At the risk of being a bit curmudgeonly, my problem with the quiffs was (and AAR probably had a great deal of it right AFAIAC) the fact that one chap, slightly older, was clearly rather ahead of the game. He looked great, particularly with the full sleave tatoo accessorised. He was getting lots of attention, and not only from those (hem) old enough to be his mother. It was clear that he liked the look, and it suited him. I liked that he'd chosen a style with a little individuality, and being inspired by past fashion is no bad thing, per se.
What irritated me just a little was watching others round him adding the numbers together and, seeing the effect, aping it. They had these rather pathetic pre-natal quiffettes. I'm reminded a little of a story of Paul Weller as an early Jam teenager playing in a pub with a placard round his neck saying "How can I be a Fucking Revivalist when I'm Only 18", meaning, I think, that he felt he was doing what he was doing because he liked it, and not because he was trying to be anything in particular. Sure enough, though, he became a Mod icon. Earlier Jam album covers seem to me much more inspired by New Wave, but only later, and possibly helped by commercial pressure, inspired by Mod-ism. |
