What was the terrace fashion on the Kippax in the 1980s?

[WestGorton]

We all got Werder Bremen and Schalke beanie hats from the bucket at the antiques shop on Oldham At. 50p each a long with outrageous Baseball caps like Miami Dolphins.

 

[Ian]

Donkey jackets were de rigueur for quite a few lads, in fact I don't recall ever seeing Bulldog not wearing one, that and cotton wool.

Donkey jacket was my go to fashion item for the footy in the 80s

 

[Ian]

Donkey jacket was my go to fashion item for the footy in the 80s

Also light Blue Slazenger jumper if I wanted to spruce up a bit.

 

[cfn1963]

Well I bought most of my clobber from Gangsgear in the Arndale then. Mostly provided by ford standards for kids in the know...Everyone's Bill...Nod to Bfth...

I worked in Gansgear on Saturdays and holidays in 79/81 just when sportswear was really kicking in as fashion. Not a Nike in sight, all adidas, le coq and fred perry. It was managed by an ex Rochdale player Alan Yungblut (sp?). He got me a ticket to the cup final replay in 81. Good times apart from the riots!

 

[Zapcity]

Maybe not as fondly remembered as some 80s fashion but do remember leg warmers making a few appearances both at Maine Road and other grounds!

 

[Barcon]

Maybe not as fondly remembered as some 80s fashion but do remember leg warmers making a few appearances both at Maine Road and other grounds!

I just called my Mum to thank her for dragging us across the pond in 78 after reading your post.

 

[johnnytapia]

1970's my arse thats Stephen Graham in the sheepskin coat.

I was simply saying what a great book “Away Days” is.

 

[johnnytapia]

Maybe not as fondly remembered as some 80s fashion but do remember leg warmers making a few appearances both at Maine Road and other grounds!

Remember John Barnes wearing tights and gloves at Maine road for Watford 2nd replay. Wolf whistled by the kippax so he tore us to bits in their 3-1 win. He was unplayable

 

[bluem@n]

Sergio Georgini

 

[Maintainin]

Two Face Mag articles from back when: ...enjoy

80's

The early 1980's saw the birth of the Soccer Casual, out went the previous skinhead fashions and in came Pringle jumpers, Lois cords, Farrah's and Burberry scarves.




The label was the thing, and the more expensive and exclusive the better. The following article is a breif history of what clobber British footie lads were wearing in the early days of the Casual (mainly the 80's), got to admit I'm not old enough to remember some of those fashions in the early 80's and in some cases thank god, cause there was some god awful clothes as well as some smart stuff.




For the first time since the 60's Mod, working class lads were happy to look trendy and tidy, and these lads would use the terraces at their local club as their catwalks. During the early '80s the choice of menswear in most cities was limited to a few big department stores not like these days when you can buy a pair of Levi's from your local Tesco. That's why tracking down those obscure tennis shirts became essential for the Casual (Fila, Lacoste, Tacchini etc).



A lot of the clothes and ideas came from abroad. British clubs ruled the roost in Europe during this era. Consequently the Scousers of Liverpool spent a good deal of time in France and Italy robbing those much sought after Tacchini /Fila/Ellesse/Lacoste tops.




As the grapevine spread news of the Casual phenomenon across the country, a 'uniform' of sorts began to emerge. This could be said to comprise of certain labels such as Slazenger, Lacoste, Ellesse, Burberry, Lois, Kappa, Levi's etc. Anoraks, cords and bleached jeans became a regular sight on the Inter City service trains at a weekend.


Arguably more importantly were the trainers. The knack of sporting the correct footwear became an art in itself.



Adidas was generally regarded as top dog during this era for trainers, though makes such as Diadora had some top trainers as well. Top Trainers of the time Included Adidas Samba And Diadora Borg Elite.

Despite occasionally wearing of Moccasin shoes, hiking boots etc. the trainer has always seemed to be in fashion, especially in the 80's.


As mentioned above Pringle jumpers were one of the early wears of the Casual along with the Cagoule worn over the top. Again Adidas was one of popular makes of kagoule but Nike and Kappa were other great makes (especially the blue Kappa one) and maybe more obscure some lads wore Patrick Cagoules.


When the winter months came the kagoule was replaced with Ski Jackets and the Pringles and Lyle & Scott's were replaced with Ski Jumpers by Fila and Tacchini.



