Oh, bop, do do do do do do do do
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion
Oh, bop, do do do do do do do do
Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion
La-la la la la la la-la
As David Bowie once memorably sang. Now I never really did much fashion as a teenager because:
a) Total lack of interest
b) Total lack of disposable income*
c) Wales
But I was the tribal sort, I was a rocker. I had a denim jacket with patches and badges on, studded leather belt, four Faster Pussycat T-shirts, tight jeans and Hi-Tec baseball boots. Now the jeans and boots could be sourced locally as could some of the badges, but where does a kid in deepest, greenest rural Wales get the rest of his tribal gear? well, same place I used to get a big chunk of my music too, mail order. Kerrang! was always a good source of rock shit to buy and it’s undoubtedly by buying something that way, I got hold of this little beauty I hold in my hand right now.
I was looking through a bunch of old writings and what-not the other day when I unearthed this beast. A HM Gear catalogue from around 1988, at a guess. It’s in pristine condition too and I’ve no idea why I kept it, the stuff I was looking through was dated way afterwards, but it was a happy find for me. It took me back to long hours of pouring over the goodies within, I definitely equipped myself with a ‘concho/links’ wristband (the narrow one) and a ‘concho/links’ belt from here – I really liked those; hell what’s not to like there? I also bought the LA Guns patch for my jeans too, to go with my Motörhead one. I also had the Faster Pussycat ‘The Itch You Can’t Scratch’ and ‘100% Pure Pussycat’ T-shirts too.
But what’s really great are the clothes, now I can’t remember the band Wraith but the guys do a good job modelling all the latest must-haves for us. I never did get myself the Painter’s Blouson jacket and the Lace-Up Lycra jeans. I suspect that’s the only reason I never managed to ensnare the kind of fox who’d wear Zebra Stretch Lycra jeans, or the Black Widow Top & Leggings combo – Yowza!!
My kids haven’t stopped laughing about this for days now. I think it all looks quite sweet. Definitely one for the time capsule, I’ll now go and put the sacred HM Gear catalogue inside the cover of Faster Pussycat where future generations may enjoy it again one day.
595 Down (with the kids).
*once music purchases had been taken care of.