Mod to Suedehead

[Salem Saberhagen]

What is an origin of the feathercut hairstyle? Was it invented by Roger of Vidal Sassoon in 69' then adopted by loads of girls due to the fashion? Does anybody knows anything more about it? Who was the influence for the skinhead girls? I read about Julie Driscoll and Maudie James, but I am curious what was before? I tried to found the answer on previous pages on the forum but failed.

 

[Reggae Mike]

What is an origin of the feathercut hairstyle? Was it invented by Roger of Vidal Sassoon in 69' then adopted by loads of girls due to the fashion? Does anybody knows anything more about it? Who was the influence for the skinhead girls? I read about Julie Driscoll and Maudie James, but I am curious what was before? I tried to found the answer on previous pages on the forum but failed.
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Nother great question, mate! Great detection on the Cherry Reds make. I always had it in my head they were Docs.

 

[covskin]

What is an origin of the feathercut hairstyle? Was it invented by Roger of Vidal Sassoon in 69' then adopted by loads of girls due to the fashion? Does anybody knows anything more about it? Who was the influence for the skinhead girls? I read about Julie Driscoll and Maudie James, but I am curious what was before?

Also Twiggy, probably the biggest female fashion influence in the UK at the time

But look at Jean Seberg in A Bout de Souffle (1960). It's pretty much there years before.

 

[Salem Saberhagen]

Also Twiggy, probably the biggest female fashion influence in the UK at the time

But look at Jean Seberg in A Bout de Souffle (1960). It's pretty much there years before.

"[...]The girls hair ranged from long (often tied in a bun, sometimes with a little at the sides left to hang long in front of the ears) through collar length, combed or gripped back off the forehead as worn by Julie Hilton. The popular ‘skinhead’ style was however the feather cut, short on top and front, longer (‘feathered’) at the sides and back. The most extreme version of this style I ever saw was on a Royton girl, Carole Race, whose hair was feathered at the back and sides but on top was a number 2 or 3! . There used to be a photo on the wall of Royton Youth Club of the Morris Dancing Team, all the girls lined up in their outfits and pom poms, most sporting skinhead haircuts!"

Fragment from the Skinheads, Smoothies and Boot Boys.' by Roytonboy

I read somewhere (probably in the Booted and Suited by Chris Brown I currently read)that during the suedehead/smooth phase girls tended to grow their hairs as the boys did.

British actress and model Susannah York sporting feathercut hairstyle, 1971

So in general the most famous hairstyle adopted by skinhead girls was feather cut and it was just a coincidence, a fad that stuck until now? That' s a shame that most of the skinhead girls adopted chelsea cut now, more 'punkish' of the two. I think that original longer variation looks better.

 

[covskin]

The popular ‘skinhead’ style was however the feather cut, short on top and front, longer (‘feathered’) at the sides and back.

So in general the most famous hairstyle adopted by skinhead girls was feather cut and it was just a coincidence, a fad that stuck until now? That' s a shame that most of the skinhead girls adopted chelsea cut now, more 'punkish' of the two.

Feathered is a hairdressing technique where the hair over the forehead, sides and neck is feathered, meaning lengthways thinned and lightened, with a razor blade.

The short cropped skinhead girl haircut in my time was still called 'feathers' as that was the technique that was used.

The chelsea name I'd never heard of until the internet came along and I don't see any dichotomy between skinhead girl hairstyles, just a continuum of degrees of shortness, same as with the blokes.

 

[Salem Saberhagen]

Feathered is a hairdressing technique where the hair over the forehead and neck is feathered, meaning lengthways thinned and lightened, with a razor blade.

The short cropped skinhead girl haircut in my time was still called 'feathers' as that was the technique that was used.

The chelsea name I'd never heard of until the internet came along and I don't see any dichotomy between skinhead girl hairstyles, just a continuum of degrees of shortness, same as with the blokes.

Thanks for the more specific information.

 

[Salem Saberhagen]

I have just saw this post and am curious how to get the 'S' collar look. I saw it before but thought it is up to the shirt itself, it seems that the buttons are sewn a bit higher to get such effect. Hmmm it could be done by changing places of the buttons or by an ironing the collar in different way, did you do such thing?

Posted by a.sense.of.style (instagram profile).

