They've Done Us On The Wardrobe Front pt II: Phil Thornton "Casuals" (Milo Books)
A recommended read for those with a mild fashion obsession. By Alex Roest.
In order to do this review properly I had to re-read "Casuals" and I have to say it's better than I thought at first. Phil Thornton has contributed to music, clubbing and fashion magazines ( including The Face, Mixmag and the NME ) and with this effort he has produced the definitive book on Casual culture.
Fortunately the violence associated with the terrace trendies has been kept to a minimum within this book without shying away from it. It has to be said there *is* a very dark side to the Casual phenomenon that many adherents would rather like to forget about. Alas casualties ( sic ) are unavoidable when you decide to go about mob-handed believing you can get away with just about everything. No such luck I'm afraid.....
The link between football, music, clubbing, sharp dressing and sartorial one-upmanship is much more relevant to the lads who contributed to "Casuals". One of the weaker points of the book is that not every interviewee is equally capable of telling a good story though. What Phil does throughout his book is to summarise matters ( socially, politically, economically etc. ) up to a certain point in time ( and very accurately at that ) and then have several people comment on that. Works very well as the input is varied but as said not always up to standards.
One point of dispute has always been where the cult originated. It's safe to say the Scousers were first when we're talking wedge haircuts topping off sportswear, but nevertheless Manchester Perry Boys and London Chaps had their own take on what later became known as Casual. All of this is being discussed to great length with excerpts from The Face and The End. Peter Hooton, who is perhaps best known for singing in The Farm, was also one of the people who set up the latter. Without a doubt the most interesting contributor to "Casuals" and one of the most authorative commentators on the rise of the Liverpudlian Scallies who would document their progress via his influential fanzine.
It's interesting to read also about the reaction towards the excesses of dressing in expensive designer gear with a back to basics attitude. Perhaps some were over-reacting a bit with the studied scruffy look, but understandable all the same. Like with every youth/subculture there has been a lot of silliness going on, notably the mountaineering look and the preference for some dubious headgear. Experimenting clothes-wise will usually still result in adding a few classics to the Stylist wardrobe and the Casuals were no exception.
Their eclecticism sound-wise ( Hip Hop, House, Soul, Jazz Funk, Indie and what have you ) meant people would get involved in soundsystems, promoting, producing, re-mixing etc. Clubbers were influenced by terrace fashion and vice versa, Rave culture brought about another lull in smart dressing but such is life. You live and learn as they say.....
Furthermore passing by are the retro ( trainer ) boom, the commercialisation of the beautiful game, Britpop, new lads and Loaded magazine, Drum & Bass and the ongoing search for interesting new labels such as One True Saxon and A Bathing Ape.
Once again, The Look should always come before the label according to many a Casual. Attention to detail is what it's all about in their world and in the classic, yet modern style of dressing they've chosen. Now where have I heard that one before ?
All in all a great read for those with a mild clothing obsession like myself. There are some nice accompanying pictures included as well and for those interested in some more visuals check out "A Casual Look" by Lorne Brown and Nick Harvey.
[Published 7 August 2005]
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They've Done Us On The Wardrobe Front
There's a plethora of books on terrace culture. Alex Roest has spent a lot of time reading and came back with the following recommendations.
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| themusicologist | feb 17 2009 9:02PM |
| http://themusicologist.wordpress.com | |
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| When all's said and done for me, (born in 1968) the 'Casual' was the true 'son of mod' both my mum and dad were first generation South London mod/ernists (1962-1966) and sure as the sun shines we, (their kids), grew up with the attention to detail, music and street attitude that defined 'mod' so as soon as we were old enough, (around 1980), we, (as a generation) continued the modernist legacy of our heritage and not only subverted 'traditional' clothing but also searched out the new..trainers and technical performance garms being the best example. It didn't originate in the 'Black' or 'White' 'North' or 'South' communities it was a mixture of essentially working class cultures, (as it was with the first wave of 'Mod'), and values that is a part of each 'movement' that originated on the 'streets' wherever they were located. | |
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| stewart | okt 27 2006 4:33PM |
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| For me the book summed up a nice era in my life! I progressed from Mod to Casual and I have to say a lot of the style and one up manship when it came down to details was as scrutinising as the early 80s mod era. Finish by saying I got back to my roots but now find style wise I am a mix of both but would say I'm a Modernist. | |
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| Alex Roest | maj 30 2006 9:04AM |
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| I hear rose tinted specs are all the rage now among the older Casual crowd....;-) Incidentally my very latest purchases are a red Berghaus cagoule, a turquoise 3 button Penguin polo and a tobacco, military style jacket from Paul Smith.... Moddy Casual or Casually Mod, it's all a matter of balancing where you're going and where you're at really i.e. timeless cool.....I do love my togs..... | |
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| jim d | maj 27 2006 5:27PM |
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| as it's been said before it's all to easy now days . in the early eighties, there was less gear about but everyone seemed to be unique.today more clobber but they seem to dress the same. | |