At the same time Lois Cords, Farah trousers and bleached jeans (sometime with a slit at the bottom to sit better over the tops of your trainers) were worn.

Then once the Casual became to popular some lads dressed down and started wearing semi-flares (pre-dating the Baggy look of the late '80s).


Then new labels were sought out (Chippie, Stone Island, Henri Lloyd), some fans in Leeds took to wearing deerstalker hats to the match...


The change of pace of what was 'in' and what was 'out' changed every week not like these days when the same labels seem to be in for years. By the late-eighties the Casual era was in demise.


Today a lot of former Casuals and nouveau-Casuals, have returned to smartness. The emphasis is now not so much on sportswear now, with people plumping for Paul Smith, John Smedley and Prada.




But there are a few labels that have stood the test of time and been there almost from the start to present day - Lacoste and Burberry.




Another Classic casual item was the golfing jackets - Burberry being the main one but by the late 80's it was replaced by the Ralph Lauren which stuck around for a few years until every Tom, Dick and Harry had one, another classic golfing jacket was the tartan Lacoste ones but they were never easy to track down.



The ubiquitous training shoe still holds the most fascination however, a fact recognized by Adidas who continue to release old-skool classics which are snapped up by lads, old and new alike.


The key seems these days seems to be keep it neat and tidy, keep one step ahead and keep on saving cause it never gets any cheaper.


90's

The labels were changing again an the new look was smart but casual. Ralph Lauren was an earlier favourite with the golf jackets and polo shirts the must have items.



For the first time 16 and 17yr olds were wearing 150quid jumpers and 150 pound timberland boots, they certainly looked the part.





The future of the casual scene (ahem!) Stone island was being sold around 88 but it never really kicked off until 1990 just after everything went pear-shaped fashion
wise due to Mad-chester scene and the stone roses. trips to London realised stone island was the new kid in town and handfuls of lads were into it straight away-the buzz soon caught on until it did sweep the nations terraces around 93 and has done ever since to the point of overkill.





It got so popular that one BNP meeting which Chelsea, Millwall and Pompey turned up to, put two and two together and made 123 by coming to the conclusion stone island represented football hooligan-racist behaviour and the badge had a symbolic meaning(!)i could tell you hundreds of stories similar like the time Plymouth football intelligence went to the local designer store and questioned the owners in connection with selling stone island(FACT).




Another label which was taken onboard en masse by the the football casuals was Hackett and its infamous polo shirt, and in particular the design carrying the cross of St George on the reverse.



Following England's qualification to euro2000 the Hackett polo shirt was being worn by every second person, (mock up advert below) a point which the media picked up on, they linked English hooligans to the patriotic polo shirt and Hackett was not happy, and threw there rattle out of the pram, they stopped producing the polos in an attempt to distance themselves from the hooligans wearing it although they have recently reinstated the St George cross to there clothing as there attempted new ranged were somewhat SHIT!




Other labels which appeared on the 90s casual scene were CP company similar to stone island but without the tag, Paul and shark , and Henri Lloyd which were especially popular with northern football fans, and more recently 80s favourites Burberry (did it ever really go away?) and Aquascutum have began appearing on the terraces once more. with the check Burberry caps being a particular favourite.




As with most 90s labels once they were in they stayed in (for years) and most are still around en masse, it has in many ways spoilt the terrace fashion scene, it has in the whole has stagnated but over the last couple of seasons new clobber like Prada (sport) ,mandarina duck and ymc have turned up but it still sometimes seems SI, Burberrys, Aquascutum and Lacoste have sponsorship deals at grounds around the country, but its good to see so many young lads interested as much in the gear as the rowing.

Mancs and Scousers:

Up until the mid-’60s there was never a great deal of trouble between Merseyside and Manchester.

By the late 1970s the games between Liverpool* and Man Utd resembled a particularly bloody war zone.



There’s also been controversy over who started the whole casual thing, with Mancunians saying that casual was just a continuation of their home-grown “Perry boys” style of the mid-’70s. Needless to say, this is dismissed by Liverpudlians.



* On these occasions it was common for Liverpool and Everton scallies to team up against the common enemy.


It’s been said before, but Liverpool’s domination of the continent was responsible for more luxury brands coming to the UK than the opening of the Trafford Centre.

