Note ::: All articles are written by Brian A. Rushgrove. Feel free to use them if you like. All I ask is that you let me know when and where they are being used. Thanks.

1- THE ZOOT SUIT

2- BIRTH OF THE EDWARDIAN

3- EDWARDIAN CLOTHES



THE ZOOT SUIT LATER HISTORIANS MAY ARGUE THE POINT,BUT Mr J.V.D.CARLYLE, FASHION EDITOR " MEN'S APPAREL REPORTER " THE TRADE'S AUTHORITY SEEMED CONVINCED THAT THE FIRST ZOOT SUIT ON RECORD WAS ORDERED EARLY IN FEB- RUARY, 194O, AT FRIERSON-MC-EVER'S IN GAINES- VILLE, GEORGIA.

The garment so started Mr A.C.McEver, conservative half of Frierson- McEver, that when the zoot suit was ready he photographed the purchaser,Mr Clyde Dumcan, a busboy in Gainesville, and sent the pictures to the Men's Apparel Reporter..It was publis- hed in the February, 1941, issue. " Exclusive Style Flash" said the caption under it. " The newest model, known in South Georgia as the Killer Diller...coat length 37 inches, button top two......26-inch knees....14-inch bottom, requiring shoehorn to get your foot through." The trade was amused..It assumed that Clyde Duncan was one of those whimsical people who turn up at a tailor's occasionally with extraordinary ideas, and let it go at that, but they were astonished when the "Zoot Suit" caught on in Mississippi, New Orleans and Alabama and leap-frogged to Harlem, New York....Mr McEver said that as far as he knew the idea for the zoot suit was indeed Clyde Duncan, McEver tried to talk the youth out of it, but Duncan was stubborn, McEver sent the measurements to the Globe Tailoring Company in Chicago and the garment was made there. Mr McEver disclaimed any credit for the creation at the time,and made it clear in the order that the specifications were the customer's and washed his hands of it...There were reports that the zoot suit was inspired by authentic Civil War garb worn by film star Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in "Gone With The Wind."In several scenes he appeared in a long coat and peg trousers.The report may be true. The film, opened in Georgia in December, 1939 a few months before Clyde Duncan upset the Gainesville tailors with his order...Mrs Cora Carlyle, an expert in clothers, made much of the point that the zoot suit originated among financially poor poeple.......She added "this occurs only rarely in men's fashions." Most men's styles are copied from high-priced mod- els made by top-drawer designers for men. In the early 194Os the draped and pegged zoot suit was the badge of status in any community...Few first hand accounts of this life have been committed to paper but the remarkably candid autobiographies of Art Pepper,the white jazz saxophonist and Malcolm X, the black power activist give us rare gli- mpses into the hipster's world. (see STRAIGHT LIFE: The story of Art Pepper 1979), and the (Autobiography of Malcolm X 1968). In January 1942 when the garment trades realized that the zoot suit had caught on with "Sharpies"....the hep cats, or swing- mad kids,they began turning them out..However the zoot suit very quickly became viewed not as an item of elegance, but as a fashion ex- ploit....The suit were listed under the trade term, "extremes," but in April 1942,there was a shortage of certain materials,wool in part- icular....The Cloth Conservation Order banned pleats, cuffs and long jackets, and all legal manufacturers dropped the zoot. This order made the zoot suits a contraband item..It was illegal, and considered anti-patriotic to own or even make the zoot..Bootleg tailors than took them up,and put them out..In New York City, Harlem was the zoot suit center......High school age teens from all part of the city area, went to Harlem for them. Prices range from $18 to $75 Poorer customers would buy the suit four to five sizes too large for them and have them draped to form by the bootleg shops...Hep-cat terms for the zoot were actually meaningless. A reat pleat was merely an exaggerated pleat. The "V-knot" tie,the zoot chain,the shirt co- llar,the tight "stuff cuff" the wide,flat hat and the Dutch-toe shoes of the zoot-suiter, simply display the hep-cats tenency toward exaggeration in all things. During the late 193Os and the war years, young Mexican Americans in California were usually called by the media either as "Mexicans" or "Pachuchos" depending on the circumstances...The term Pachuchos was almost exclusively used by the local American residents which refer to recently arrived Mexican immigrants.......The Pachucos created a distinctive youth sub-culture among younger Mexican Americans who were in the process of rebelling against their parent's conventional values....For the men,the style was to wear a zoot suit, a flamboyant long coat, with baggy pegged pants,a pork pie hat,a long key chain, and shoes with thick soles..They spoke "Calo" a highly inventain slang composed of English and Spanish.In the early 194Os, especially in Southern California, hysteria had been mount ing over zoot suit Pachucho gangs, including periodic mass arrests accompanied by sensat- ional publicity in The Los Angeles Times. The working class Maxican immigants of the West Coast big citi- es, San Diego and Los Angeles, began to adopt the distinctive style of clothing and haircut the boys and girls wore zoot suits and duck- tail haircuts to distinguish themselves from native born Americans....In 194O the Pachucos existed pretty much without notice, slowly going about creating their own community, but as soon as American entered the Second World War in December 1941 they began to be dis- criminated against, not only because of their ethnic origins, but because of their style of dress..In March 1942 the War Production Board created rationing regulations which laid down strict codes concerning the manufacture of suits, zoot suits(because they wasted fabric) were forbidden,and the Pauhucos were deprived of their favourite mode of dress, but the young Mexicans ignored the rationing. In the summer of 1942, the Sleepy Lagoon case made national news, when nine teenage members of the 38th street zoot suit gang were put on trial for the murder of Teen Jose Diaz in an abandoned quarry pit.....The sensational case generated an outburst of anti-Mexican sentiment because all the youths were characterized as Pachucho hoodlums....The nine young men were convicted and sentenced to prison terms at San Quentin. THE CHICAGO DEFENDER edition of November 14th 1942 started that the "Zoot" suit, came by accident and, of all people was introduced by a prizefighter,Henry Armstrong. Henry, a fighting fool, was of small stature, weighing some 135 pounds and usually looking like a kid in comparison with those fellows and gals he traveled with.So Henry or Henry's tailor decided to do something about the fighter's social handicap, and the decision introduced the long coat with broad padded shoulders and trousers large enough for the frame of Joe Louis..Henry's appearance on the streets of Harlem presented an odd sight, but with it the "Zoot" was born......But the zoot suit was not to be confined to the smaller man, so when the late Duke Ellington played the Appollo Theatre draped in zoot clothing, the fad was here, and the parade was on....At this time the jitterbugs were forming their own opinion about the latest fad and that the comment was favorable.No gathering of the hep cats, was now complete unless the gang were attired in long monkey suits with long chains dangling to prove they are "groovy." On 7th June 1943 the tension on the streets of Los Angeles between the armies of recently recruited U.S.Servicemen and the zoot-suited "Pachucos" resulted in series of infamous riots which lasted for over a week. This was the duck-tail versus the crew cut, and many zoot suiters were beaten up by navy servicemen,their suits were slashed to shreds or burnt, and their haircuts scissored off.In the heaviest steets rioting for many years, thousands of servicemen,joined by additional thousands of civilians, surged along Main st, and Broadway hunting down zoot-suiters...More than 5O zoot-suiters had their clothing torn from their bodies as servicemen converged on bars,restaurants, penny arcades and stores in the downtown area searching for youths wear- ing the reat pleats....Streetcars were halted and theaters along Main st were scrutinized for hiding zoot-suiters.Faced with the almost impossible task of breaking up the tremendous crowds, Chief of Los Angeles Police C.Horrall declared a general riot alarm, and ordered every policeman on duty. Charred mounds of burned clothing lay on the sidewalks of downtown Los Angeles. A sailor, 2O year-old Donald Jackson had been stabbed and beaten..One zoot-suited youth had been left completely naked at the corner of sixth and main street.Others,had been stripp- ed of their pegtop pants and reve-sleeved coats, and many of them were found armed with knives, steel bars, and hammers...Youths were being arrested at the rate of 1OO a day by LA city police....A local police officer was run down and injured by a car driven by zooters. Many reports of disturbances followed.....For five days the City of Angeles witnessed the battle of the zoot-suiters and the sevicermen Mid-week brought offical admission that a "dangerous" situation was " getting entirely out of hand."East Los Angeles zoot California residents were members of the Black Legion whose uniform was a black suit and a black sombrerd, and its auxiliary,the Black Widows, who wore green blouses,black skirts and high- heeled green shoes.In March and April of 1943 servicemen in the LA area reported attacks on