Sunday, September 12, 2010

what i wore today: homage to teddy girls


consider this an homage to a jacket, to a season, and to a stylish group of badass ladies known as the teddy girls.

after a week of intense heat at the very end of august (very unusual and quite historic for québec city) we have finally been blessed with a cool autumn breeze in the air. as much as i love summer, i must say sartorially fall has always been my favourite. it's so much fun to play with colours, layers, textures... ah, tweed, plaid, how i missed thee.

today was one of those lovely early fall days, and so i dug deep in my closet to fully enjoy the autumn air while i ran some errands. here's what i came up with.

.the outfit.


1
(i feel like i look a wee bit... stoned in this photo)

details
it's moments like these where i love volunteering in a thrift store; that saddle bag and pair of high waisted pants are my rewards.

may i interest you in a book? may i interest you in a book?



.the jacket.

jules

jacket
the shoulders! they are just the perfect cut for me.

jules closeup
and even the namesake is perfection; jules was a nickname of mine when i was younger.

this is potentially one of the best items in my closet; it can make a dress more casual, a short and pants outfit fancier, and fits me perfectly. i used to think the sleeves were too short but now i understand. when i found it years ago, i really did not appreciate the treasure i had found. i think i paid $2 for it in a thrift store in trenton, or was it peterborough? by any means, it didn't really suit my style back in 2004, but now that i am a bit older and a little less afraid of looking "serious", every fall i look forward to pulling it out and pairing it with new things. the combinations are really endless. here are two ways i wore it back in the fall of 2008.

Photobucket

Photobucket


.the inspiration.

teddy girls:


Teddy Girl, 1955. by Ken Russell






all photos by filmmaker and photographer Ken Russell

how can you see these photos and NOT want to look exactly like them? they have so much attitude, yet at the same time so much joy. i especially love how in the first and last photos, the boys are almost jealous of all the attention the teddy girls are getting, as if they wish they could be in their "club." sorry boys.

here is part of the essay that accompanied the publication of these images in picture post magazine:
These photos were taken in January 1955 in Walthamstow, Poplar and North Kensington: solidly working class areas of London. The girls photographed embody three of the great issues of the time; class, gender and youth. They are rejecting the drab costumes of class conformity and post-war austerity. They are pioneers for women looking beyond home for a place to be valued. They are young girls blazing a trail that will be followed by youth cultures for decades to come. But somehow Teddy Girls as a group remain historically almost invisible.
how great is that! pretty amazing if you ask me. i wish i could have known some of those teddy girls... hell, maybe some one you brits might have had a relative who was a teddy girl! ask around.

clearly i am not the only person to have ever been inspired by the style of these ferocious femmes. back in 2006, bust magazine had a teddy girls themed photoshoot that i enjoyed so much i scanned to share with friends. here are two:





now if only i could get someone to do my hair, the look would be complete.

12 comments:

Andi B. Goode said...

I very rarely like the teddy girl inspired photoshoots I see (because they all seem to be aimed at girls who have money when the teddy girls were so amazing because they were working class girls who constructed their own style - they didn't buy it from a magazine) but I really like that one from Bust! It actually captures the feel of the teddy girls properly and doesn't just have a bunch of girls with pompadours in rolled up jeans.
Also, I love your outfit. Especially the breeches!
-Andi x

Jenni said...

This is the best jacket ever! I love the different ways you've styled it. You can definitely see the inspiration.

Q's Daydream said...

This is simply amazing! I adore!!!! :o)

julia aka garconniere said...

andi: you raise a really amazing point! unfortunately it is one that comes up often in fashion and photoshoots; just think about how often "punk" and "hobo chic" have been packaged and sold to the masses in capitalist ways, when the people who created the style are defined by their class and LACK of money/interest in capitalist defined style.

you should totally write a little article about that one day, how the teddy girls fall into that category... i'm sure you're much more knowledgeable in the field of teddy girls than i.

and in a sense, that makes me feel like my outfit was even more of an homage to teddy girls; everything is thrifted or scrounged up. the only thing new in that entire outfit are the shoes, which were a gift from simon. not to mention, i'm as "working class" as they come.

jenni: thanks! i'm glad you like it.

q: you're making me blush!

Anonymous said...

Such a perfect outfit! I've tried to do a Teddy Girl-inspired look but it always comes off as bulky on me, I guess I'm not cool enough to pull it off! I think I need to find a perfect-fitting blazer like yours.

Also, have you seen The Devils?? Ken Russell is a god for it alone.

-Hannah

jesse.anne.o said...

I really like this and I hope to be able to pull off something similar. This jacket has a great shape and looks great every way you've worn it.

And I really like Andi's point, also.

Andi B. Goode said...

Thanks, Julia. I actually did write a little bit about them last month ;]. But didn't make too much of that point - here - I kind of mentioned it in passing but didn't word it well enough, I think.
Also, the only things I know about the teddy girls are from the articles I linked to in that post. There isn't a lot out there about them. =[

Anonymous said...

you look absoloutly amazing and this article was so informative. Loved learning about my new favorite ladies, the teddy girls!

Anonymous said...

who called you jules!?

Catherine Shu said...

I had an awesome black suede jacket that looked like it was cut for me. It was vaguely Edwardian and every time I put it on, I felt like I was in "Wings of the Dove." I wish I had a jacket as awesome as yours... and I love your Teddy Girls reference (in high school I wanted very much a pair of crepe-soled creepers).
the renegade bean

Anonymous said...

Yes, I love this outfit; jacket is marvelous, and it all suits you perfect! Thanks also on the background on Teddy girls, really enjoyed it! Wishing you a lovely Teddy-week!

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