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Teddy girls in the 1950s

91 replies

Mossleybrow · 22/03/2021 11:30

Rose Hendon remembered: "Me and my friends used to go to the Back Ace Club in the Harrow Road. They had a juke box, and we’d all meet up there for coffee. Or we’d go down the Seven Feathers Club and there’d be music and you’d do your dancing. That was where I used to go with my boyfriend Jimmy. He was one of the Teddy Boys. They were smart. And it was because of that us girls started getting that look…We started wearing turned-up drainpipe jeans. Plastic belts round them. And blouses with a wing collar. Then we added in cameo brooches, and scarf, tailored jackets with wide lapels and velvet collars, white ankle socks and flat black shoes…The thing I spent most money on was an Astrakhan coat. It was £25 . It came from Debenhams in the Harrow Road, and buying it felt just really good. I felt …glamorous." Virginia Nicholson, Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes, (2015), pp.356-357.

Teddy girls in the 1950s
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moofolk · 25/03/2021 07:25

Top thread I'm now in love with Teddy girls.

And @ArseInTheCoOpWindow you are my new hero. In want to do your course it sounds fascinating!

EmbarrassingAdmissions · 24/03/2021 16:13

The Barbican used to be a relatively short detour from my commute. I attended that exhibition >20 times - it was one of the most challenging and interesting exhibitions that I've ever seen.

DialSquare · 23/03/2021 21:09

That's a really interesting link Embarrassing. Thanks for posting. I've only read the Teddy Boy bit so far so will have a look at the other stories on there.

EmbarrassingAdmissions · 23/03/2021 20:31

I went to an exhibition at the Barbican a while ago that had photographs of Teddy Boys, Mods and Rockers etc. (completely fascinating) - Another Kind of Life

kennywilson.org/2016/10/11/the-teddy-boys-britains-first-youth-subculture/

Too few women in the photographs but those who were there were eye-opening.

Deliriumoftheendless · 23/03/2021 20:17

This thread is brilliant.

DialSquare · 23/03/2021 16:37

They look great don't they! He is very cool. One of the most interesting people I know to sit and talk to.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 16:33

Oh those DM’s😍.

How cool is your uncle?

DialSquare · 23/03/2021 16:27

Many the Britpop bands were influenced by the mod movement. A lot of them would have been part of the 70s Mod revival. And many have them have said they were influenced by bands like Small Faces, The Who and The Kinks. I also love all these bands. Particularly the Small Faces. I'm a massive Steve Marriott fan.

DialSquare · 23/03/2021 16:23

Full photo

Teddy girls in the 1950s
DialSquare · 23/03/2021 16:20

This is the article. One of these is my uncle.
He was pretty young and as a socialist, hated what the skinhead movement later became associated with.

Teddy girls in the 1950s
ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 16:19

Wow!!! Yeah class probably plays a part. Teds, skins and Mods tended to be working class.

Interestingly Britpop styling was similar to Mods. Oasis, Jarvis were working class. Not sure about Blur, but it was that same interest in ‘threads’

DialSquare · 23/03/2021 16:16

It is interesting ArseInTheCoOpWindow. I was still young in the late 70s and was basically following my elder brother with the mod then skinhead fashions. He had an original parka from Carnaby Street. He also loved his two tone trousers (or tonics as they were also known).
I had two tone badges (used to pin them in my braces). Still love Ska music now.

I think Class does play a part in it as mentioned by Mossleybrow. I come from a London working class family and we've all always loved clothes. My Dad was an original Mod in the early 60s and my uncle was an original skinhead in the late 60s. He was in a Rolling Stone magazine article about skinheads in 1969.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 16:05

Dialasquare lol! I was a mod in the late 70’s in my winkle pickers. Two tone innit?

My boyfriend had sta press trousers.

Street style is so interesting. It all interacts and is influential on so many things. As soon as it becomes fashion it just dies.

Beats
Hippies
Glam
Rock
Punk
New Romantics
Goth
Rave
Grunge
Emo
Rriot Girrls
Indie
Manga

It’s all so fascinating.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 16:00

Do you mean as in upper, middle and lower class, or classy as in style.

Fashion was the pursuit of the wealthy until the 1920’s. The simple fashion of the 1920’s was easy to knock up on a sewing machine at home. And that’s what people did until the 1980’s ushered in cheap fashion.

However, what defines class to me is the use of fabric. The better the fabric generally the higher the class, ( but not always)

Original poster
Mossleybrow · 23/03/2021 15:49

What about class in fashion? Michelene Wandor attended the first Women's Liberation conference in Oxford in 1970 carefully dressed, as she recalled, in a mini-sweater dress, long, black leather boots, and an ankle–length black and white herring-bone coat.

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AspergersWife · 23/03/2021 15:47

Thank you so much! I'm going to have a read up, it's so interesting.

Thank you for posting OP.

DialSquare · 23/03/2021 15:41

I wore Fred Perry in the late 70s ArseInTheCoOpWindow during a wannabe skinhead/mod phase!

I wore Fila/Aquascutem/Pringle/Kappa etc during the early 80s. I was quite a tomboy! Always knew I was female though.

Dozer · 23/03/2021 14:56

Once listened to older female relatives’ conversation about ‘teddy boys’ - including a couple of members of their family - often being sexist! Eg if women dressed that way, did similar things.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 14:54

Dialsquare did you wear a Fred Perry or Lacoste polo shirt with them?!😉😁

DialSquare · 23/03/2021 14:49

These ones in particular

Teddy girls in the 1950s
DialSquare · 23/03/2021 14:47

I wore trainers for fashion in the 80s. It was part of the football casuals era.

IvyTwines · 23/03/2021 14:45

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

That’s what l dressed like in the 1980’s

Rolled up jeans, hair in a quiff, brothel creepers and boot lace tie. It was very much an ‘alternative 80’s look.

Androgyny was for the masses!

Yes, the second hand clothes shops were full of early to mid 20th century jackets and suits which we'd wear with sleeves turned back to show the lining, and accessorised with costume jewellery like the girl in the photo. They were very cheap and the cut and fabrics were amazing.
ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 14:37

I think women did wear trainers as fashion.

I remember long dresses in the 90’s were worn with trainers, and they were always worn with hideous shell suits.

This is quite a good website

fashion-era.com/

The other thing is technological advances affect style. So Lycra was invented in the late 60’s and started filtering into clothes in late 70’s/early 80’s. Hence the rise of exercise wear and Aerobics.

In the 60’s new oil based fabrics were being invented. This is what gave 60’s clothes that sharp outline. That couldn’t have been achievable with natural fabrics. The plastic Mac appeared in this era

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 14:29

medicalexecutivepost.com/2019/12/12/the-hemline-index/

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 23/03/2021 14:26

Ignore typos🙄

They dropped in the early 90’s..