lone soldiers and sailors by the zoot clad youths........In May 1943 two navy wives were assaulted by hoodlums wearing drape-shaped pleated suits.........Navy, Army and civilian authorities took stern action to stem a wave of rioting.....The action was taken after the Navy and Army had declared the Main St sector (where most of the fighting had been waged), " Out of Bounds." Large forces of military police and navy shore patrolmen were on duty. No one tried to disguise the fact that the situation which started with a few isolated outbreaks, had grown serious and that wide- spread bloodshed had resulted.....Most of the youths who figured in battles with servicemen were of Maxican descent...The seamen declared that they were tired of being "shoved around" by the youngsters, adding that in many cases their girl-friends were insulted.....Sporadic zoot suit warfare were reported throughout the city and county, including a knife attack by three female " slick chicks " zooters, as State, local and naval authorities joined in preventing further outbreaks. The Army formally entered the picture with a sharp warning to soldiers against participation in such extra-curricular pract- ices as chasing zoot suiters and ripping off their clothes......Major Gen. Maxwell Murray, commanding the Southern California sector of the Western Defense Command,asserted that any military personnel found guilty of "riotous conduct" He added that charges of conspiracy to riot, or inciting a riot were " among the most serious of military accusations." The fighting in the first five days of the undeclared war between the servicemen and the youths,had been confined to the skid- row area of Los Angeles...On the 12th,a crowd of nearly 4OO sailors roamed the Pike, amuse- ment zone in Long Beach,in search for Maxican youths sporting reat pleats......In Watts, an interurban electric street car bound for the Los Angeles Harbor and loaded largely with sailors, was stoned by a group of youths whom police described as " Pachucos " Maxican wearers of the pancake hat and other fancy clothing...In San Diego the Navy announcement said the sailor in their clashes with the so- called zoot-suiters were acting in self defe- nce against the "rowdy elements." Police said the zoot-suiters had been a minor problem to local authorities....Their ages range from 16 to 25 or thereabouts.......The problem became intensified with the heavy concentration of service men, and in numerous instances seamen and soldiers had reported that they were slugged and robbed by young marauders..Police were ordered to keep a close watch for car- loads and truckloads of zoot-suited young- sters after reciving reports that they were planned to "clean up" on sailors and marines stationed at the naval and marine bases there In EL Monte, South Gate, Compton and Lynwood crowds of sailors and soldiers raided pool halls, dance hall and other places frequented by the zoot-suit wearers, but found that they had gone into hiding...Officials on all sides had been quick to emphasize that in their be- lief the factor of racial discrimination has not been involved in zoot-suit clashes..A big majority of the zoot-suit wearers were of Maxican descent.....Over 15O persons had been injured and 5OO zoot suiters and service men jailed during the nights of violence.....More than 9O per cent in this classification, how- ever, were American citizens according to the police.In San Diego twelve zoot suiters filed into court shorn of their "duck-tail hair." Police explained that "by coincidence" there happened to be a barber in the jail: he had a workout during the night after their arrest. The prisoners according to police,were mobbed by fifty soldiers, sailors and marines, who were released to military authorities after "cooling off" in jail.........The Los Angeles City Council, meantime, received a proposal from Councilman Norris Nelson that the wear- ing of zoot suits within the city limits be made a jail offence......" The zoot suits has become a badge of hoodlumism," Nelson added "We prohibit nudism by an ordinance and if we can arrest people for being under-dressed, we can do so for being over-dressed." The American Secretary of State Cordell Hull blamed the riots on both the "zoot suit" ele- ment which he characterized as of " question- able character and possess a spirit of law- lessness" and on a handful of service men out of more than eight million in arms, "who gets out of hand occasionally and commits some law less act." Spreading like a forest fire from its pivotal point in Los Angeles, zoot suit disturbances broke out during the second week of June in widely separated sections of the country,where street fights,police clubb- ing and civilian reprisals were the order of the day...In Philadelphia,four colored youths wearing zoot trousers,were severely beaten by a gang of of 25 white boys in a street brawl marked by first fighting and pistol shots. The Negroes were treated at a local hospital, than arrested on charges of breach of the peace.......What action police took to capture the white youths was not immediately learned,but it was rumored that all made good their escape..In Pittsburgh three zoot-suited youths attacked a street car motor-man in the downtown district,this was the first recorded disturbance there by wearers of the stuff cuffs and the reet pleats...In Baltimore,only 4O-odd miles from the Nation's Capital, three Nagro zoot suit addicts, described as members of the Northeast "Brimstone gang" were given fines and jail terms in the police court on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to carrying concealed weapons...Police estimated that the gang numbers more than 1OO youths. The police said the gang had attacked other Negro youths....A second flare-up occurred in Philadelphia when a pianist and saxophonist in Gene Krupa's band were beaten in a subway station by two unidentified sailors who repo- rtedly mistook the musicians band uniforms for zoot suits..The pianist,hospital attaches said, may have a skull fracture, as result of the beating. Meanwhile THE CHICAGO DEFENDER displayed on it pages, clothing for the conservative dresser in addition to drape model clothes. with such names for their zoot suits as, The "BENTON" The "REGULAR" The "CLINTON" The "CHICAGOAN" The "ELGIN" The "PARKSIDE" and The "LONDON DRAPE." While glamour-starved British woman turned to Paris for their salvation,their male counter- parts looked across the Atlantic and found the swagger of the drape.....For six or seven years the colourful creations on view at the local Cinema had been an impossible dream for the young British working man,but in 1946 the " American look " become obtainable with the help of a shrewd East End jewish tailor who managed to steer clothing imports through the barriers of Britain's siege economy.Cecil Gee brought 42nd Street to the Charing Cross Road in a cascade of kipper ties and shiny shirts. While the accessories were imported.Cecil Gee made his own copies of drape suits in the time-honoured fashion of his trade.His London store was an oasis of colour in a desert of navy and grey, a fantasy land in which Holly- wood dreams could be realized.Also There were enough young men needing a new lease of life in those drab times for other London shops to introduce the "American look." Another thing in favour of the Edwardian look was that it's typically British.Quite frankly said TAILOR and CUTTER, we're all for the Edwardian look....It allows a certain amount of colour, a certain amount of individality and a whole host of little novelties that make the donning of a new suit a sizeable event....By the summer of 1948 the President of the International Association of Clothing Designers could declare in a speech in Montreal that the new look in men's wear was to feature squarer shouldered, longer, draped jackets with fuller chests to give an agressive look to the American male.The style commented TAILOR and CUTTER consists of mak- ing everything bigger, brighter, bolder and louder than anyone has ever before attempted. Not content with this, the American Custom Tailors and Designers Association chose, with even more devastating irony, to stage the launch of the new style in the zoot suit riot city of Los Angeles.......The American draped style of tailoring had by 1949 found a wider acceptance in Britain's mass market.Certainly no retailer dealing in ready-to-wear could afford to neglect it. "The drape," of course, was not new, it did not spring from any fresh American craze.....Mr.Frank P.Scholte, one of the legendary figures of London's West End, who died in early 1949, was reported to have claimed the invention of the English drape in 19O9.....The present wave of popularity, said the trade Magazine, "MEN'S WEAR,"(March 1949) was largely a modified form of exaggerated American styles, and it was some of the more extreme forms which brought draped clothes in to disrepute among weel-dressed men..As early as April 1949, the writing was on the wall. " Full Drape Is Waning," " Drape, a Menace," said Designer Chief, Mr.H.G.Tayler, elected President of the Federation of Clothing Desi- gner's and Production Managers....He believed that the full drape was on the wave due, no doubt, to its adoption by the "spivs." In the tailoring circles which still influence true style, recognise the drape, (zoot suit) for what it was, a danger to standards and an ex- cuse for the incompetent tailor or outfitter to compete for a little while longer in a market where normally only the men who knows his business could survive.

