Elms almost inveigled his way into my affections via his LBC show, which is actually quite good, but that Guardian article reminded me to remember his fundamental
tosserismo.― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 7 April 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)
There's a thread somewhere where everyone pretty much unleashed the hate on Elms. Personally, I like his writing (haven't seen his travel show or heard him on the radio) but can well imagine him being a prize prick. In Search Of The Crack was 'unputdownable' even though I winced at almost every line.
This excerpt is what got me:
"The basic starter kit was difficult enough for a nine-year-old to acquire. But acquire it I did. Levi's jeans, as yet, were out of the question, as they simply didn't make proper red-tag, dark denim, shrink-to-fit Levi's (only ever available as expensive imports from America) in such little sizes. I could, though, get hold of some Levi Sta-Prest. These were essentially slacks, in some kind of mixed fabric, cotton and man-made stuff, that kept their shape and their crease at a time when sharp creases were very important. Mine were off-white, a size or so too big, but taken up by my mum and held up by a pair of narrow clip braces.
"Braces were one of the most totemic accessories of the whole skinhead era, a kind of celebration of old-school English working-class iconography, which was handy, as they stopped my over-large strides from falling down.
"The shirt was not a problem, but it was a great joy. I would still wear it now. It was a Ben Sherman, bought with saved-up birthday money or some such stash on a trip to Selfridges on Oxford Street. It's the first time I ever recall going "up west", and it was to get the shirt of my dreams. You had to have a proper button-down Ben Sherman, with a pocket on the breast, a pleated back, a button on the back of the collar and a hook of fabric on the top of the pleat, with a straight rather than shirt-tail bottom."
The guy really knows and love clothes. I respect that. But we're wandering from the thread title. I would like to wear braces but do you have to be muscular/stocky to pull them off? I am fairly scrawny so it may look silly.
― Affectian (Affectian), Thursday, 7 April 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)
I used to rock the braces look as a little lad. If only I wore a sharp shirt though:
http://www.geocities.com/niche_ian/on_swing_83.jpgSkins were the last youth tribe to use braces weren't they. That's a worry. Or is the Skinhead movement much maligned and in reality an open and accepting multicultural world of wonder?
― Affectian (Affectian), Thursday, 7 April 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)
three years pass...
Under, of course. Few things ruin the look of a waistcoat more than either having a trouser waistband that's visible or the bump of a belt underneath.
― Michael White, Tuesday, 21 October 2008 16:32 (seventeen years ago)
They kind of get in the way of boobs or vice versa. I thought they were the coolest thing in the world when I was seven, and I wore them all the time...back before I had this problem.
― Abbott, Wednesday, 22 October 2008 01:45 (seventeen years ago)