 

[Reggae Mike]

I have just saw this post and am curious how to get the 'S' collar look. I saw it before but thought it is up to the shirt itself, it seems that the buttons are sewn a bit higher to get such effect. Hmmm it could be done by changing places of the buttons or by an ironing the collar in different way, did you do such thing?

Posted by a.sense.of.style (instagram profile).

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From my experience, the older Ivy League shirtmakers had their collars made like that.

 

[Botolph]

From my experience, the older Ivy League shirtmakers had their collars made like that.

Also the high collar and high button stance will exaggerate the effect.

@Salem Saberhagen also many of the old shirt makers would forego lining or fusing in the collars, thus making them more pliable, less-stiff, and more comfortable. As a result, when the top button was left open it let the “S” shape fall into place more easily. This sort of thing wasn’t really obsessed about until the dawn of internet fora. The collar’s “S” or bell shape occurred naturally because everybody either 1.knew that you don’t do up the top button on a buttondown shirt without a tie or 2.their Dads of older brothers clapped them ‘round the ear for doing up the top button and looking like a whopper.

 

[Thin White Duke]

Also the high collar and high button stance will exaggerate the effect.

@Salem Saberhagen also many of the old shirt makers would forego lining or fusing in the collars, thus making them more pliable, less-stiff, and more comfortable. As a result, when the top button was left open it let the “S” shape fall into place more easily. This sort of thing wasn’t really obsessed about until the dawn of internet fora. The collar’s “S” or bell shape occurred naturally because everybody either 1.knew that you don’t do up the top button on a buttondown shirt without a tie or 2.their Dads of older brothers clapped them ‘round the ear for doing up the top button and looking like a whopper.

Good post. So glad you mentioned this bit in bold.

During the revival era a lot of us wore BD shirts - Ben Shermans or similar knock offs that could be had easily in the brief period when high street clothes shops jumped on the Mod bandwagon. We wore them with ties and didn’t give a flying fart about collar rolls.
When I came to America I came to dislike the roll - I have a movie book by Roger Ebert with his picture on the front looking typically schlubby with an OCBD, loosely tied tie and tweed jacket that typified the look I was NOT going for. I stopped wearing BDs all together.

After joining this forum I learned more about Ivy style and that pic of Ebert sorta fitted the casual-formal theme that underscores Ivy style. I don’t want to come off as a whiner but I do get slightly bugged that Ivy Style remains so revered on this board while Mod style is largely overlooked, despite there being plenty of overlap between the two genres. Probably a function of the American-centric board.
I do own a handful of BDs now. I admit I like the look of the shirt posted above - more the blue / green check than anything, but I dislike pockets, back collar buttons, locker loops and open box pleats and really could not care less about collar roll - all aspects that SF lore seems to demand that we obsess over.

 

[Botolph]

Good post. So glad you mentioned this bit in bold.

During the revival era a lot of us wore BD shirts - Ben Shermans or similar knock offs that could be had easily in the brief period when high street clothes shops jumped on the Mod bandwagon. We wore them with ties and didn’t give a flying fart about collar rolls.
When I came to America I came to dislike the roll - I have a movie book by Roger Ebert with his picture on the front looking typically schlubby with an OCBD, loosely tied tie and tweed jacket that typified the look I was NOT going for. I stopped wearing BDs all together.

After joining this forum I learned more about Ivy style and that pic of Ebert sorta fitted the casual-formal theme that underscores Ivy style. I don’t want to come off as a whiner but I do get slightly bugged that Ivy Style remains so revered on this board while Mod style is largely overlooked, despite there being plenty of overlap between the two genres. Probably a function of the American-centric board.
I do own a handful of BDs now. I admit I like the look of the shirt posted above - more the blue / green check than anything, but I dislike pockets, back collar buttons, locker loops and open box pleats and really could not care less about collar roll - all aspects that SF lore seems to demand that we obsess over.

Likewise. I disagree on those little details: locker loop, etc., but come from the skinhead background where all those bits mattered. These days, I’ll wear whatever sort of shirt I want, but once in a while I’ll go for a Gregory Farmer(period perfect skinhead shirts) or Mikkel Rude if I’m feeling it. Typically these days for me though, it *is* the stereotypical American style buttondown. They strike, for me, a happy medium between Hoxton Tom McCourt and Hank Mobley… this I dig of them.

