Monday, March 06, 2006

Beau Brummell

Dandy-dressing in the hip-hop, skateboard & surf world...




Recently I found myself in the not enviable position of being the companion of Frody, a 16 year old adolescent in a shopping spree.. I’m no stranger to fashion imperatives myself ( and in my prime time I was something of a fashion trender) but I felt a bit lost.

In my own adolescent youth shirts and suits were tailor-made. (I remember that it was something of a joke among us customers that M. , a rather good value for money tailor , the time he spent in taking measures, delighting in what we would now call his paedophile tendencies.. ) When we (I mean bourgeois upper-middle class and toffs) started to indulge in labels it was mostly Lacoste and Levy’s jeans. I was able to keep track all these years with fashion ups and downs.. YSL, from the tops to the pits.. Serious shoe stuff (like Fratelli Rossetti) or shirts from Jermyn Street.. More recently, with income to match, the world of Hermès, or Turnbull and Asser, or Canalli..

But what can this graduation in High Fashion contribute to my initiation into surf, and skating wear? Nothing, I’m afraid. How does my proverbial daring taste walks along hip-hoppish fashion? Very clumsily, I should say.


Forget the comfortable world of Ralph Lauren or DKNY, forget both Pradas, the one and only and the Agnes Ruiz De La lesser variety, forget the accumulated wisdom in La Perla wonders - the labels for adrenaline-driven youngsters you would never had heard them before…

Shoes is the eazzy pizzy part, Nike and All Stars (the latter was my older brother favourites forty years ago, for Goodness sake!) rule the streets.. But when it comes to T-shirtology and bagging trousers or 60’s coats I’m totally in the dark..

Now, after visiting one by one all the trendy shops in Fuencarral ( good Djaying almost as important as grunge shop-girls) I think I can bluff my way out of the new street kid fashion…

If you’re into impressing surfbabes you’ll have to stick to Aussie stuff like Quicksilver or Billabong, or Oakley or Reef.. To acquire a bit more street kudos you might want to go for Gotcha, Rip Curl or, better still, Roxy, Addict and Volcom..

What about real heavy hip-hop nigger look? Man, you need a database just to keep track.. Akademiks, Def Jam, Ecko Unitd., Projekts NYC.. Never heard of?.. What about Avinex, G.Unit, UNK.. What about Joker Fubu, Rocawear or Phat Farm?

In the end Frody settled for some black Adidas, a black Volcom T-Shirt and a black Carhartt coat ..

To remain cool as a father you have to be humble and never, never, write a blogtext about hip hop or streetwear…

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