~ teddy girls ~

Now it will come as no shock to most of you that one of my favorite eras, style-wise, is the 40s.  The tailored suits, structured hats, peep toed pumps, and don't even get me started on the uniforms.  But let's talk a bit about post-war fashion.  Specifically the rebellious, rambunctious teddy girls of Britain.

Now - disclaimer time.  If you're not a history nut (like I am), scroll past quickly because you're about to get an intense lesson on fashion history that isn't for the faint of heart.

So let's start with a bit of the basics:

Teddy Girl: noun, ( often lowercase) Informal. a rebellious British girl who, in the 1950s and early 1960s, affected the dress of the reign of Edward VII. 2. a girl companion of Teddy boys.

{"In the late 1940s American girls (and boys) spice up Heidelberg, Germany in an unruly mix of saddle shoes and lederhosen. The locals gawk and gasp as young girls parade down the streets decked in men’s flannels, trousers and loafers"}

{Via the Sartorialist: "My grandmother, Audrey, age 17, 1939, days before she enlisted in the Air Force. On her right is her younger sister, Amba. On the way to the Tan at the Botanical Gardens for a horse ride, the two were captured walking down Swanson St, Melbourne by a street photographer."}

{Elsie, 15, and Rose Hendon with Mary Toovey and Jean Rayner, 14, in front of the Seven Feathers Club in Edenham Street, North Kensington}

{14 year old Jean Rayner surrounded by young aspiring Teddy Boys on a bombsite, January 1955}

Teddy girls were not only impeccably dressed and, let's face it, total bad asses, they were also inventive and revolutionary.  Many left school at 14 or 15 to find work in offices or factories - rebelling against the notion of marriage, child-rearing, and the endless duties of a housewife.  In post-war England, a nation still feeling the affects of wartime and mourning the loss of many lives, these girls cast aside the austerity and created a new, youthful identity for themselves.  In doing so, they created a new style of dress that combined menswear with Edwardian silhouettes.

To quote Wikipedia "Teddy Girls wore drape jackets, pencil skirts, hobble skirts, long plaits, rolled-up jeans, flat shoes, tailored jackets with velvet collars, straw boater hats, cameo brooches, espadrilles, coolie hats and long, elegant clutch bags. Later they adopted the American fashions of toreadorpants, voluminous circle skirts, and hair in ponytails."

Despite a horrible case of the Monday blues, I decided that my day could use a little teddy girl inspiration:  But since I'm fresh out of velvet waistcoats and hobble skirts, high waisted jeans, flats, a button up, and a vintage scarf had to do.

Next time I'll dig out my straw boater hat.

xoxo,

Eliza