The Way We Wore A Life In Threads
04-08-2014
The Way We Wore – A Life In Threads by BBC Radio’s Robert Elms has just had its ebook release.
The book takes the reader on a story of a life’s obsession. From Ben Sherman shirts to box-top loafers, from bondage trousers to Comme des Garçons, Elms has been there, seen it, and worn it out. It’s about why you’d rather not go out at all than go out in the wrong sort of brogues, and why you just had to have a Budgie jacket to cut it in the playground in 1970. It is ultimately a hilarious, passionate social history of London street fashion from the Teddy Boys and rude boys battling it out in his homeland of Notting Hill in the fifties to its end in acid house in the nineties. A fond memoir of working-class lads in tumultuous times and lairy schmutter.
Robert Elms is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author. He writes regularly for the national press and has a daily show on BBC Radio London 94.9. The Robert Elms show is a celebration of every aspect of this turbulent city. Three hours a day they revel in the stories and characters, memories and aspirations, which make this City such a great place to live and work. He lives in Camden.
Robert Elms on The Way We Wore – A Life in Threads
Q. How much is The Way We Wore a statement about class and your journey up the perceived social hierarchy using fashion?
Robert: “Class runs right through my book because I believe it is the untold story of so many undervalued/overdressed working class kids obsessed with style. It’s not just my story. Paul Weller wrote me a letter after he read the book saying “that was my story too”.
Q. Has the cult of the individual destroyed the concept of belonging to a group and identifying through fashion?
Robert: “I don’t believe we have the cult of the individual now, we in live in much more homogenised times; kids dress the same in Lagos as London, New Delhi as New York, individualism has been largely washed away by marketing and the instant access of the Internet. But it is true we do not have the same fashion gangs we once had, kids no longer identify themselves and their peers by what they wear, they have too much other stuff. Also the bonds of class, neighbourhood and football affiliation, which were vital to this story have been watered down.”
The Way We Wore – A Life in Threads by Robert Elms – Launch of a new-look, new edition brings this absolutely fabulous book back from the realms of ‘out of print’ for a new generation of fashion fanatics. Now available via ebooks or UK publication: 31 August 2014.
