Teddy Girls
BOMBSITE BOUDICCAS
Ken Russell’s 1955 Photo Essay on London’s Teddy Girls*
Elsie Hendon, 15, Jean Rayner, 14, Rosie Hendon, 15, and Mary Toovey on a bombsite in Southam Street, North Kensington, West London.
“Teddy Girls have been dismissed even in the most scholarly work on Teddy Boys, The Insecure Offenders, T.R Fyvel (Chatto and Windus, 1961). Of Teddy Girls he says - ‘…a few of these can be encountered…rather dumb, passive teenage girls. In my glimpses of them they seemed crudely painted up, pathetically young, appallingly under-educated, some of them in danger of drifting into prostitution - in any case as I looked at their expressionless faces, I felt sorry for their future families.’
These photos were taken in January 1955 in Walthamstow, Poplar and North Kensington: solidly working class areas of London. The girls photographed embody three of the great issues of the time; class, gender and youth. They are rejecting the drab costumes of class conformity and post-war austerity. They are pioneers for women looking beyond home for a place to be valued. They are young girls blazing a trail that will be followed by youth cultures for decades to come.”
Stunning - and be sure to look for who wins the duel over Eileen!
Thanks Ashley
* Yes, this Ken Russell
March 2nd, 2006 at 11:02 am
Splendid stuff! The hair and the poses show just how much British pop owes to Teddy style. I can see a vast swathe of popsters - from Duran Duran and the Eurhythmics to the Sex Pistols and Ian Dury - in these photos.