Original Skinhead Subculture Fashion

An analysis of the Fashion Styles of the 1960s British Skinheads

Kevin, outside The Last Resort in Goulston Street, Aldgate, 1981 (Derek Ridgers). Retrieved from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Fashion Description

A contentious British subculture that invokes ideas of intense identity politics, the skinheads arose during the early 1960s as a rejection of the optimistic, middle-class hippie movement and as an adaptation of the mod subculture. Unlike the middle-class mods that benefited from the post-war economic boom, working-class mods developed a more practical and affordable style that differentiated themselves from the decadent and flamboyant mods. Still maintaining the simplicity of the style, working-class mods, referred to as ‘hard mods’, were identified by their ankle-length blue jeans, plain button-down or polo shirts, suspenders, steel-toed boots, and cropped hair¹. Hard mods became known as skinheads, distinctively separating themselves from the mods, with a unifying style and tribal sentiment found a following of mainly white, male, working-class outcast youth².

Despite the fact that the subculture largely prioritized functionality, anti-consumerism, and anti-fashion ideals, skinheads portrayed a clear preference for specific brands and “adhered to, with a meticulousness that denotes latent obsession, a kind of ultra-minimalist style”³. This obsession translated to a narcissistic and machismo style, where Levi’s jeans were the preferred pants, Doc Martens boots became a uniform, and Fred Perry or Ben Sherman shirts were the brands of choice⁴. Some of these individual fashion items will be further analyzed in this paper, however, first, historical context is needed to understand the evolution of the skinhead subculture that has led to the contemporary associations with racism and fascism.

Historical context

During the 1960s, West Indian immigrants in London also felt overlooked by the hippies, the mods, and the well-off middle-class, leading to significant cultural exchange between skinheads and Caribbean immigrants⁵. With a shared love for ska and reggae music, dance halls were filled with multicultural youth that all portrayed a sense of pride for their working-class roots⁶. At this time, the skinheads subculture was relatively small, remaining within the locality of low-income London. The subculture became associated with violence, as skinheads often caused trouble in public fights with mods and other subcultures that existed at the time. Skinheads “felt themselves to be victims, always at the bottom of the pile, part of a reviled lower class, bitter because of their lack of status, and dreaming of an imagined past when people could at least take pride in being British”⁷. Disillusionment, social alienation, working-class solidarity, and Afro-Carribean music defined the skinheads in the 1960s.

Despite the original focus on class separation, the 1970s brought about a skinhead revival in which race became a primary issue⁸. This racist ideology was invoked by neo-Nazi groups that took advantage of skinheads as easily influenceable and, what would be referred to today as, at-risk-youth. As working-class youth, skins largely grew up in government housing projects or suburban row houses — both of which carried negative societal associations⁹. A largely overlooked perspective is that of skinheads as vulnerable at-risk-youth who were seeking a sense of identity amongst an austere government and an unattainable superfluous middle-class. This led to neo-Nazi fascist groups appealing to conservative and traditional nationalistic ideals in order to recruit skinheads and make them hostile towards people of color¹⁰.

Many skins rejected this conviction and it became common to have brawls break out between racist skinheads and those that were actively anti-racist¹¹. Still, the demonization of skinheads throughout media, as well as the actual presence of racial violence and neo-Nazism came to dictate the narrative of the skinhead subculture. Skinheads as violent, racist, white-supremacists spread throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. The subculture continued to evolve and influence much of American culture, as well as influencing punk and hardcore music subcultures. While these changes carry significant socio-economic and political weight that is worthy of further analysis, for the sake of this paper, the focus will remain on the original British skinhead style as it developed throughout the 1960s.

Style & Symbolism

Analyzing the style and fashion choices that defined the subculture reveals the depth of symbolism that can be conveyed through fashion. For example, wearing Levi’s publicly expressed the working-class values associated with skins and expressed a rejection of the fitted, tailored suits worn by mods at the time. More than just separating themselves from other subcultures, Levi’s represented the practical garb that was necessary to complete blue-collar jobs, even if individuals were not actively working. Wearing these types of working-class clothes invoked a fraternal bond that created an intra-class sense of community and solidarity. With social class influencing so many aspects of daily life in London, “this type of defiance [was] needed in order to function cognitively in a biased social structure. It follows that skinhead history is as much a history of rebellion as it is a history of style and music”¹².

This history of rebellion is also largely conveyed through the boot choice of Doc Martens. Selling for £2 apiece to British laborers at the time, skins took this symbol of the working-class shoe and revered it as a point of pride¹³. The symbolic value of a unique and differentiated identity was exemplified by the customization of Doc Martens boots. Skinheads preferred their Doc Martens “in brown, with black polish smeared into the creases to ‘‘antique’’ them, often oversized, with laces passed through the Airwair heel tag and tied around the leg”¹⁴. The specificity and manipulation of Doc Martens to seem even more “worn” speaks to the obsession and extent of working-class pride. This preference for the customization of the boots reinforces the sense of authenticity and identity that was being produced through the skins subculture¹⁵.

