Space & Culture

My Dad writes in an email:

“If there’s a place and an era I should remember, it is 1950s ’solidly working class London’. I was 17 in 1955 and these are photos of me at ages 16 and 17.

Memories of seeing Teddy Boys around are quite clear, but Teddy Girls, no - in fact I don’t even remember the expression being used. It required a bit more cash than we had to dress in the ‘drapes’ with their velvet trimmed collars (only black was allowed!). I guess we thought of them as a different culture. They didn’t do the things we enjoyed doing such as roller skating, riding motorcycles - even shooting magpies. In fact I don’t remember them doing much of anything except strut around looking pretty. The few I came in contact with worked as store clerks.

The article is quite good. I have to agree with the mention of no teenagers. To us youngsters, there were adults who worked and kids who went to school. My first noticeable experience of teenagers as we know them today was when I arrived in Canada in 1959. I’m sure you remember me saying that many kids in the U.K. were leaving school and entering the workforce at 15 years of age.”

So Dad, does this mean you didn’t dance The Creep?!

Update: According to this site on teenage fasion history, Teddy Boys rejected their fathers’ working class clothes, instead preferring the elegance of drapes, drainpipe trousers, brocade waistcoats, stiff shirts, shoestring ties and suede shoes.

“This fashion is thought to have really originated when 500 Jamaicans arrived in Tilbury in 1948 on board the ex troop ship ‘Empire Windrush’ in response to the UK’s government plea to the Caribbean for workers. They wore Zoot suits and the Edwardian look is thought to have been an adaptation of the suit the Jamaicans were seen wearing about the East End towns… [T]he Teddy Boy outfit was not cheap to buy and when custom tailored usually cost up to £100 for one outfit. An ordinary mass produced drape suit cost approximately £20 and shoes £3. So sporting a new suit indicated to peers how well an individual was doing money wise. At this time a Teddy Boy would have earned between £5 and £12 a week.”

And get this 1969 Hong Kong movie about Teddy Girls!

This entry was posted Thursday, March 2nd, 2006 at 11:34 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.