TOWARDS THE END OF THE WAR THE ZOOT SUIT AS A FASHION HIT BRITAIN,BUT THE HAIRCUTS REMAINED ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC.IN TERMS OF AMERICAN YOUTH CULTURE, THE DUCK-TAIL WAS THE FIRST TIME A HAIRCUT HAD BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH ANYTHING DANGEROUS, AND IT PREDATES THE HAIR- STYLES OF BOTH THE AMERICAN HEP-CAT AND THE BRITISH TEDDY BOYS BY AT LEAST TEN YEARS.

2-BIRTH OF THE EDWARDIANS

The 'Zoot suit' first appeared in the late thirties,just before the war..........It was then the hall mark of the 'hep-cat' or chronic Jitterbug, and was worn at first by a variety of irresponsible chara- cters who gave it a bad name.....The working- class Mexican immigrants of the West Coast cities, San Diego and Los Angeles began to adopt a distinctive style of clothing and haircut, known as Pachucos,the boys and some- times girls wore dressy zoot suits and duck- tail "Argentine" haircuts to distinguish them selves from native born North Americans. In 194O the Pauchucos existed pretty much without notice, slowly going about creating their own community.For a time, it was banned in certain parts of America following the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 in Los Angeles. Sailors indiscriminately beat up Mexicans and the 'zoot suit' the long coat and trousers pegged at the cuffs worn by boys with long, greased hair, became the symbol around which the rioters rallied. In America the predominant characteristic of the zooter had been racial but in Britain this was not the case......The drape appears to have been adopted by a small minority of young working class men.......The transference of the style across the Atlantic was marked by the renaming of the zooter as 'spiv' a handle which referred less to the style of dress than to characteristic occupa- tion of the wearer, (the unauthorized dealing in rationed and restricted goods)......Unlike the black and immigrant communities of the United States, British working class youth had no tradition of flamboyant dress.....The spiv,it must be remembered,was the visble end of the rackets, the public face of crime and the black economy.He was the point of contact between public demand and the shady world of criminal supply....In his role as 'front man' his dress served not merely to promote his image but, directly to advertise his trade ...Above all the 'spiv' had to be a colourful character.........Whether one liked it or not (and many surely did) to adopt an American- ized style in Britain in the late 194Os was to stand out, to set oneself apart from 'the natural order of things.' From top to bottom the 'Zoot suits' was never a style confined exclusively to the American black.............On white backs the drape was an integral part of the birth of 'the Teenage' as a social category........The young white jitterbugs of the time, although less committed to the style than their black counterparts, employed it in a similar way to establish an identity...In America, the drape shape had been more than a suit of clothes,it had been one of the first battlefield in the style wars that were to become such a feature of urban capitalist society...By January 1948 The TAILOR and CUTTER was advising its rag trade readers on 'How to cut an American styled wide-shouldered jacket', and by the summer the 'Bold Look' was a regular feature of the journal. In Augest 1948 the Edwardian look arrived in the West End..The drape suit, of course, was essenitially a black style. ...It emerged forcefully in the late 194Os as Britain gained its first experience of black immigration....Five hundred Jamaicans arrived at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship ' Empire Windrush' to a blaze of publicity....This in- cluded the TAILOR and CUTTER which under the headline 'Zootable imports' carried a report on 'What the well-dressed Jamaican man-about- town is wearing these days'..The same journal sent a photographer onto the street of London to snap black zooters as they strolled the pavements.The resulting article "The psycho- logy of the zoot suit" firmly established the racial connotations of the style ("all god's chillun got a zoot suit") In the official journal of the Custom Tailors and Designers Association of America, (August 1951) a report suggests that the 'Edwardian look' was now being adopted by the smart young man in the U.S. " The Britishers may be nearer than we suspect to establishing their style on our shores...When the style appeared on Fifth Ave we shall know for certain that the dignified tailors of Britain still exert the influence they claim over Western fashions for men." By November 1951 news came that the " Edwardian Look " finally percolated down to the factory tailoring trade.....In Manchester there was a " male mannequin " show sponsored by Elem Clothes Ltd, and in the Strand's famous Civil Service Stores "Sir" Clothes showed Edwardian mannequin to customers and casual passers by. As far as the factory trade was concerned, this "Edwardian look" was a "new trend" for the manufacturing side of tailoring, because it caters for the masses. The drape style and the post-war law-and- order panic reached their zenith together in 1952, the year in which 'Cosh Boys' seemed to lurk in every dark alley, at least in the imaginations of the popular newspapers and public anxiety focussed on the Craig-Bentley murder case.......The killing of P.C.Miles on the roof of a warehouse in Croydon during an exchange of fire between police and a 16 year old burglar, Christopher Craig, accompanied by Derek Bentley, an educationally sub-normal 19 year-old was trumpeted as a " Chicago Gun Battle in London" (THE DAILY MAIL 3th Nov 52) Here were the consequences of the American influence on British Society,tragic- ally dramatized; and again the lines of the American drape were as evident as they had been in THE DAILY EXPRESS 'Cosh Boy' cartoon of a few weeks before.........David Yellop in his book " TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS " on the case describes the two boys on their way to the crime............Both wore wide-brimmed hats, calf-length overcoats,drape suits with finger tip-length jackets and crepe-soled shoes..... This style of dress, peculiar to the younger generation of 1952, created the illusion that they were both much older than they actually were.........Craig also affected a tought-guy American drawl.This was not a constant trait; when he became excited his accent would revert to the same as Bentley's South London. Craig's American gangster fantasy was further bolstered by the revolver which he had pocketed every morning on gett- ing dressed since the age of eleven. In Craig the worst fears of 'Yank 'culture seemed to be confirmed..He and Bentley walk the streets with the exaggerated sway of the shoulders that, like their clothes, was so much a part of London youth in the early fifies. The Edwardians emerged without much warning......There was little preparation for his appearance as a fully fledged deviant, (a person defined as a social problem)....He had curious parents; one was the upper-class Edwardian dandy, the other the older delinqu- ent subculture of South London....His clothes were orignally worn by the middle and upper classes,but this was for only a short period. ....Indeed, the style was worn throughout the 195Os, but its meaning changed dramatically over the decade.....When the long jackets and tight trousers covered the middle class, the fashion was proclaimed a pleasing innovation, but it was rapidly reappraised when it spread to young working-class males in 1952.It seems that these new 'Edwardians' were 'spivs' not the 'respectable' working class..As a result, the middle class felt that it could no longer share the style with its new adherents. In 1948 Savile-row tailors got together to push the style on to the young Mayfair bloods the Guardees, and onto the Business men, they pushed it so successfully that it then became the uniform of the dance hall creepers. "It means" explained a disconsolate young ex-Guardee over a champagen cocktail, " That absolutely the whole of one's wardrobe immediately becomes unwearable".Those who now wore Edwardian dress were described as delin- quents...Unfavourable social types were summ- oned forth to define them as, 'zoot-suiters, hooligans, and spivs....The newspaper did not hesitate to award them an unambiguous identi- ty.........The clothing was unchanged but its wearers had translated it into a stigma; "The Cosh boys have killed all hopes of men's fashions that really are different". said The DAILY SKETCH DEC 9th 1953. For years men had been accused of not being venturesome enough in their appearance, of being content with the same old drabness......The Edwardian look came along, so did fancy waistcoats...So did haircuts that were individual instead of "short, back and sides " Thus, when the notorious Teddy boys slouched onto the pavements of the Elephant and Castle in the Coronation year they were a new phenomenon, but not in the way we are often led to believe..........The association between youth,dance music,crime and extravag- ant attire had become a 'cause for concern' well before the DAILY MIRROR report of the Teddy boy killing on Clapham Common (Sep'53) " Edwardian Suits, Dance Music and a Dagger " What was shocking about the Teds was not simply that they were working class lads who had appropriated a fashion style from their 'social superiors'...What was more disturbing was the look that resulted from this act of piracy.....When the Ted stole the sophisticated Edwardian look from the Saville Row dandies who had pioneered it, he did so like some Indian brave looting the uniform from one of Custer's dead......He combined it with the altogether wilder style of another culture......The Ted superimposed the details of Edwardian dress, the velvet collar, long lapels fancy waistcoats, narrow trousers, on- to a familiar drape shape, 'already a sign of trouble'.......The whole thing was mixture of orthodox British dandyism and Yank style...It was with good reason, not just for want of a better analogy,that the DAILY SKETCH (NOV 53) described the new Edwardians as Zoot-suiters. In February 1954 a meeting convened by the North British Ballrooms Association,Edinburgh said that people wearing "pipe-stem trousers, drape jackets, and crepe soled shoes." should be refused admission to dance halls because "this sort of garb is usually the sign of the trouble-maker."...Mr H.E.Smith, director of a well known Edinburgh firm of man's outfitters catering for the modern young man, said " Our business is 1OO per cent in what we term mod- ern styles,we sell long draped jackets,narrow trousers,'slim jim' ties,shirts with cut-away buttoned-down collars,and whatever the modern youth wants."....Our business is sufficiently big for this to mean that if all our young customers were hooligans,the City of Edinbugh would require a police force double the size.