 

[Thin White Duke]

I think how I circled back to getting a few BDs was cos previously I used to wear polo shirts under suit jackets - back in my clubbing days or for business travel - it took a long time for me to accept that the way a polo shirt sinks under the collar of a jacket is not a good look. For outfits where a tie would be too formal a BD shirt looks better under a jacket and strikes the right balance between not sinking under the jacket collar the way a polo shirt does, and not having the collar collapse the way George Clooney’s shirts always seem to do!

Rod’s Togs – The Open Neck Shirt

Style is constantly evolving. The pace can vary from ‘fast fashion’ – items that are made to last one season – to the ponderous adjustments of classic menswear that can show small chang…

rodsmodblog.wordpress.com

I recently got a blue gingham half sleeve BD shirt that’s a clear rip off of the classic Ben Sherman. Now that the temps have cooled here I intend to dust it off for a bit of a suede look with navy blazer and sta pressts. Watch this space!😁

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

New podcast. Tribute to Quincy Jones.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

What is an origin of the feathercut hairstyle?

To be frank with you, I've never seen a (professional) photo that shows the original skinhead girl's hairstyle properly, which is probably why later skinhead girls got it so wrong when they relied on word-of-mouth - I can't stand their exaggerated scalped look with the long fringe, it looks botched and butchered and isn't one-tenth as cute as the originals. In South East London the girls' style was always known as a "centre crop." the top was fairly short (but never scalped) and the sides and back were graded and layered. The fringe at the front was graded too, so it made an arch over the girl's forehead.

As to who "invented" it, well, here's the thing... I always got the impression that it came from the grass roots. It may well have been inspired by a particular Vidal Sassoon style, but I never saw the centre crop in any stylist's windows in the late 60s. Yet girls would go in to a salon, ask for a style, and come out looking just right.

I really, really wish I had the snaps of my ex June from 69. We did a row of them in a 'Photo-Me' machine when she had a new centre crop, but those photos have been missing for decades. Pity - she was as cute as a skipload of teddy bears! There are a handful of Photo-Me shots of skinhead girls doing the rounds that give a general idea. But as I said, I think it was a grass root style, not a professional invention.

By the way, in London certainly it did not appear to have been a long-lived style. It was current in 69 and for a while in 70. Usually when the crop grew out, girls would brush their hair back from the forehead; often, if the girl was getting to be towards her late teens, she would just let it grow from then. Only some younger girls kept the style. But by 1971 we had all adopted an arty style of dress, and the centre crop had disappeared along with everything else.

 

[Salem Saberhagen]

To be frank with you, I've never seen a (professional) photo that shows the original skinhead girl's hairstyle properly, which is probably why later skinhead girls got it so wrong when they relied on word-of-mouth - I can't stand their exaggerated scalped look with the long fringe, it looks botched and butchered and isn't one-tenth as cute as the originals. In South East London the girls' style was always known as a "centre crop." the top was fairly short (but never scalped) and the sides and back were graded and layered. The fringe at the front was graded too, so it made an arch over the girl's forehead.

As to who "invented" it, well, here's the thing... I always got the impression that it came from the grass roots. It may well have been inspired by a particular Vidal Sassoon style, but I never saw the centre crop in any stylist's windows in the late 60s. Yet girls would go in to a salon, ask for a style, and come out looking just right.

I really, really wish I had the snaps of my ex June from 69. We did a row of them in a 'Photo-Me' machine when she had a new centre crop, but those photos have been missing for decades. Pity - she was as cute as a skipload of teddy bears! There are a handful of Photo-Me shots of skinhead girls doing the rounds that give a general idea. But as I said, I think it was a grass root style, not a professional invention.

By the way, in London certainly it did not appear to have been a long-lived style. It was current in 69 and for a while in 70. Usually when the crop grew out, girls would brush their hair back from the forehead; often, if the girl was getting to be towards her late teens, she would just let it grow from then. Only some younger girls kept the style. But by 1971 we had all adopted an arty style of dress, and the centre crop had disappeared along with everything else.

That's interesting, thanks a lot.
Found two photos one day, from the photo machine you mentioned, I have no ide what year it could be, but the girl looks sweet.