They may have come from the cold, wet banks of the Mersey, but their appropriation of the look of Europe’s super-rich opened up England to Velcro trainers (the Adidas Tom Okker Comfort), up-market tennis-wear (“Australian” brand trackies) and dodgy Italian zip-up roll-necks (Kappa).

There are shopkeepers in places like Switzerland and Bavaria who still rue the day they decided to display their rare Adidas trainers in pairs.


While trainers were the staple of the scally, some shoes made it as matchday attire. Most popular were those made by Kickers and Kios, who produced ungainly European numbers with thick soles and rounded toes.

Worn with cagoules and slim-fit jeans they enabled a group of casuals on the prowl to look like a bunch of French exchange students, Until they started lobbing chairs through the windows of pubs, that is.




Euston:

The meeting point for London clubs leaving town and north-westerners arriving for matches in the capital, midday on Saturdays was not a place for the faint-hearted. Awaydays writer Kevin Sampson: “It was scary.

You’d think it’d be like something out of Green Street when we alighted, but all I remember is people being really quiet, wondering when it was going to kick off.

Apart from mobs of Cockneys looking for you, there’d be ‘spotters’ from places like Stoke and Coventry waiting around to see what we were wearing.”




Fanzines:

One of the unintended consequences of this explosion of creativity was the growth in fanzines that charted the everyday experiences of casuals and the world they lived. Most notable were Liverpool’s The End and London’s super-smart Boys Own.

These fanzines were the inspiration for the sort of men’s magazine we’ve spent the last two decades reading.





Gold:

If football was the game that the casuals watched, tennis was the sport that dictated how they dressed. Nothing signified tennis’s association with the European super-rich than the gold stripes on the ultra-lightweight Adidas Forest Hills and the kangaroo skin Diadora Borg Elite trainers.





Hooligan:

Seminal ITV documentary from 1985 on West Ham’s legendary ICF, which showed a group of mulleted Irons fans wandering around London looking for bother with rival firms – notably Chelsea and Man Utd. Most memorable for an interview with a casual in a Lacoste cardigan, in which he said: “You go other people’s grounds, you run ’em, it’s just enjoyment all the time. You’ve gone to their manor, done what you’ve wanted to do and they won’t do it you lot when they come down here.”




Internationals:

England games became unofficial AGMs for the country’s nutters following trouble at the 1980 European Championships in Italy. While the London teams would usually drop their differences to fight Johnny Foreigner, both Man Utd and Liverpool fans were more interested in screwing Alpine jewellers than teaming up with “Ingerlund”. Followers of both clubs are now largely absent from the England fan base.



Deerstalkers:

Country casual met football casual with the approximation of the hunting look by fans in the early 1980s. If it wasn’t Barbour waxed coats then it was geography teacher-style tweed jackets, leather patches and all. Some even went the whole hog, buying fearsome-looking dogs (“rotties” and “staffs” usually) to go hunting for rats with. The deerstalker hat sealed the look of refined menace.




Cockneys:

Though London took to the scene a couple of years after Scousers and Mancs, by 1980 every team in the capital had a firm of well-dressed “chaps”. Londoners displayed a fondness for pastel colours and Bond St brands like Burberry, Gucci and Aquascutum, as well as the labels more associated with the scene such as Fila, Sergio Tacchini and Lacoste. They also wore an awful lot of gold “tom”*.
*tom = tomfoolery = jewellery





Bobble hats:


Headwear was a big part of casual and none more so than the bobble hat – though the actual bobble itself was often removed, transforming the item into a “ski hat”.


Most popular were ones that displayed the wearer’s club on one side with either Celtic or Rangers on the other, depending on his religious persuasion.


In the 1988 film The Firm, young West Ham fan Yusef is angrily castigated by another member of the crew for wearing a half-West Ham/half-Celtic bobble hat. “What have we got to do wiv Celtic?”




Adidas:


The trainers produced by the German sports shoe firm are perhaps the only constant in the story of this movement. The first shoe to really make it as a terrace staple was the Adidas Samba, a black trainer with a cream-coloured sole. After that, the likes of the Stan Smith, Trimm Trab (German for “keep fit”), LA Trainer, Jeans (a denim shoe) and Forest Hills all made it to the top of the unofficial Adidas trainer tree.


According to Dave Hewitson’s The Liverpool Boys Are In Town, between 1979 and 1981, the city of Liverpool accounted for 30% of all Adidas sales in the UK. Other notable Adidas classics include the ST2 padded anorak, the Ivan Lendl argyle tracksuit top and A15 tracksuit bottoms.


