'Teddy Boy' - a Fashion Movement...!

The subculture started in London in the 1950s, and rapidly spread across the UK, soon becoming strongly associated with American rock and roll.

Teddy Boys........

The British Teddy Boy (also known as Ted) subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II. The subculture started in London in the 1950s, and rapidly spread across the UK, soon becoming strongly associated with American rock and roll. Originally known as Cosh Boys, the name Teddy Boy was coined when a 1953 Daily Express newspaper headline shortened Edward toTeddy.


Teddy Boys were the first youth group in England to differentiate themselves as teenagers, helping create a youth market. Teddy Boys made it acceptable for the first time in post-war Britain for young people to care intensely about what they looked like, and to dress for show, instead of having work or school clothes and Sunday-best. The trend arose as income increased after the war.
It is also referred to as the Neo-Edwardian style because the pieces mimic those of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In some cases, it may seen the style called "rockabilly.“

Teddy boy looks :



Teddy Boy clothes weren't the traditional "uniform" type styles that most of the teenage males of the 1950s actually wore; it was an extreme style worn by those who wanted to go outside of the norm in their form of dress. The style was borrowed from the Edwardianera and then tweaked a bit to give a bad boy vibe. It started in England in 1950s, but it didn't take long for it to spread to the rest of the world. Some of the items included in the Teddy Boy style include:


Velvet accents on jackets.

Long, dark drape jackets or frock coats, which are knee-length, fitted coats that have a vent in the middle of the back. The bottoms of the coats give off almost a skirt-like appearance. They are typically single-breasted coats made of wool and have several pockets.

High-waisted "skinny" pants.

Thin ties.Brocade waistcoats, which are effectively vests that fall to waist-level and buttons up the front.
Wrinkle-free, white button-up shirts with high collars.

Bright socks.

Favoured footwear included highly polished Oxfords, chunky Brogues, Eaton Clubman's winklepickers and Crepe-soled shoes, often suede (known as brothel creepers).
Hair was important, the most favouritehairstyle was the overblown quiff with a DA (ducks arse) at the back. The style of the back of the head was to square the hair off in what was known as a DA. Another style was the "Boston", in which the hair was greased straight back and cut square across at the nape.

Theoverall look is a tailored one and the idea behind it was strictly to look good. The clothes aren't designed to be functional, practical, or anything other than to promote a bad boy image, but they can be expensive because so much needs to be tailored to the individual's body.

The style was tied to rock and roll in the 1950s, then showed up again in the 1970s (glam rock) and once more in the 1990s.

A Final Word :

The Teddy Boy styles are all about image-looking good. Traditionally that image included a "bad boy" persona, as crimes and gang activity were linked heavily with the Teddy Boys, or Teds, during the 1950s.

Clothing items tend to be fitted and embellishments like velvet accents on long coats make them stand out even more in the crowd. think this gives men a very regal look, because it bulks out the body making them appear larger than they really are.

Teddy girl looks :

Their choice of clothes wasn’t only for aesthetic effect: these girls were collectively rejecting post-war austerity. They were young working-class women, often from Irish immigrant families who had settled in the poorer districts of London – Walthamstow, Poplar and North Kensington. They would typically leave school at the age of 14 or 15, and work in factories or offices.
Teddy girls (also known as Judies) wore –

• Drape jackets, tailored jackets with velvet collars.
• A scoop neck blouse or cardigan .
• A scarf tied at the neck for colour and movement.
• Pencil skirts, hobble skirts (the wider skirts disappeared and became narrower).
• Long plaits, rolled-up jeans.
• Straw boater hats, cameo brooches, espadrilles, coolie hats .
• Long, elegant clutch bags.
• Sturdy flat shoes.
• Makeup was fairly ordinary and quite minimal.
• Hair was generally long and tied into that all purpose and simple pony tail or else cut short and worn in a neat style close to the head.
• Later they adopted the American fashions of toreador pants, voluminous circle skirtsand hair in ponytails.

Dance and Music :



Prior to the advent of rock and roll, Teddy Boys were mainly listening and dancing to jazz and skiffle music. A well-known dance that the Teddy Boys adopted was The Creep, a slow shuffle of a dance so popular with Teddy Boys that it led to their other nickname of creepers.


During the 1970s, rockabilly music enjoyed a renewed period of popularity and there was a resurgence of interest in Teddy Boy fashions.

In the late 1980s, there was a move by a number of Teddy Boys to re-capture the original 1950s Teddy Boy style. This led to the formation of a group known as The Edwardian Drape Society (T.E.D.S) in the early 1990s.