Very clevah

July 7, 2015 11:36 PM

Fred Perry Subculture Films - A series of short films documenting the evolution of street style, music and counter culture over the last 60 years.

Some later (shorter) additions on YouTube:
Anarchy in the UK
Northern Soul
Black N White Riot - 2 Tone origins
Dancehall Days
Bonus: Some interesting music in the Sub-Sonic section.

posted by unliteral (4 comments total)

Shirt by Fred, nuff said
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:52 AM on July 8, 2015

Perry Blue?

Ok, so the sponsorship is a touch heavy-handed but the docos themselves are informative and diverting. I really liked the one about Rude Boys and Skinheads...I had forgotten that there was a non-racist original version of the UK skinheads. Cool stuff.
posted by Doleful Creature at 6:35 AM on July 8, 2015

For more in this vein, the BBC's British Style Genius series was fantastic—This episode on the street look focuses on the teds, the skins, the mods, and the casuals.
posted by Harlo at 8:00 AM on July 8, 2015

It's interesting, if (as one might expect given the sponsor) biased towards subcultures with a lineage going back to Mod (no mention of metal, goth, grebo, new-romantic, &c.), and makes a few howlers which appear to be a result of looking at subculture as an extension of sartorial fashion (Malcolm McLaren is responsible for punk? Them's fighting words to a lot of people.)
posted by acb at 9:33 AM on July 13, 2015