"This is a love letter to the wayward creativity that has fired generations of British youth tribes - all those Mods, suedeheads, peanuts, punks, Teds and bomb-site dandies who dressed as though they owned the world. Nobody has written this incisively about kids dressing up since Tom Wolfe, nobody has written this lyrically about youth tribal lore since Colin MacInnes, and nobody has ever written a book this good about why all those long-gone Little Caesars had the desperate craving to look gorgeous. Robert Elms has written the "Fever Pitch" of urban street fashion - his book really is as obsessive, and as beautiful, and as brilliant, as that. A wonderful book that should be read by everyone who believes that clothes are tools for living." - Tony Parsons. "This is not only the youth cult confessional to end them all , but also a comprehensive summary of everything that's happened to men's clothes in Britain over the last 30 years. If you grew up in the Seventies or Eighties, if you ever spent more on a pair of trousers than you needed to, if you ever got beaten up for having the wrong haircut, then this is the book for you. Funny accurate and touching." - Dylan Jones, Editor "GQ".
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
One day in 1965 the five-year old Robert Elms fell in love with clothes. His brother had just returned to the family’s Burnt Oak home in a new suit he’d picked up from his North London tailor. Otis Redding was laying in the front room. This, Elms realized, was what you grew up for.
This is the story of a life’s obsession. From ben Sherman shirts to boxtop loafers, from bondage trousers to Comme des Gacons, Elms has been there, bought it and worn it. It’s about why you’d rather not go out at all than go out in the wrong sort of brogues, and why you just had to have a Budgie Jacket to cut it in the plaground in 1970. It is also touching, passionate social history of London street fashion; a fond memoir of working-class lads in tumultuous times and leary schmutter.
‘Think of this terrific book as The Rotter’s Club of schmutter and you won’t be too wide of the mark’ - Daily Mail
‘Incisive, obsessive, confessional and quite brilliant’ - Observer
‘provocative, charming and fiercely proud’ - Daily Telegraph
‘insightful and passionate... as stylish and witty as the finery it obsesse over’ - The Independent On Sunday
‘highly entertaining... a must read for anyone interested in fashion’ - Sunday Express
‘Elms’s opintionated stances are half the fun of this book’ - Sunday Times
‘taps into an energy that helped shape post-war Britain’ - Mail On Sunday
‘a hymn to the burning desire of young men to look right and look smart’ - Evening Standard
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.About the Author
Robert Elms is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author. He writes regularly for the national press and hosts a daily afternoon show on BBC London. His previous books include Spain: A Portrait After the General. He lives in Camden.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clothes Maketh the Man,
By
This review is from: Way We Wore (Hardcover)
This is a very well-written and perceptive memoir-cum-social history of the role of clothes in shaping the culture of English working and lower middle class youth from the early 1960s to the end of the 1980s. Anyone who is, say, under 63, and fits the above social criteria, will find lots to smile about and feel nostalgic for in the very easy to turn pages of this book. But they will find stimulating analysis too, such as how this culture was a response to a 'dysfunctional' society and an attempt to overcome its limitations. Fortunately, the analysis is light touch and no more than suggestive. For this book is above all else a celebration of the sartorial creativity of lower class English youth and its uniqueness
in what future historians will surely see as its golden period. As a moderately Modish man of 1963 vintage - the year I went up to University - I loved it. Jeff Gleisner, Leeds, England
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Like back in the day,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Way We Wore (Paperback)
Nice history of Robert Elms' life as a slave to fashion. Reminded me of some of my late 80s teen years in the S.F. Bay Area.
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