See also: mythical “Adidas Centre” in Paris that Scousers spent days looking for at the 1981 European Cup final. It didn’t actually exist.





Ordinary, The:

It was only in the 1960s that football supporters started following their teams in other parts of the country. To facilitate this, British Rail put on ‘football specials’, which would take well-behaved supporters to their ground of choice and whisk them back safely.

Sadly, with no time to stop off for drink/scrap and the worst trains BR could find, smart fans soon dispensed with the specials and got on the ‘ordinary’, where you’d get less bother of the police and more time to peruse local men’s boutiques for pre-Switch ‘cashless’ purchases. A punch in the face was often included in the price of a ticket.





Scotland:

While casual is seen as a specific period of time south of border (roughly 1977-1988), in Scotland, the term is still used to denote a violent, smartly-dressed football fan. The first crew to get on it were the Aberdeen, who, after meeting Liverpool in the European Cup of 1980, appropriated the Scouse look.

Dons fans also followed sides like Tottenham and Arsenal, enabling shopping trips to London to stock up on designer gear. Later, Aberdeen were joined by Motherwell and Hibs in their fashion endeavours, but the twin giants of Scottish football, Celtic and Rangers remained oblivious to the cult.

See also: Stone Island, without doubt the post-casual label of the 1990s, and now undergoing a renaissance.





Tracksuits:

As well as heralding the era of label-worship, casual also took the tracksuit from the tennis court to the terraces and breakdance mats of urban Britain. Made as luxury items for tennis players in Italy, the likes of Sergio Tacchini’s Dallas* and Cerruti 1881’s velour top were hugely sought after, but even they had to bow to the majesty of the Fila Terinda, which retailed for a whopping £95 on its 1986 release.


Neil Primett from 80sCasualClassics.co.uk: ‘The Terirnda was the most expensive tracksuit back then and was so aspirational. I’ve got 12 originals, which I’ve bought off eBay and they all cost between £400-£1000.’


* The Dallas was worn by John McEnroe in the 1981 ‘Battle of the Trackies’ Wimbledon final, in which he took on a Fila-clad Bjorn Borg. What made Tacchni’s tracksuits so desirable was the instant flare the wearer could have by the facilitation of the zip at the back of trouser.





Very big bags:

If adidas gave us the trainers, then tennis brand Head provided the iconic accessory of casual – the huge kit bag. These were no ordinary holdalls, the Head bag offered vast amounts of space for stolen European leisurewear to be crammed into and later sold in pubs. So popular was the bag that mobs of casuals would often turn up at the match carrying them, just because they looked so good. The first man bag.






Wedge:

The ultimate casual haircut, the wedge was actually invented in London in 1974 as a women’s style, but was soon adopted by the capital’s soul boys*. Cut short at the back, with a long, parted fringe that covered one eye, it was taken up by Scouse casuals when David Bowie sported one on the cover of his Low album.

*Flash, mid-70s soul boys are seen by some as forerunners to casuals in the capital.






Z-list brands:

Not everyone could afford/steal the top labels, which meant that it wasn’t long before cheap imitations came out, often sold in markets and bought by mums with the words: ‘Look, it’s exactly the same as the one you wanted, but it’s £20 cheaper. Anyway, I prefer the shark to that crocodile.’ Brands included, Ellesse, Gallini, Le Shark and St Helens’ finest Tacchini rip-offs, Walker. The thought of them makes many a casual shudder even now.




Peter Storm and Patrick:


The kings of the cagoule, these brands produced the must-have outerwear for trips away in autumn and spring, as Gary Aspden testifies. ‘It rains a lot in the north-west of England so you need something to keep you dry. Patrick cagoules came in loads of colours, we used to name ours after flavours of bags of crisps. They were intrinsic to casual fashion.’



See also: ‘paninari’ – the fashionable Italian youths found hanging about outside sandwich (panini) shops in Milan, Rome etc. More inclined to razz about on 4cc mopeds whistling at girls for days on end than their English counterparts.


Israeli jacket:




Iconic army jacket worn by Israel’s elite forces and casuals alike. Could withstand low, night-time temperatures in the West Bank and away trips to the likes of Leeds and Birmingham City. Not popular with the PLO.