3-EDWARDIAN CLOTHES

HOW STARTLED AND DISMAYED OUR EDWARDIAN RELATIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN BY A LEGAL RULING AT LIVERPOOL ASSIZES IN NOVEMBER 1954. OUR GREAT,GREAT GRAND-FATHERS, WHO WORE EDWARDIAN SUITS AS A MATTER OF COURSE WOULD HAVE BEEN CONSIDERABLY BEWILDERED TO KNOW THAT AN ENGLISH JUDGE (MR JUSTICE SELLERS) WOULD ONE DAY INCLUDE AMONG THE CONDITIONS OF PROBATION FOR SOME YOUNG MEN THE DEMAND THAT THEY SHOULDN'T WEAR " FANTASTIC CLOTHES " PRESUMABLY OF THE KIND NOW CALLED EDWARDIAN.

The true Edwardians certainly wouldn't have liked that at all.They may have been ready to admit that in style and elegance the Regency buck had it all, but they most assuredly did not consider their fashions as being either a badge of or an incitement to criminality. Surely it's very odd indeed that a fashion of this sort should apparently have become so powerful and important that the very wearing of it may threaten the peace partly,perhaps, by frightening the public,but partly, too (one imagines) by so influencing the wearers that they are more than normally tempted to go wrong.........But why Teddy boy styles, anyway? What brought the drain-pipe trousers, the velvet collars and the curly- brimmed bowlers out of the museums and on to the streets again? It may be, of course, that men had tired of the jeers of their womenfolk for always wearing the same old styles, year after year, and decided really to startle them or possibly give them something to jeer about........What was surprising was that the fashion should be taken up so wholeheartedly by the young men from the back streets of South London..........Of course, the style is now what the architects might term Debased Edwardian.The pipe trousers drain into crepe- soled shoes, and all is surmounted by an American hair-style.....The London Government once banned the kilt because Jacobite clans- men wore it...It now seems that the Teddy boy fashion is likely to gather the same sort of glamour. On December 5th 1953 the Scottish Newspaper THE DAILY RECORD printed the second even Headline on Teddy boys:PRE-KHAKI BOYS GO FOR THE 'TEDDY'.The paper went to say that in London the 'Teddy Boys' had arrived, and they were a Teenage cult with a craze for clothes. Their philosophy was: Dress in Edwardian style and be happy. Teddy? Edwardian? You see the link-up.....The paper asked: What are the Teddy boys like?..Well most were working lads with a difference...The margin that puts them on a different plane from their fellows is that they'll pay þ20 for a coat. Willingly! They'll put out the same cash for a suit. Without batting an eyelid!...The clothes they wear must follow to a detail the dictates of Edwardian-inspired fashion.The youths will do without most of the things that are important to the normal Teenagers so that they can dis- port themselves in the dashing, colourful, dignified vogues which held sway at the turn of the century.Do without? asked the 'RECORD' most youths earns about fiver a week if he's was doing well. The Teddy boys,they repeated, was strictly working class....A typical Teddy boy.Velvet Collar.Edwardian,of course.....The effect is very man-about town..Yet the wearer was about 17.....Some earn about þ5 doing odd jobs while awaiting call-up.......He pays his 'keep' into the house and much of the balance goes in clothes.....Completing their profile, they put the Teddy boys down to a post-war craving for brightness, originality and self- expression through the medium of clothes.They found that the Teddy boy was shy in spite of his bold exterior.........They added that the Psychologists might analyse their unorthodox dress as a manifestation of the desire to feel important and to be notices, too right! The Northern British Ballrooms Association said..That people wearing pipe-stem trousers, drape jackets and crepe soled shoes should be refused admission to halls because..This sort of Edwardian garb is usually the sign of the trouble maker... ..Mr H.E.Smith, director of a well known Edinburgh firm of men's outfitt- ers catering for the modern young man, said, " Our business is 1OO per cent, in what we term modern styles, we sell draped jackets, narrow trousers, " slim jim " ties, shirts with cut-away,buttoned-down collars and what- ever the modern young man wants.....The suits sold by us cost about eight guineas ready made and ten guineas made to measure.......He said he was astonished that the dance hall proprietors should make such an unfair gener- alisation. " I should say that about 6O per cent of our trade is with these young fellows who want drape suits............He added that the fashion in drape suits had lasted now for about five years, but the trend was gradually modifying. In February in 1954 drape suited boys were banned from the New Vic, Edinburgh, and young Edwardian Dandies were also banned from dance halls in Leytonstone,London. In April cinemas dance halls,and others place of entertainment in South East London closed their doors to youths in " Edwardian " suits because of gang hoolganism...........This assurance came from Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, Home Secretary,in the Commons in May......MPs had demanded that the activities of the "Teddy boys" should be cur- bed...Sir Thomas Moore (Con.Ayr) resented the use of the name "Edwardian." He claimed that the youths, with their flashy attire, should be described as "plain thugs." Age has always criticised youth for the clothes they wear, for their irresponsibility,and for their flamboyant at- titude towards life....Throughout history old men have held up their hands in horror at the effete generation that is to run the world after they are dead and gone......They always pray that they will not be spared to witness the debacle.....They did before the last war, and long before that....Men of the generation who once stood in pools of flannel, telling the world defiantly that they were wearing " Oxford trousers " now decry the Edwardian tendencies in the clothes of their sons...The grossly exaggerated and completely tasteless manifestations of the Edwardian style,as ref- lected in the garb of the unfortunate "Corner Boy" of the 5Os (the equivalent of the "lost generation" of the 2Os) represents nothing good for the maker or wearer,but the psychol- ogical problem involved is as old as time. It is part of youth of all classes to admire exaggeration, for exaggeration is only another form of optimism...The young man will wish to show himself in all the fine feathers at his command and, if he can afford it, he will exaggerate this finery so that it will be noticed....This is not a fault, it is natural....He grows out of this stage just as his seniors did...He wonders just as they did how he made himself look so foolish..Tell him of this foolishness and he will not only re- sent it but outdo his former efforts by more bizarre attire next time his pocket will allow.......Because a famous Sunday newspaper depicted a youth placing an almost brand new suit of Edwardian cut into a dust bin,it does not brand such a garment as the uniform of the unsatisfactory......All such fashions are forms of youthful exuberance..........Nothing exaggerated lasts for ever because the wearer becomes tired of it, and as age creeps on, he prefers to revert to the ordinary..Or,if this does not happen another fashion takes his fa- ncy and he discards his former love. Fashions, as any famous designer for women will confirm,are the life blood of trade, and a method of lining the pocket with great reg- ularity....The Edwardian suit, with its cuffs and narrow trousers, may have had its day in its extreme form, but like all this type of fashion, it has left its mark.....The crafts- men who make the suits that men wear can only keep the balance, and having once let the ex- aggerated prototype have its fling, gently lead the public back to a less noticeable article which any ordinary retiring man can wear without adverse comment from his fellows By June 1954 Southend youth Council banned youths in Teddy suits.........This was followed by St Helens and Bootle dance halls. In August/September Derby cinemas and Bristol dance halls put a total ban on in Edwardian Attire...Up at Middlesborough the local comm- ittee approved that Teddy boy clothes should be banned from cinemas and council parks. The PORTSMOUTH EVENING NEWS added " They are a public menace bent on mischief and desturution in most instances, and the time is long overdue for drastic action." One -way would be a law for-bidding tailors to make or sell, under heavy penalties these hideous clothes and one to forbid the wearing of same....This would not be interfering with individual freedom for where such freedom be- comes a nuisance,or clothes a kind of uniform for gangsterism, then it