This was a thing where I lived in the North-East in my late teens - long Laura Ashley dresses (the sailor dresses were the most coveted) with Dr Marten boots. We wore them to go clubbing at the smallest, dingiest night club in town, which played things like The Smiths, The Cure, jangly acoustic eighties music and anything considered worthy of the title 'alternative'. I've always wondered if this was just a local culture or whether it was more widely spread. My DH is bemused by it.