Teddy Girls

Regarded as the first British female youth tribe – ‘Judies’ as they were also known were young working class girls who left school early and spent their days working in boring offices and factories. At odds with their parents who wouldn’t have understood the pursuit and importance of leisure time; the girls wanted to break free from post war austerity and did so through fashion and music. Their look inspired in part by the Edwardian era featured flat shoes, pencil skirts, tailored boys blazers often with velvet collars and cuffs, neck scarves, cameos, skinny ribbon bow ties, shirts tied up at the waist and rolled up jeans. Some of the girls also sported slicked back, short boyish hair do’s with quiffs – this would have looked amazingly rebellious back in the early Fifties. The gangs of girls would hang out in milk bars, go dancing, enjoy dressing up, smoking, riding their bikes and chasing boys. Sounds pretty ace to me. The scene isn’t massively documented apart from a small series of jaw dropping portraits called 'Bombsite Boudiccas' by gonzo film director Ken Russell, taken he says when he had too much time on his hands in 1955. So, next time you want to inject a bit of attitude into your get-up go google Teddy Girls for an instant fix of true vintage grit. Written by Leona Thrift-ola - www.thrift-ola.com