is time for parlia- ment to act in conjunction with the police for the preservation of public safety. "Just because a fellow is dressed differently it doesn't mean he is a social outcast." So says Mr Gordon Vaugham, manager of one of Arbroath's larger tailoring stores. " I think the public were all too ready to condemn the Teddy boy, but it is largely because of jeal- ousy.........The average Teddy boy is my best customer,and he's always clean,neat and tidy. As for banning Teddy boy uniform's from dance halls, well! here have always been fights at dances ever since I can remember, and to con- demn the Teddy boy is abusing a man's right of freedom..............A Leamington ballroom of a country-wide chain of dancing schools banned members who wore "Edwardian" clothes. A red-lettered notice was posted up about the office at the ballroom....The Count School of Dancing, warning that " Edwardian or improper dress is not allowed." Manager Mr K.Waller said " Its the clothes we objected to.If they don't wear these Teddy suits, we admit them." In her annual report to the Chiltern Youth Club Mrs L.McAvoy said:"Teddy boy dress does not mean criminal tendencies." It is un- fair to thousands of decent youngsters who wear Edwardian clothes.......The most popular target of public opinion was the lad in an Edwardian suit, She adeed, " Somehow or other he had become identified with crimes of great violence...This was wrong." The advent of the Teddy boy is not altogether to be deprecated. Said the Editor, of "THE TAILOR and CUTTER." At least it proves that in some cases the younger generation is beginning to take an interest in its appearance.........Too often, however, the blame for this strange cult is laid at the door of Mayfair....See (THE VELVET COLLAR No 3 Birth of an Edwardian) The whole trouble is that the Teddy boy is influenced by the retrospective touches of Edwardian, but that his silhouette, (and silhouette is the whole basis of real fashion)is still reflecting the drape-shape styles of Hollywood.....The young Ted on the corner comes from a long line of Mississippi gamblers, the wrongly named Teddy boy is not Edwardian so much as Mid-Western. The real Edwardian has a coat or jacket which fits the figure....The Teddy boy still clings (though it is far from clinging to him) to his draped,straight sided garment. He may add little touches like velvet collars and flapped breast pockets, but the simil- arity ends there.......With the Teddy boy the physical imposture still holds sway.....There is still the attempt to make shoulders and muscles bigger than they truly are. Again the Teddy boy has the vulgarity of over-exaggeration..The true Mayfair Edwardian adopts Edwardian because it is a reminder of the days when Britain was the leader of the World and in consequence had no necessity to drag attention to its menfolk...The Teddy boy adopts Teddyboyism for exactly the opposite effect, sheer exhibitionism....The Teddy boy, indeed is often driven into hooliganism by the fact that he is openly accused of being a hooligan merely because he wears the clothes he likes........He feels the fact that he may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb...The irate public,panicked into abuse by newspaper headlines, often drive potentially good cit- izens into misbehaviour by picking on a lad merely because he dresses in a certain way.He added " They should realise that Teddyboyism reveals no crime but bad taste." A report about Teddy boy suits in the "LIVERPOOL EVENING EXPRESS" in May 1955 said that, the exaggerated clothes they wear proc- lain their basic self-insufficiency.The shoes often have inch-thick soles and raised heels to flatter stunted height..........Drain-pipe trousers lend similar assistance, making the legs look like spindles, particularly since they are topped by ludicrous jacket that drapes from the padded shoulders almost to below the thighs.....Any relationship between this sartorial travesty and the genuine Edwardian style is purely fanciful,especially when it is rounded off by a long thin tie, usually of Big Ben loudness and a " haircut" that puts French Poodles to shame....The sole purpose of the Teddy suit,in the first place, was to catch the eye so that a basically colourless figure and personality could in- dulge in exhibitionism, to cut a dash.And the general public need not be highly qualified psychologists to latch on to the simple fact that Teddy boys, all Teddy boys, "good" and "bad" wear their ridiculous clothes in order to attract attention..Moreover, they believe, very profoundly, that clothes make the man, even a "manly" man......The Teddy suit is, in effect a prop to sagging personalities and a sop to mentalities starved of worthwhile imp- ulses......To the Teddy boy whether in dress, walk, or general behaviour, is the breath of life itself...The EXPRESS accuses the tailors who produce the hooligan uniform of heavy responsibility for the current out-break. In particular they would like to see the sale of Teddy suits on the never never prohibited. The Lewes Town Hall Sub- Committee recommended that as a condition of letting the hall for Saturday night dances an undertaking be obtained from all hirers that youths wearing Edwardian costume should not be admitted, and that adequate stewarding be maintained to this end..Alderman H.Baker drew a distinction between Edwardian dress and Edwardian costume..Some of the gangsters wore costumes only fit for a fancy dress parade, and should be distinguished from those who dressed in the Edwardian manner. The Bristol Palais de Dance in Mid 1955 said: "The Management regret that in response to public demand, admittance at all dances will be refused to Gentlemen in Edwardian Dress and Ladies in Slacks or Jeans This was followed by the Mecca,Fountainbridge " Persons in Teddy boy suits and crepe soled shoes not admitted." Young soldiers who strut about in "Teddy boy" dress during off-duty hours had gone their curious ways for some time without interference from the Army authorities....But acts of false bravado and hooliganism by a certain section had put the army's Teddy boys on the spot...A ban on "Teddy boy" dress would be welcomed in Service quarters in the North where, despite barrack-room discipline, young men in velvet-collared coats and drain- pipe trousers were to be seen strutting about in several towns. " Plain,bad fashion sense," said an North East Army spokesman. "These men can,at the moment,set out for the dance halls wearing anything they like." The order was given: "On parade,in civvies." The men of the Airborne Regiment at Aldershot filed into place...Some of the men wore Edwardian suits, drainpipe trousers and long, tight fitting jackets,drape suits or fancy gabardines..They had "jazzy" shirts and ties, with fancy shoes "to match." The CO, Colonel R.G.Pine-Coffin, DSO. stood and stared, then banned the lot....In future, he ordered, only modestly-cut lounge suits, sports jackets or blazers and flannels, or uniform, may be worn by men "walking out" off duty. " I expect a few,the few who delight in the extravagant dress of Hollywood stars or East End spivs, feel that their liberties are being interfered with.......But the Edwardian suits, fancy shoes and jazzy ties and socks I have seen some wearing are not be-coming to a soldier." The owner of an "Edwardian" suit, a private from Manchester, said " Its all wrong telling us what to wear off duty........But a smartly uniformed recruit said: " We're a proud lot in the Airborne and "Teddy" suits and the queer modern fashions that a few of the chaps like rather let the mob down." Teddy boy suits for off-duty wear was banned at Norton Army Barracks,Worcester. ....This was the latest move to stamp out the " Teddy boy " element among soldiers of the 6th Training Regiment,Royal Engineers,statio- ned at Worcester.A regimental order posted at the camp says: " Personnel wearing civilian clothing must be a credit to the Service at all times and their choice of clothing will be guided accordingly." As a result, soldiers going out in civilian clothes were checked by the Sergeant of the Guard, and any Edwardian tendency in their suits meant that they were sent back to get "properly dressed" A Western Command spokesman said of the Norton Barracks order: " The matter of off-duty dress was under active consideration by the military authorities. Parents of two Teddy boys promised Bath juvenile court that they would destroy their son's Edwardian suits and that the boys would not again wear such clothing..The magistrates were also told that the youths would have ordinary (wot no quiff) haircuts. The Army's war on Teddy boy suits extended to Dorchester..When soldiers left the Camp at Poundbury they were closely inspected by the guard at the exit and if their trousers were