The colour we named the brand after, and the boots that started it all. Ask anyone what sits at the heart of skinhead clothing, and they'll tell you the same thing: the boots. Before the Ben Shermans, before the braces, before the Crombie went on for a night at the dance, it was a pair of heavy working boots that marked you out. And if those boots were oxblood, all the better. Boots built for work, worn with pride The original skinheads of late-sixties Britain didn't buy their look out of a catalogue. It came off the building sites and the dockyards: standard shirts, jeans, braces and heavy work boots, sharpened up in the evening with influences borrowed from the...
Mod clothing is the sharp, tailored British style born in late-1950s/early-1960s London: slim-cut Italian-influenced suits, button-down shirts, Fred Perry polos, parkas (the famous fishtail M-51), Sta-Prest trousers and clean leather shoes or desert boots. "Mod" comes from "modernist," and the look is all about neat, fashion-forward detail, the style that later gave rise to the skinhead subculture. What does a mod wear? The classic mod wardrobe: Suits: slim-fitting, often three-button, Italian-cut tailoring. Shirts: button-down Oxfords (Ben Sherman is the icon) and Fred Perry polos. Trousers: Sta-Prest and slim tailored trousers. Outerwear: the fishtail parka (worn over the suit to protect it on the scooter) and the Harrington jacket. Footwear: desert boots, loafers, bowling shoes and Chelsea boots. Finishing touches: target/roundel...
For a ska all-nighter, dress sharp but comfortable enough to skank all night: a Fred Perry polo or button-down shirt, Sta-Prest or slim trousers, a black-and-white two-tone check somewhere (tee, braces or a pork-pie hat), and well-worn loafers, brogues or Dr. Martens. Layer a Harrington jacket for the journey home. The look is rude-boy-meets-skinhead: clean, classic, and built to move. What do you wear to a ska or two-tone night? The ska all-nighter dress code blends rude-boy sharpness with skinhead practicality: Top: Fred Perry twin-tipped polo, a crisp button-down (Ben Sherman / Brutus), or a two-tone graphic tee. The check: work the black-and-white 2 Tone check in somewhere, braces, a tee, badges or a pork-pie hat. It's the signature of...
Traditional ("trad") skinhead clothing is the late-1960s British working-class look: a Ben Sherman or Fred Perry shirt, Levi's or Sta-Prest trousers, braces worn over the shoulders, and Dr. Martens boots or loafers, often finished with a Harrington or MA-1 bomber jacket. It's a sharper, harder descendant of mod style, born around 1969, and tied to a love of Jamaican reggae and ska. What do traditional skinheads wear? The core trad-skinhead wardrobe, top to bottom: Shirts: button-down Oxford shirts (Ben Sherman, Brutus, Relco) or Fred Perry twin-tipped polos, in plain colours, checks, gingham or stripes. Trousers/jeans: Levi's 501s (often turned up to show the boots) or Sta-Prest sta-press trousers. Braces: narrow braces (half-inch to one-inch) worn over the shoulders, originally a...
Skinhead, ska and two-tone are related but distinct: skinhead is a British youth subculture that began around 1969; ska is a Jamaican music genre (born late 1950s/early 1960s) that the scene danced to; and two-tone (2 Tone) is the late-1970s UK movement that fused ska with punk energy. Skinhead is a look and culture; ska and two-tone are music that shaped that look. What is skinhead style? Skinhead emerged among working-class youth in London around 1969, growing out of the "hard mod" scene as mod slowed after 1966. The look is a stripped-down, tougher version of mod: Ben Sherman or Fred Perry shirts, Levi's or Sta-Prest trousers, braces worn to show working-class pride, and Dr. Martens boots. Crucially, early skinhead...
