Post by daftbernie on Jun 6, 2005 11:12:56 GMT 1
in the 70's who gave a fuck about their appearance? not the 'lads' in a time when it was cool to have long dangly hair, extra large sideburns and too much facial hair. The general look was big v-neck jumpers, cardigans, tight t-shirts, long flared trousers.
Daft shoes - heels? see Cardiff v Manchester United 1974.
The dosser jacket - long military style coats, covered in home made emblems in marker pen. Although not everyone went for this style, towards the end of the decade, the jeans got tighter the hair got shorter, much shorter. Skins boomed in this era, but the style had started earlier.
Hooligans were proud to wear club colours at one time,especially that of the national team when abroad on 'national service'.
Those admiral tops are now going for top dollar on eBay at the moment.
And the skins were in full effect in the late 70's to early 80's, much to do with the huge popularity of Ska music from this time.
In an effort to blend in, and not stand out in their donkey jackets and 18 hole DM's, the thugs got smart, and went for the boy next door look, new designer labels from abroad were discovered, mainly by the light fingered scousers on their travels - whilst their team were at their peak in europe. It took off, and there we have the birth of the CASUALS.
Lovely bright coloured sweaters and tops by the likes of pringle, ellesse, lyle and scott, fila, sergio taccini, lacoste, cerutti, benneton, and adidas. Jackets by the likes of Burberry and Aquascutum (harringtons), fila BJ trackies, and Peter Storm cagouls for that drizzly downpour.
Labels like Aquascutum and Burberry may still be sported on the terraces now, but back then the Casuals were wearing them, this was a time of the yuppie and conspicuous wealth, the hooligans were now earning good money.
and with that came expensive designer gear, At times they resembled nothing less than business men, and with that they brought out a business card - their 'calling card'. Just ten years earlier they were sporting £7 Donkey Jackets, now it was £300 worth of clobber.
In the late 80's to early 90's the casual scene seemed to die down a little, just look at pictures from this era, it's a lot scruffier - lots of too baggy acid wash jeans and stripy t-shirts! as the much talked about casual-rave crossover came into effect, the scene died down.
Chelsea headhunters against the whole loved up pilled up system, brought out a t-shirt with the emblem 'Hooligans Against Acid'
The scene picked up and labels were still there, Stone island boomed well back in the late 80's, and one of it's designers Massimo Osti had other labels to market, including Left Hand, and the lovely CP Company with its unique mille miglia jacket formed in 1988.
Italian fashion was all the rage, take these examples 'new' fabrics like polyurethane were used.
Nowadays it's gone full circle, in the 80's the 'thugs' had to come up with a way of 'blending in' and as they did they spawned a new culture, 20 years later that culture still exists, but it's not working to the same effect. The 'lads' don't blend in, the boy next door look has become overkill, the lads stand out like a sore thumb, everywhere you go, everywhere you look there's the same 'tiresome' look of the Stone Island patch mixed with the plaid check of Burberry or Aquascutum, the latter taking over the now virtually extinct Burberry - this has somehow taken off in the States and become very Ghetto Fabulous! .
I don't know about everyone else, but I don't like Gangster Rap, and therefore don't want to look like the people who quote it in their songs.
whereas it's a new thing to them, it's been done to death on the terraces for over 20 years.
The worst invention being the plaid check cap - iconic and stylish when it was first released, it obviously proved popular and went into mass production, now every man and his dog are sporting it. Aquascutum did the same, it must have made both companies a lot of money, but surely they can't enjoy the benefits when they see the amount of 'unfashionable' people wearing them. I had to sell my Aquascutum cap when, as a neutral supporter at a Burnley versus Notts Forest game saw 'Burnley's firm' and 9 out of 10 of them had the Aquascutum cap on.
I recently purchased a rare and hard to find different coloured one, but I doubt it will get much wear.
The labels nowadays are still familiar names - Stone Island is still everywhere, but less expensive and stylish as it once was, and there are too many fakes knocking about, it puts you off wanting to part with £200 of your hard earned money on a top, when someone else will buy a similar looking fake one for £30 from eBay! Aquascutum is still going strong, tops with subtle checks, and the timeless harrington are still in, plus the scarf -uniform of the 'lad' for over a decade,
Lacoste - it never went away, the classic polo is still a best seller, just avoid the full tracksuit - unless you are living in Merseyside!
Adidas - re-issues of old classics are the best sellers in most stores. Prada - a very minimal yet very expensive brand, CPcompany - still pretty selective but only a matter of time before it becomes like it's counterpart Stone Island, a very expensive brand and some very iconic pieces, this is a label that has made coats complete with smog masks, and built in gloves, coats that can protect you from a nuclear attack! also coats that can turn into a tent, or a settee!
how can you not be attracted to it?
and of course the classic terrace legend the mille miglia jacket - I bought one myself, for a 'knockdown' £410 from Germany.
Armani - caps and jeans seem popular still, Paul and Shark - a yachting based label, which has taken off on both the terraces and street corners across Britain, There's a fine line between Casual and Scally and this is on both sides of that line,
popular amonst a lot of lads with it's similarites in design (and price) to Stone Island, it's also popular amongst the 'Chavvy' society who like to walk the streets with their hands down the front of their trousers - which are more often than not tucked into their socks.
others of notable mention - Hugo Boss, Paul Smith, Berghaus, Timberland, and older lads spoting their original garments unavailable these days.
New labels are often discovered, obscure labels from further afield can often be spotted with that keen eye for detail... Italian labels such as Mandarina Duck and Ermenigildo Zegna - extremely expensive and therfore extremely select, And other labels to wear to be different such as 6876, Duffer, Fake Genius, Stussy, Felix Blow, Mulberry, Hackett, Hope and Glory, Calvin Klein, Griffin, Iceberg, Silas and Maharishi.One label which has enjoyed new status amongst many is
One True Saxon - a personal favourite, so much so I'm on first name terms when I order from them! Not to everyones' liking, and great, it's good to be different,
I don't feel like I need to prove any points, but II'm convinced I introduced this label to the terraces at county, I've been sporting the gear since it first came out, and remember nearly 3 years ago (getting on for that) people asking 'what the fuck's that'... now they're all wearing it!
but unlike Stone Island, the name can only appeal to a select group, so the sort of people who very surprisingly wear Stone Island (?) and labels the 'football lads' wear, will look slightly foolish with OneTrueSaxon branded across themselves.