not as prescribed by the Commanding Officer, Lt-Col D.Barclay, than they had to return to the barracks to attire themselves more suit- ably or stay in camp for the evening. The increasing ratio of males to females was responsible for Edwardian suits..That was the opinion of Dr J.MacAlister Brew,education office to the National Association of Girls Clubs........Writing in the " FAMILY DOCTOR " published by the British Medical Association, she says that after the first world war there was a large surplus of women over men. For generations the girl had to perform the difficult role of retreating in such a way as to guarantee pursuit....To achieve this girls took great care in their adornment....All the young man needed was to be clean, personable and manly..By 1955 the situation had changed. In the marriageable age group the sexes were about equal in number, but the total of males would increase while that of females would decrease.....She added "In times when any sex is out-numbered at the mating season, it will seek to attract by personal adornment.This is now finding expression at the adolescent level in terms of the Edwardian suit." There is no doubt that modern young women like the Edwardian fashion....The evidence is clear in any dance hall." According to the Tailors who make "Edwardian" suits,the Jersey Teddy boy was on the way out, and it may not long before this appallingly inelegant uniform fades from our streets altogether...Many of the tailors rep- orted that by mid 1955 there was " no demand for freak suits...The comedy outfit displayed by the Teddy boy bears little resemblance to the elegant Edwardian style revived in Savile Row in 1947, and seen for a short while in the City with bowler hat and umbrella..It was described by a Jersey tailor as a cross bet- ween the Edwardian fashion and the American "zoot-suit," worn with army boots and a comic Western style boot-lace tie. In July 1955 Teddy boy suits were banned by Lt-General.Sir Lashmer Whistler.The withdrawal of walking-out passes for nearly 60,000 army troops found in possession of Edwardian clothes was extended to all Comm- ands in the country following the issuing of War Office regulations....Any soldier found " improperly dressed " was ordered to buy a normal suit before he next applies for a walking-out pass..The War Office instructions had been issued to all Commands following complaints from chief constables of rowdyism in many garrison towns by off-duty soldiers wearing civilian clothes of Edwardian pattern A senior officer at one of the three Army camps at Malvern,Worcs,said. " Under the new regulations, if clothes worn by soldiers off duty drew un-favourable comment, command- ing officers can with-draw the permanent walking out passes.........It has always been stressed that the wearing of civilian clothes off duty is a privilege and not a right under Queen's regulations...The new regulations had been kept secret for three weeks to allow soldiers time to replace their Teddy suits voluntarily"..........A leading men's fashion magazine, "THE TAILOR AND CUTTER" comments on the Western Command order that walking-out passes were to be withdrawn from soldiers wearing " Edwardian or Teddy boy " clothes. In its leading article, the Journal says: "Presumably the army authorities are at last finding a scapegoat for the fact that servicemen the world over are notoriously ill -behaved..What seems to have escaped the High Command is that it is not a soldier's appear- ance which should be controlled but his behaviour.....And if you get a soldier fed-up enough, or drunk enough, or bored enough, or naturally bad enough, he will kick up hell's delight whether you push through the barrack gates in a top hat or stark staring naked. The ill taste of the Teddy boy suits is quite separated from how soldiers behave when they wear them..But that soldiers choose Teddy boy suits at all is mainly at the door of the army authorities.......If soldiers were given a walking-out uniform of which they could be proud, doubtless gang warfare and rowdyism would than only take place in garments which have the blessing of the generals. Commenting that the Western Command order suggested that it was a " privilege " for a soldier to wear civilian clothing, the article says: " judg- ment and maturity only come after experiment and experience.........Let the young men live through their measles rash of Teddyism and adolescence, and let their tastes find their own way home. The exclusive Teddy Boy Circle at Bawtry, Royal Air Force Camp, near Doncaster. Held a secret meeting attended by all the Teddy boys in the unit, and decided to tone down their off-duty dress.Out went velvet collars, boot- lace ties, and three-inch crepe creepers..The decision was a gesture to the CO, who had de- clined a suggestion from the local Magistrate that the Teddy boy dress should be banned.FL- Lt E Lovejoy, said " There will be no order barring Edwardian suits in this camp.We don't believe that a man in a Teddy suit is a bad type". A suggestion that shops should be barred from selling "Teddy boy" suits was made by Mr.M.Joy, treasurer of Thornton Heath Ratepayers and Residents Association,at their meeting, in October 1955.........He said that Teddy boys in Croyden and elsewhere seemed to be increasing in numbers, and he had noti- ced that more shops were displaying the suits they wore. " Is there any control over that sort of outfitting?" he asked. "There are two kinds of Teddy boy suits, the well-cut expen- sive Edwardian suit,and the cheaper suit that is gaudy and flashy,and worn with a swagger." Coun D.Stewart said that Mr Joy had the wrong approach to the Teddy boy problem....It was a shopkeeper's duty to give his customers what they wanted. " If they are Teddy boys then he must supply Teddy suits" he commented. "These chaps wear those clothes because they like them...I think it is a passing phase, and not all of them who wear them are rotters at all. " As they get older, they will grow out of this Edwardian uniform." Another member said they should not ask Croydon Council to set themselves up as dress censors.....Ald Edmund Aakell,said "We haven't the slightest control over what a man sells in his shop, whether it is a Teddy boy suit, a white or gray suit." He added: "I know these boys and the majority of them are not bad..I have seen them grow up and devlop this taste in dress......They wear these clothes because they want to feel impo- rtant. " The only way they can it is to wear distinctive dress." Speaking on "Costume through the Ages" in November, Mr David T.D.Clarke Keeper of Antiquities at Leicester Museum said that the Teddy boy suit might be the beginning of a new fashion.........He gave as the reason for the present day trend the reaction against conscription which put men in uniform and a determination to be individualists..There had been, he said, a tendency in Saville Row tow- ards Edwardian styles which were abruptly dropped when taken up by the Teddy boy..Young men who adopted this form of dress were earn- ing very large wages, more than respectable civil servents, and were merely showing off. A Teddy boy suit, said Mr Clarke, cost about þ4O and so these young people were anxious to show their friends that they could afford it. But the more the public persected them, the more they would wear these styles. An announcement was made by Mr A.Finchley, manager of the Grand Ballroom, Coalville, that any person wearing Teddy boy clothes would be banned from the hall...Mr Edward Deeming, a director,told THE COALVILLE TIMES that,all members of the staff would stand on duty at the main doors at all dances, especially on Saturday nights,to keep youths in Teddy boy clothes from attending. The Army authorities in Colchester and also the management of the Corn Exchange, the town's biggest dance hall,declared war on the Teddy boys,or as they both prefer to call it, "the wearers of Edwardian clothing." The Corn Exchange stated that those wearing Edwardian clothing " are not suitably dressed for danc- ing and would be refused admission." A reporter was told that it was difficult to know where to drew the line in defining this type of clothing.......Lieut-Col H.Orton added. " We do feel the soldier should dress in a seemly fashion when he goes out....After all he is still a soldier." He said his inst- ructions to troops on this matter, describing the clothing, used the phrase "without exagg- erated cut or colour." In an effort to "clean up" Scotland's capital, dance halls and other places of entertainment banned anyone wearing a Teddy suit...Edinburgh dance hall managers, cafe proprietors and publicans said: " We had to ban the suits,not the boys,but the suits." " They seem to cause a lot of ill-feeling wherever they are worn. But, frankly, most of the