd be surprised if those were Clark's Wallabees. Dexter, Russell, Bass etc. all used to produce this form of casual shoe under various monikers, both with leather soles and dark gum soles.
Essentially a lace-up 'sports moccasin', it was leaner and less clunky than the Wallabee. The Clark's version did find currency on US campuses, but a bit later in the decade I'd hazard.
Last edited by 1966 (2009-05-14 04:56:32)
Agreed. The squareness of the toe and the height of the sole gives them away.
I like the look of the early 70s very much and it often gets overlooked in favour of the so-called boom years. Before Preppy kicked in there's a wonderful natural and hand-me-down quality about the clothes and the way in which people wore them. These images are marvellous.
Never seen the tassled slip on Wallabee before. Thanks.
These are great images....but I'm not sure I like those "wallabees" with those trousers.....it was from that sort of mix and match casual and more formal style, that USA got into wearing trainers with suits in the 80's....as witnessed all over Manhatten in the rush hour (even if it was only for the commute, it was still a crime against style)
Swap the Wallys for Boats and our very own Dr. Jonathan Miller has often done a similar look...
- OK swap the tie too...