this

one of Weller's fave raves apparently

www.myspace.com/80scasuals

http://www.footballcasual.com/

Used to make me laugh whenever the Daily Mail used to have a go at football hooligans the stereotype was always a punk rocker or a skinhead. In reality the real hooligans used to dress like Alan Partridge, Des O'Connor or Ronnie Corbett.

One of the widely held beliefs on where it started was when Liverpool fans took advantage of their various European jaunts to acquire trendy Italian sportswear and to then wear it on the terraces to show-off.

Nowadays the hooligan's choice seems to be Stone Island, at least that's how most of Cardiff dressed at last week's game. Seems the Burberry has gone since Daniella Westbrook and the other chav celebrities took it on.

Here‘s an authoritative Kevin Sampson article about the whole business from The Face, 1983.

http://www.casualclothingonline.eu/casualscene

http://ropeuk.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/the-face-1983/

The firm which will explain more see also the football factory.

has a book called "The Way We Wore" - which though part Elmsian guff -is very accurate on tracing the Casuals movement - which is an extension of the Mod demeanour. Pills, aggression and sharp clothes.

Mod and its inheritors - Casuals - is a far more working class movement than Punk - a construct imagined between St Martins College of Art and the King's Road - ever was

About dressing up - not down

...spoke about all of this in BBC's documentary series 'British Style Genius'. Have a look here;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/britishstylegenius/

click on the 'street' tab and there's a few clips to look at. The particular episode about working class fashion was a fascinating look at British history from an overlooked perspective.

In response to Retro Man's post above; Liverpool fans were able to steal Adidas trainers from shops on their European away trips because they were put out in pairs, rather than the single left or right shoe commonly found in shoe shops at home.

London Casuals were wearing Pringle and Lacoste and Farah trousers. And all the Casuals in my neck of the woods - male and female - were sporting very Lady Di flick haircuts.

It was pretty much a Mod type thing as others have said above, the 1983 variant, with a huge link to football. Musically the guys I knew were all listening to either 80s soul, like Luther Vandross, Jazz-funk, or tracks like Freeez I-O-U.

yes, I was what you would call a casual. Still am for that matter - I don't actually think you ever decide not to be one. The quest to be smartly dressed and make an effort never goes away.

I spend what others would consider a silly amount on clothes and Adidas trainers (they have to be adidas..).

I've long since stopped going to the football but am still an avid armchair watcher (just too expensive and moved away from the sport that I enjoyed - no terracing / all about selling replica shirts etc etc / no sense of being a valued punter).

I agree with Sheev's post ^ - I always viewed it as a natural progression from being a Mod.

There's a shop in Liverpool called Wade Smith (quite a big enterprise now) that actaully started in 79/80 by hiring a Tranny van and literally driving to Germany filling up with Adidas trainers and selling them back in Liverpool. I've read somewhere that they where doing 3 trips a week...

That 'smart casual' evolved because of a number of things : it was a reaction to the general 'look' of the drab days of the late 70's/early 80's - a sack of shit tied in the middle; the recessionary times meant jobs were scarce and dressing smartly helped you get and keep jobs; and designer gear had never been available outside select London shops until the retail revolution of the 80's happened (after Mrs T's lot made credit more freely available) and store security didn't catch up for a while. My 'casual' friends of the time nicked everything they wore.

Casual was the extension of the mod ethic and London-centric which fanned out to the suburbs and provinces very much as Elms writes. The "terrace culture" and collection of Fila, Ellesse, Tacchini etc from the Liverpool away trips to Italy came somewhat later. Casual "chic" was in evidence, from what I witnessed, on the terraces of Stamford Bridge, Highbury, White Hart Lane and Loftus Road some time before Anfield.

I can remember blokes with names like Kevin - all the Casuals I knew were a Kevin, even if they were called Tony or Mike, like some strange Being John Malkovich scene - going from their jazz funk and ending up with Dark Side Of The Moon and various proggy things.

You wouldn't guess that they'd just discovered weed, would you...