In addition to the socio-economic symbolic value that Doc Martens embodied, the boots also allowed for skins to publicly express and communicate their rebellion through violence. Doc’s oversized, bulky shape and thick leather material created a militant and utilitarian impression. The choice of brown boots, blackened with polish adds to this masculine, militant look, while also conveying the associated manual labor of blue-collar work. These impressions were actualized through the use of Doc Martens and steel-toed boots as weaponry in street fights. Often, police would confiscate boots or require youth to remove their boot laces in large public gatherings in attempts to mitigate violence amongst youth subcultures and gangs. Ironically, the intended users of Doc Martens were originally public service workers, as seen by the uniforms of policemen and postmen at the time¹⁶.

John Downing/Getty Images. Retrieved from: https://allthatsinteresting.com

Political Associations

While the symbolic identity of skins was so meticulously and deeply apparent through their fashion choices, the sense of identity created was ultimately infiltrated by political associations. With a self-produced sense of identity created in response to social alienation, many skinheads became influenced by fascist ideals that opposed materialism and class conflicts¹⁷. The working-class core of skinhead subculture was identified by nationalist groups and targeted as a value to be exploited. Tapping into the scarcity of jobs and poor socio-economic standing, the blame of social and economic exclusivity began to shift from the middle-class to immigrants and minorities. With such a strong sense of identity in the skinhead subculture, social proof influenced more individuals to express fascist ideas and many skinheads followed suit in acts of violence against immigrants. The similarity heuristic also influenced the spread of racism, as the white male homogeneity of skins psychologically played a role in judgments against people of color.

Conclusion

This, of course, is not to say that all skinheads went through a shift towards white-supremacy and fascism. However, the success of creating such a cohesive identity for lost and disillusioned youth, allowed for racism to influence a large majority of the subculture. Global skinhead communities are still active today, though what they stand for is complex, nuanced, and maybe contradictory as seen throughout this paper. The fashion style of the skins has become largely obsolete, given the conflict and violence associated with the movement. Still, their fashion has a continued influence, especially on the Doc Martens brand which conveys pride for “being at the forefront of youth style, anchoring the brand to connotations of individuality and the suggestion that as previous youth cultural styles have illustrated, the Doc Martens wearer, refuses to accept the establishment and strive[s] to break new ground”¹⁸. However, as “the skinhead is too virulent a folk devil to be comfortably glamorized within the mainstream”¹⁹, it is unlikely that we will see the fashion style resurrected with an explicit connection to the skins subculture.

Works Cited

1. Abbots, J. (1994). True ‘Skinheads’ Are Not the Racist Thugs of Media Fame. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/1994
2. Sims, J. (2014). Being a skinhead was about sharing a sense of style. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/fa
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7. Arnold, R. (2001). Fashion, desire and anxiety: image and morality in the 20th century. IB Tauris.
8. Pollard, J. (2016). Skinhead culture: The ideologies, mythologies, religions and conspiracy theories of racist skinheads. Patterns of Prejudice, 50(4–5), 398–419. doi:10.1080/0031322X.2016.1243349
9. Wood, R. (1999). The indigenous, nonracist origins of the american skinhead subculture. Youth & Society, 31(2), 131–151. doi:10.1177/0044118X99031002001
10. Abbots, J. (1994). True ‘Skinheads’ Are Not the Racist Thugs of Media Fame. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/1994
11. Wood, R. (1999). The indigenous, nonracist origins of the american skinhead subculture. Youth & Society, 31(2), 131–151. doi:10.1177/0044118X99031002001
12. Borgeson, K., & Valeri, R. (2018). Skinhead history, identity, and culture. Routledge studies in crime and society, 35. New York, NY: Routledge.
13. Gallagher, B. (2018). An Abridged History of Dr. Martens. New York, NY: Grailed. Retrieved from: https://www.grailed.com/drycleanonly/dr-martens-history
14. Sims, J. (2011). Icons of men’s style. London: Laurence King Publishing.
15. Davies, C. (2016). Smells like teen spirit: Channelling subcultural traditions in contemporary dr martens branding. Journal of Consumer Culture, 16(1), 192–208. doi:10.1177/1469540514521079
16. Chia, R. C., & Holt, R. (2009). Strategy without design: The silent efficacy of indirect action. Cambridge University Press.
17. Blamires, C. (2006). World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1, 102. Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO.
18. Davies, C. (2016). Smells like teen spirit: Channelling subcultural traditions in contemporary dr martens branding. Journal of Consumer Culture, 16(1), 192–208. doi:10.1177/1469540514521079
19. Arnold, R. (2001). Fashion, desire and anxiety: image and morality in the 20th century. IB Tauris.