lads themselves are a grand bunch." The manager of a public house near one of the big dance halls said: " Naturally, being so near to the dance hall we have seen a lot of velvet collars and tight trousers, but if a fight starts they will be banned permanently, regardless of what kind of clothes they wear" An Edinburgh tailoring firm said: " The days of the velvet collar and cuffs are over, the style is out of date. " But the long jacket and narrow trousers are every bit as much in demand. At the British Federation of Psycologists metting in Chester in early 1956 Mr C Clancy, Secretary of Warrington Council of Social Service, said that, "the Teddy boys dress made them repugnant to decent society." Asked whether he felt that Teddy boy clothes were encouraged by tailors..........Mr Clancy repiled, " you cannot blame the tailors..They are not going to take the part of a father and tell them they cannot have their trousers tight......The customer is allways right." He added: " Their mode of dress was a facade for misery and loneliness.It served to boister up an inferiority complex.....They are miserable and sordid characters, and would like to see parents taking a stronger stand against their sons uniforms...He understood that Teddy boys paid up to 25 guineas for their suits, and they should be ostracised. The Tailor and Cutter, magazine of the trade,said: The Teddy boy seems now to be rapidly dying out, principally I should imagine because so many dance halls and other places of entertainment are refusing admitta- nce to these youths...A report from a Midland tailor indicates however, that young men were not to be outdone. In September 1956,the manager of a Darlington tailor said is shop was able to cater for bizarre tailoring requirements,but the styles here are not very extreme...Darlington youth, compared with their counterpart in London and Manchester, are only "pseudo Teddy boys." In Middlesbrough, where he was manager of a branch some time ago, the styles were really outlandish and flamboyant..He added, the boys appear to dress in groups.....Like many other people he was convinced that the Teddy boy outfit was merely an attempt to compete with the uniform of the Forces, who seemed to get the girls at the dance halls......Some of his youthful customers allowed themselves the luxury of four Teddy boy suits a year, paying between þ12 and þ16 each......A member of the staff of another large tailoring concern said that no one had ever asked for a really extreme Teddy boy style suit, but many asked for long drape jacket and narrow trousers...A good number of these inquirers were soldiers from the Camp at Catterick.....Another tailor supported the opinion that there were no Teddy boy extremists in Darlington from a dress sense. Teddy suits were banned at the RAF's 16 Maintenance Unit, Stafford, one of the biggest Air force stat- ions in Britain...More than 1,OOO Airmen were told they must use common sense in deciding what type of civilian clothes to wear.But the ban applies only to Teddy clothes on the camp The Adjustant, Flight-lieut R.T Hathaway said " Outside the men are free to wear what they please." He added, When Airmen are allowed to wear civilian clothes there is the odd ele- ment who decide they are going to put on those great big spiv jacket.......The few who do, generally bring the force into disrepute. Troops at Nesscliffe Camp, near Shrewsbury,were warned against wearing "Teddy boy" suits.The Commanding officer, Col.Orton, had told them they must " dress reasonably." He advises them not to wear velvet collared jackets and string ties..The move was part of " behave yourself " measures taken to prevent trouble outbreaks in the town....It was hoped the new tightening-up would preserve the im- proved reputation the camp had gained over the last few years...Col.Orton told the local CHRONICLE: " I have told the troops to dress reasonably....It is not a question of a ban, but Teddy boy dress will be frowned upon." A Photograph of David Hamm and his bride, Mary Crawshaw with their best man, Bobby Donaghy, and bridesmaid, David's sister Gwen, outside The St Luke's Church, Skerton, Lancaster on 17th May 1957, was printed in THE LANCASTER GUARDIAN.......The two men wore matching powder blue drape suits edged with black velvet.........The suits were specially tailored for the occasion, pointing to their Edwardian origins..............Their hair was cut with a long quiff at the front slicked back with grease, the classic 'duck's arse'. It is noticeable that neither of them wears or carries a hat,an item deliberately discar- ded by the Teds.....It is interesting to note that while the bridegroom and the best man opted for this unconformist style of dress for a church wedding the bride and bridesmaid in their tailored suits are quite convention- ally, if not dowdily dressed for this date. The bridesmaid's skirt was unfashion- ably long, with fitted jackets (over collared blouses) with her padded shoulders and inden- ted waist-line,the fashions of the late 194Os "I do not know how the population of this town (Yeovil) allows this Teddyism to go on." Drainpipe trousers and fancy hair- cut, they are absurd......In my opinion it is the height of badness,said a father of one of three youths who appeared before magistrates in August 1957 French tailors had decreed that narrow drain-pipe trousers would be the fashion for men in late '57..The trouser they said should have to be tight at the knee, and the ankle will have a button at the bottom to help to get them on and off. At a male fashion show given by H.Caplan and Son in Coventy in January 1958. The clothes modelled reflected a strong cont- inental influence......One who visualised the introduction to this country of the latest Continental theme was Mr Derek Caplan.....His firm employed Italian Craftsmen tailors to introduce their own form of dress..The roomy, full chest drape tapers to the hips with a short centre and its length was 4ins, shorter than the Teddy boy jacket,and an inch shorter than the normal conservative style.The jacket had three buttons, the top two being fastened by the wearer, and is worn with a plain tie and a medium cut-away collar..The sleeves,too are tapered,and there is a single vent at the back, which is also well draped..Pocket flaps were optional.With the trousers,still narrow, and tapering to 17ins width, 3ins wider than the Teddy boy's, but turn-ups were out. Pointed patent leather or suede shoes in the Italian style combine to produce a smartness, which could not be achieved with the turn-ups and the thick-soled shoes of the Edwardian outfit. The Lord Mayor of Southend, said that the Teddy boy uniform was " rather pathetic." It was a revival of a long-dead and very un- comfortable era...."It looks backward because it has not the ability or the guts to look forward........While the majority of Teds may be harmless enough, especially on their own. It is well to bear in mind that by adopting the uniform they invite judgment based on the worst deeds of the few rather than the stability of the many." Mr.I.J.Pitman. MP for Bath, declared that the Teddy boy had a lot to teach the Army Services in the matter of dress....He claimed that if the services were to allow men to buy full-dress uniforms designed on the colourful pre-war scale with scarlet jackets they would be " Astonished " at the effect on recruiting For 20 years the Army have been static,insis- ting on nothing but denims and khaki....."The services should appeal to this new peacock factor, particularly among young men." Discussed at the St Albans debating Society,Mr Symm Crampton said the "Teddy boy" dress was a travesty of an elegent age and had become the uniform of a gang which asser- ted itself by loud talk,lack of manners, wolf whistles and some appalling exploits.He added that the " Teddy boy should be more pitied than condenmed." Supt.F.Green said at Tettenhall, Staffs, Juvenile Court. "Instead of copying the dress of the Edwardian era....The Teddy boys should follow the Edwardian principles of gentleman- ly conduct..If they studied those principles, they would get through life better than they are doing." In April 1958, Mr Edward Watson, personal tailor to the fashion conscious Prince Philip and Chairman of the Men's Fashion Council. said: " Today, there does seem to be some im- provement in men's dress sense.But it's slow, very slow.The main trouble now is money..Many people just can't afford a top price tailor. Before the war a first class suit from the West End cost about þ15.The same outfit today would work out at þ45.This kind of price puts a clamp on buying habits, and more and more young people,are buying off-the-peg clothes." " It was the Americans who first popularised the ready-to-wear buying habit, and they did so by producing