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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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PurpleHoodie · 22/03/2021 15:27

Vair funny Angel.

I like it Grin

AngelicInnocent · 22/03/2021 15:15

Vaguely related as its clothing. Jeremy Clarkson mentioned in his column at the weekend he'd seen a t-shirt that said 'there are more than 2 sexes'. Underneath it said 'available in male and female sizes'.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 22/03/2021 15:13

I know!

So much facial hair around at the moment!

PurpleHoodie · 22/03/2021 15:07

Ah!

That explains Prince Albert and his great, great great, grand Hipster sons of London 21st 10s

334bu · 22/03/2021 15:05

Great look but £25 for a coat in the fifties! Nearly 4 week's pay for a man let alone a woman. Serious commitment to fashion.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 22/03/2021 15:02

Also completely unrelated but interesting fact.

Men grow facial hair when threatened by women.
Late Victorian, 1970’s ( womens Lib)
Now.

I teach all this!

PurpleHoodie · 22/03/2021 14:41

Thanks for the tip Mossley.

PurpleHoodie · 22/03/2021 14:35

Great point CoOp.

It extended into the 90s with "heroine chic" and grunge, and took a swift gender rigid turn from the mid-90s onwards. Rock/Pop.

New Jack Swing (80s/90s) led a similar path from "gender rigidity" on to "androgyny" to "girl power" back to mid 90s-onwards "gender conformity."

70s/80s solo idols (Popular - all genres)

80s - Groups. Gender bending.

80s - Solo idols - female and male breaking glass ceilings/androgynous/gender bending.

Boy Bands. Grunge. Brit Pop.

Girl bands - "ball breakers"

Solo women - "ball breakers"

Girl bands ("girl power")

Girl Bands

Boy bands

Stage school/Idol/X/You Tube

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Mossleybrow · 22/03/2021 14:23

I recommend Virginia's book on the 1950s "Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes" and also her book on the 1960s " How Was It for You? Women, Sex, Love and Power in the 1960s"

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Mossleybrow · 22/03/2021 14:20

makes a come back quite regularly. Pictures were by Ken Russell by the way

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PurpleHoodie · 22/03/2021 14:17

Thank you Mossley. Lovely post.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 22/03/2021 14:13

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!

DisgruntledPelican · 22/03/2021 14:11

That’s really interesting, thanks for posting.

It reminds me of the women in This Is England, somehow. A very strong look and quite different to mainstream style (although I know 1980s fashion was v androgynous in general)

Floisme · 22/03/2021 14:06

That's such a cool look, thanks op.

CousinKrispy · 22/03/2021 14:02

That's really interesting, thanks!

MedusasBadHairDay · 22/03/2021 11:38

I love the teddy girl look! It's especially interesting when you look at it in relation to the hyper feminine mainstream fashion of the time.