I caught a programme on TV this week called British Style Genius which was covering a range of fashion styles that have sprung from these British shores. I was particularly interested in the fashions of the 60's because that was my era.
I had gone through the trauma of being taken to Burton's the Tailor near Tottenham Court Road in London for my first suit. I ended up at the tender age of about 12 wearing a dark blue, double breasted pin stripe suit that made me look exactly like my own grandfather. I hated this suit with a vengeance as I had already been forced to wear some sort of ginger coloured tweed suit that was rather like the uniform worn by the Park Keepers in London during up to the late 60's. I have a photo of me standing or should I say, cringing in it while posing in our back garden. I remember the humiliation of having to wear these suits in public praying that I would not meet anyone from school. However, that made no difference really as most other kids who had never seen my in their lives before still almost stopped dead in their tracks when they spotted me be led down the street in the shadow of my grandfather. At this time in his life he had adopted a strange sort of fashion style of his own, a light grey double breasted suit with a brown felt trilby and brown suede chucker boots. To this day I have not the slightest idea why he chose to dress like one of those "wide boys" that used to appear in films about war time Britain flogging silk stockings and ration coupons. Anyway, once I got my hands on the princely sum of £22 or about £840 in today's money I sped off with my grandmother (who clearly had an eye for fashion in young men) to Soho!! I will get to the point soon so just bear with me....(the windfall was from a small book of War Bonds that had been saved up just for me!!)
There was a small tailors shop in Brewer Street just across the road from the infamous Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill street where I was given the task of selecting some proper clothes to go away in when I joined the army towards the end of 1961.
Well, I purchased a rather nice V neck sweater, a shirt and tie and some shoes plus a mid blue suit - MADE TO MEASURE! It had all the style I could want for the era complete with an electric blue lining, single breasted with three buttons and a single vent. I served me well through the entire 1960's until in Cyprus I bought my first mohair suit for £16 made to measure - £420 NOW!!! Impossible? Well I was only earning £9 a week so it was nearly two weeks pay - a made to measure suit now would probably cost more than two weeks pay!
Imagine my shock then when I took stock of my present wardrobe of suits (I have stopped wearing them now I am not at work) only to discover that the one I wore most recently at work is the exact copy almost to my first real suit purchased from that tailor in Soho in 1961!! This time it was from M&S .....
Watching the TV programme was very enlightening and its not until now that I realise I was a "Mod" !!! So out comes the suit on the 9th for Remembrance Sunday in London, my shoes polished to a gleaming shine as I join the veterans for the annual service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph... watch for me on TV .. I will be the one in the 1960's suit!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment