Teddy boy
Teddy Boys , Teds , or also known as Cosh Boys , are originally a youth protest movement that first developed in England in the early 1950s . What was new about the teddy boy movement was that it deliberately did not place itself under society as a subculture , but instead branded the established middle class as the proletarian through elegant clothing and an affected-looking elegant gesture . The Teds protest was mostly socially oriented with no political intention.
Fashion and leisure behavior as a form of protest
Teddy Boys attracted attention mainly through their clothes. The typical Ted wore almost knee-length suit jackets, the so-called drapes , with wide lapels and contrasting applications. There were also tight trousers ( drainpipe trousers ) and shoes with high crepe soles ( creepers ). This ensemble was rounded off by the obligatory Elvis great , and often complemented with long key chains and strikingly patterned suit vests.
The drapes gave the Teds their name because these long jackets were originally popular in Europe under the British King Edward VII (reign from 1901 to 1910) - Teddy is the nickname for "Edward". The Teds were therefore also called "Edwardians" at the beginning. In addition to the demarcation through their own fashion style, the Teds showed their protest primarily through their music, rock 'n' roll . In addition, there were riots and mass brawls following rock 'n' roll concerts or films, which the established society even strengthened in its rejection.
Teddy girls
The Teddy Girls, also called Judies, wore an androgynous style of clothing with rolled up jeans, drapes or coats, flat shoes like espadrilles, as well as clutches and scarves .
Teds from the 1980s to the present day
After the Teds were slowly replaced by other subcultures in the 1960s, they awoke to new life in the early 1980s. Three bands played a major role in this revival: the British teddy boy bands Crazy Cavan , Matchbox around singer Graham Fenton and the American rockabilly band Stray Cats .
In Germany at the beginning of the 1980s there were still many clashes between Teds and other youth cultures in large cities. In Hamburg, for example, the Teds were considered to be enemies with the punks , fights and regular gang wars were not unusual. In the provinces things looked different: the subcultures were dependent on each other in the face of hostility from bourgeois society. Groups of punks and teds formed here, who then influenced each other in fashion and music.
literature
- Jon Savage: England's Dreaming. Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock Berlin 2003
- Wolf Uwek: Teddy Boy - A Roman Bäßler 1995 ISBN 3-930388-07-3
- Ferris, Ray and Lord, Julian: Teddy Boys: A Concise History Milo Books 2012 ISBN 978-1908479181
- Macilwee, Michael: The Teddy Boy Wars: The Youth Cult that Shocked Britain Milo Books 2015 978-1908479860
Individual evidence
- ↑ Teddy Girls: The Style Subculture That Time Forgot , anothermag.com (English), November 25, 2015
- ^ The Forgotten 1950s Girl Gang , Messy Nessy (English), February 10, 2013
- ↑ John Kennedy: 40 Rockin Years , edwardianteddyboy.com (English), accessed November 30, 2018