wide-shouldered, long drape suits that would fit almost anyone Their idea was to develop a mass-produced line (hanging straight from the shoulder and needing little fitting at the waist) in a limited range of styles and sizes..This meant that one drape suit would fit three people.In other countries on the Continent and in North American,tailors follow current fashions,like the drape and the Italian line, very closely. By May 58, the emergence of the Teddy boy and the social problems he posed were discussed in an outspoken address to the members of the Rotary club of Bury, by Mr Kay, local magist- rate who for many years had been actively interested in youth organisations...Believing that the Teddy boy had modelled himself some- what on the lines of the spiv,Mr Kay said the Teddy boy had in mind that he, too, was going to be a " wide boy." The cut of his dress was to announce it...He thought it was almost the first appearance of working-class youth to be innovators of fashion.........In that respect the Teddy boy owed nothing to Hollywood, and little at all to the upper British classes. It was true that Edwardian clothes derived from a brief revival in Mayfair after the war but when the young lads of the inner suburbs took over Edwardian suitings they transformed them in their own way by lengthening the coat adding the Tony Curtis haircut and changing the colours and materials. " Never before in history has working class youth had the means or leisure to be original," declared Mr Kay. In some ways, perhaps, the Teddy boy movement was a hopeful thing, said Mr Kay.....It was a mark of independence, perhaps a sign that a new generation had to make its own way and would not be " spoon-fed." It is not often that we hear praise for Teddy boys, but in defence of their dress style comes no less a sertorial authority than Mr Hardy Amies,the Royal Dress designer....Mr Amies said: " It has a centain swagger, the tight trousers and long jackets are elegant.........A Midland MP suggested in the House of Commons,that "Teddy boys" should have their suits impounded until they had paid fines imposed for insulting words and behaviour. " Would it not be possible to cut off their revolting curls until they pay? he added.....Mr James Dance, Conservative MP for Bromsgrove was speaking on the Metropoitan Police Act, 1839 (Amendment) Bill...The Bill, a private Member's measure,which was given an unopposed Third Reading increases the maximum penalty from þ2 to þ1O. The Birmingham branch of the Education Welfare Officers' National Associa- tion tabled a resolution, to be discussed at their next conference.....Asking the Minister of Education to advise local Authorities to discourage Teddy boy clothing in all schools. " We think the subject should be discussed." said Mr Cartwright,secretary. " In Birmingham the problem has not been as acute as else- where in the country.........Some of our head teachers manage successfully to persuade children not to wear Teddy suits.But in other cases parents maintain that they have a right to dress their sons as they please. If youths applied to firms for apprenticeships dressed in Teddy boy clothes, they were told to go home and get properly dressed, said Dr A.B.Badger, industrial rela- tions officer to the Gas Council,at a one day conference held in Newport..Teddy boys should be told, he said, that unless they were dres- sed suitably they would not be admitted to an industrial organisation....He added " if they want to strut up and down the high street in those clothes, all right, but you are not doing it here." Birmingham Education Department, "not being a militaristic institution," could not order boys and girls attending the youth employment office to parade in plain clothes, said Ald.Jack Wood,The Chairman.He was reply- ing to remarks by Con.C.Bleyer, that when he visited the youth employment office, he found it " rather dominated by a bunch of teenagers tearaways in Edwardian dress..I don't suggest that everyone who wears "Teddy" boy clothing is a thug."Con Bleyer said, "but I was amazed that these boys have the effrontery to get themselves up in a uniform which is a symbol for hooliganism throughout the country when they ask us for employment." He added: "I th- ought it would be a good thing if these boys were told to go home to change and come back properly dressed, But I don't suppose we have the authority to do that." What the Teddy boys wear and how ridiculous they make themselves appear in the exaggerated costumes of their silly cult is still their own business........So long as they behaved, the public were slow to allow critical comment to become outright condemna- tion: Said THE LEICESTER MERCURY...But in May 1959 rowdyism was rapidly becoming synonymous with their Suits and the Teddy boys have only themselves to blame for special attention of the Law.The day when these boys were regarded merely as non-conformists, at least in dress, was over..................A vigorous campaign against Teddy boy suits, haircuts, and vivid- coloured socks, was launched by the Headmast- ers of two Leamington grammar schools.Parents of pupils attending Leamington College for boys and Feldon School were told: " Please co-operate to improve the appearance of your boys....In common with other schools, we have been badly affected with these modern Edwardian exotic styles." Youths wearing Edwardian dress who want to dance at Wolverhampton's newest Ball- room, The Queen's, were banned. Mr Brettelle, the general manager, told the "EXPRESS and STAR" that he wanted to maintain a good rep- utation at the ballroom."I know that a lot of these youths who wear Edwardian suits are not bad types,but I can't afford to take the risk of allowing them in the Queen's.....The staff were given instructions not to allow anyone wearing Edwardian clothes to enter the ball- room, " particularly the rough types." But, he raises no objections to youths wearing Italian-style suits who are smartly dressed. By August the ban on " Teddy boy suits" at Coventry's new þ19,500 circular cafe was supported by the city's Deputy Mayor, Alder- man Harry Stanley...........Teddy boy clothes were also banned at St Mary's RC Secondary Modern School, Blackburn. Headmaster Mr.Logan criticised parents who allowed their sons to wear Edwardian suits. Sir John Wolfenden spoke of youth. After opened the Riverside Youth Centre at Leamington Spa. " Because young people wear a certain type of clothes they are immediately branded as juvenile delinquents.....It is the adults of our community who have to take the responsibility for the way these youngsters dress and grow up." He added " The phrase 'Teddy boy' should be removed from the English language,and hope that these words will disappear from our voc- abulary......The truth is that quite a lot of ordinary, sensible, well-behaved youngsters happen to wear the kind of clothes that some of their elders think outrageous." The style of dress adopted by the Teddy boy was defended in Glasgow by Mr Harald Leslie, Sheriff of Roxburgh,and Berwick. " Why should we criticise youths when they dress in Teddy boy uniforms?" He asked... " Let us remember there is a restlessness with these young people......They have a desire for colour and romance, and God knows where you can get that in the East End of this city." In November 1959, the trousers worn by Oldham's policemen came in for criticism at the meeting of the Watch Committee." They seem to be of Teddy boy pattern, hang closely to the knee and quickly take the crease away," said Alderman Marron. The Chief Constable Mr Berry added: " I agree that the trousers do look like drainpipes." Aldershot soldiers in off-beat clothes got the cold shoulder from the Women's Royal Army Corps in April 196O.There were 125 girls at the camp, so the Teds were left out. " You can't blame the girls," said Major M.Harrison " they spend hours making themselevs pretty for these dances....Naturally they don't want to dance with partners who look ridiculous." A great mumber of troops turn up at the dances in quite out-rageous clothes long jackets and very skin-tight trousers.The girls just don't want to dance with a bunch of Edwardian spivs." said the Major.

BY THE END OF THE DECADE THE TEDS WERE FOUND TO BE IN TWO DISTINCT CLASSES THOSE WHO ACT LIKE THEM, AND THOSE WHO MERELY DRESS LIKE THEM. IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT THE WEARING OF THESE EDWARDIAN CLOTHES IS MERE CONFORMANCE TO A FASHION, AND THAT THEY SATISFY IN THE WEARER AN URGE FOR PROMINENCE AMONG HIS MATES AN INWARD LONGING FOR RECOGNITION THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED IN NO OTHER WAY...BUT OTHERS BELIEVE THAT THOUGH CLOTHES MAY CHANGE,THE WEARERS AS A CLASS WAS HEAR TO STAY.

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