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| Kitty Compton | apr 18 2006 3:38PM |
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| Hi Alex, long time no hear eh! Interesting to see Casuals get a mention..this movement took over my secondary school like the plague! I never thought it would ever have a book written about it all these years later lol! I'm afraid to say I had a wedge haircut but then I was 12 so that's my excuse! | |
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| rav | mar 22 2006 5:42PM |
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| just wanted to let those stylish boys know that stuarts is still going strong in the bush....and it still stocks brands like , Lacoste, hilfiger denim, timberland, penguin, polo ralph....trust they opened a new part to the shop next door...selling all the lastest branded footwear and trainers...go check them out....... | |
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| bomber | nov 7 2005 7:21PM |
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| A good read , but from a northern point of view. The first Casuals that I knew were black guys from the Grove and The Bush. White kids copied the look , and it was as early as 78. The London look was more continental dress wear than sports wear in the early stages. In fact a lot of Soulboys adopted the look for football too.[well before the emergence of a label for CASUALS] Trench coat macs, crocs, turtle neck gabbichi. all adorned in the first days. Krantz at Hammersmith and Hounslow was a great place to shop, also Cecil Gee . For a more dressed look. Sports wear like Lacoste was nothing new ,the Soulboys , had had that look in 74.[polos & v-necks] And the wedge haircuts. All the stories about scousers /scallies having to trek to euro games to pinch the stuff , I found comical , it was all right here under there noses if they knew where to shop. Stuarts and nik-naks at Shepherds Bush was where you,d stock up for posing in Wine Bars, doted around London town often fuelled with a smattering of cool jazz funk and Soul, and of course the very under-estimated LOVERS-ROCK. [ it was the 80,s] By the time the younger crowd adopted the sports-wear craze for dressing, the Soul crowd had moved on, to clubs like the Beatroute and Dirt Box . And Casually dressing in French denims by C17, and u.s Chevigon. The look became much more raw and industrial. The haircuts zipped up and greased. As much as I liked the Casual scene , I think it lost its way a bit, Admittingly like the original mods it was usually the older guys who dressed the best in the later stages, getting away from the sports wear and dressing again in more expensive designs from the better fashion houses . As for football Casual dressers [ I,m biest of course] the best dressed for the South was QPR [C-MOB] and up north I think Leeds Utd always looked very well turned out. bomb. | |
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| Alex Roest | aug 26 2005 11:16AM |
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| Hi Phil, My pleasure mate and cheers for your comments. I'll get back to you privately on some of the things you mentioned....... Incidentally, I checked the book on Pompey ( forgot title ) in this shop and although I don't expect to actually go and buy or read it I couldn't help but notice their Skinhead firm looking well cool on the terraces early 70s. I liked their Casual style as well, some good pics of that too as I recall. All the best, Alex. | |
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| Phil T | aug 26 2005 7:49AM |
| http://www.swinemagazine.co.uk | |
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| cheers for the review - i realised as i was writing it that it wasn't going to be perfect as most of the contributers were around the same age (mid-late 30s) but tried to do as well as i could in the short timescale - one confusing matter was that most scousers were deffo mods during the whole 2tone/quadrophenia boom of 79/80 which was a few years after the first scallies so there was a bit of mixing and matching although by 1980/81 to be a mod was very passe - personally i loved the mod stuff even though i wasn't one myself and wanted casuals to be similar in scope and presentation to terry rawlings superb book - however even though i had lots of archive material and photos, the publisher wanted a different narrative book and obviously it's expensive to go for the coffeee table look - i tried to give everyone their own say and obviously this resulted in a lot of duplication but what can you do? i could've edited it down a lot more but missed out ona lot of detail that i found fascinating - pompey and nottingham are as interesting as london and liverpool. anyway cheers again. Phil | |
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| Alex Roest | aug 25 2005 5:11AM |
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| Thanks Baz ! Of course these books are always written in a kind of "Utopia" style. In reality things have never been that perfect and never will be either, it's the striving bit that matters though.... So I'd say it's important to let people know about a certain sartorial concept. I for one love the obvious passion that goes with it and I'm sure that there'll be a continuing influence taken from books like "Casuals", or "Mods" for that matter. They should still be read to the spirit rather than the letter IMO. I'm convinced there will always be those sussed enough to recognise the importance of self belief expressed through clothing. There are so many interesting ways of achieving just that, complimenting your personality.... A bit like a religion indeed without all the nasty stuff, if you manage to balance the very importance of style that is...... | |
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| Bazden | aug 24 2005 9:19PM |
| http://www.pippip.net | |
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| Nice review Alex Persoanlly love the eccentric obsession of that period. Loads of my mates were so OTT with the ‘golfing look’ and they spent bundles on well made specialist clothes Kids today seemed to have overlooked the attention to detail and self pride Maybe the new underclass are too thick to even notice or understand If thats the case, these books are lost codes to a bygone era | |
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