Teddy Boy Research Paper

The Teddy Boy Youth Movement

The consumer boom of the 1950s America did not reach Britain until the 1960s but nevertheless working class teenagers could for the first time afford good clothes, a bicycle or motorcycle and entertainment.
Teddyboys were the first group of youths to dress to impress, they made it acceptable for young people to care about what one looked like all the time and dress purely for show, instead of just having one's work or school clothes. The style was tailored, and featured long high necked jackets, usually of velvet, or velvet trimmed collar and cuffs, and were lined with bright colours. This was worn with a bootlace or 'slim jim' tie, narrow 'drainpipe' trousers, wing-collared shirts and suede shoes. An important accessory, along with the cycle chain was the comb. Common
They usually wore their hair in a ponytail. Because the look was based on the Edwardian period, a newspaper headline shortened Edward to Teddy which then evidently coined the term
They were known for being in tough racist gangs. They formed gangs who sometimes had a common uniform like a particular colour of jacket or socks. For the most part, violence and vandalism was not too serious by modern standards, and exaggerated by the media, but there were instances of serious gang warfare with razors and knives. Some Teddyboys had fascist tendencies and were involved with gangs of youths that attacked the West Indians that emigrated to Britain in the mid fifties. This racism was the most unfortunate of the Teddyboy's tendencies and it closed off much American Rock'n'Roll to them. This was their loss as a lot of white covers of African American songs were not as good in comparison with the