Teddy Girls

[anotheranon]

Grabbed from vintagemakeup: Bombsite Boudiccas: Ken Russell's 1955 Photo Essay on London's Teddy Girls.

Some of these girls have very "butch" ducktail haircuts and are wearing pants - don't know about Britian but according to my mom and others of her generation, girls wearing pants "in the street" (i.e., not at the beach or at home) simply wasn't done in 1955, so these styles may have been rather extreme for the time.

More on "Teds" here and here.

Comments

[flummoxicated.livejournal.com]

Those photos, those clothes, that look are amazing! Thanks for posting this link, I have something new to research.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Glad to oblige. I love that icon!!

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

From what I know about Teds, their girls were actually called "Judys". My mom wore jeans or peddle pushers etc. "in the street" all the time in the 50s. Not something you'd do for work, obviously, but for casual wear, it was fine.

Of course, Ted culture was pretty extreme in the UK no matter what. They were the British equivalents of greasers, really.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Where was your mom located? My mom was a teenager in NC during the 1950s. Perhaps they were more old fashioned where she was than where your mom was.

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

New York City. Born and bred. So yeah, I think it was much more common to wear pants in casual situations. Also, from my own fashion knowledge (esp. fashion dolls from the period) cigarette pants were in vogue too.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Lessee....NYC vs. rural NC, where they didn't even have a phone until Mom was 14 or so - I'd say she probably didn't even KNOW about cigarette pants (she never even had a poodle skirt, but she did have a massive crinny)!

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

LOL My mom never wore a poodle skirt, she wasn't really big on that look. I think she was more into slim skirts and sheath dresses. Partially because she graduated high school when she was 16 and immediately went to work full time during the day and then night school at night. So she didn't have a lot of time to be a teenager.

[plaidsheep.livejournal.com]

wow!! more reason to love Ken Russell.. those are some wonderful photographs.

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Splendiforous photos! Thanks!