Surfers Soulies Skinheads and Skaters: Subcultural Style from the Forties to the Nineties [Hardcover]

Amy de la Haye (Author), Cathie Dingwall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996

Collected here is an audacious panorama of street style--clothes worn by real people--from beatnik to hippie to cyberpunk, and its influence on high fashion. All the hottest trends start on the street and are then cleaned up for the mass market. Surfers, Soulies, Skinheads and Skaters goes back to the source, charting the cycle of street style of the decades.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This colorful exhibition catalog was produced to accompany a controversial streetstyle exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1994 and was written by that museum's curators of textiles and dress. The exhibit and this book attempt to codify British subcultural dress by dividing it into 50 categories spanning 50 years since World War II. Careful attention is given to the provenance of each garment and to overall look. Readers will be interested to see how styles that mainstream designers have adapted originated as statements of youthful rebellion. Unfortunately, the details are sometimes lost in the often small or dimly lit photographs, and British terminology may be confusing. Still, the text and captions are well written and amply detailed, and the book can be recommended as a fine example of creative design: layouts and type fonts were selected to typify and evoke each subculture. Overall, as a document of costume history and popular culture, this title belongs in every serious decorative arts collection.?Therese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The look of this volume is as eye-poppingly witty as the clothes that inspired it. Photographer Danny McGrath and book designer johnson banks. deserve as much credit as the authors in the bold, dynamic use of typefaces and other graphic elements to illustrate postwar fashion trends, from zoot suit to techno, mod to rave. De la Haye and Dingwall, curators of textiles and dress at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, propose the theory that fashion today originates not in the couture houses but on the streets, where ever-resourceful youths try to differentiate themselves from the adult masses, and their inventions then percolate up into the highest levels of fashion. Colorful and witty; only the authors' dry though informative text lacks style. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1st US edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879516895
• ISBN-13: 978-0879516895
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,429,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a fun book, October 7, 2009

By 

Bookareok (Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Surfers Soulies Skinheads and Skaters: Subcultural Style from the Forties to the Nineties (Hardcover)

The photographs and layout of this book are terrible. The photos are tiny, many are too dark to see, and all are of clothes on mannequins. The layouts are done in the "style" of the time but unfortunately many are illegible. It might have been my fault for not realizing that this is a catalog for an exhibition, but at least they could have lighted the space or thought about backdrops for the photo shoot.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fashion Book For Rest Of Us, April 29, 1999

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Surfers Soulies Skinheads and Skaters: Subcultural Style from the Forties to the Nineties (Hardcover)

This beautifully produced coffee-table book arose from a fashion exhibit held by the Victoria & Albert Museum in the early 1990s. I can't say enough about the layout, photography, and amazing color throughout the book. While the exhibit curators obviously labored mightily to put the exhibit together, the book manages to catalog it all in an enthralling way. A bit expensive for people like me, but you should definitely find a copy to browse through if nothing else.