The dashing teenage rebels time forgot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I say \u201cBritish youth subculture,\u201d any number of images might come to mind, from the beatnik hippies of the 1960s to the DIY punk scene of the 1970s – a direct response to the former. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019m pretty sure that what doesn\u2019t <\/em>come to mind is a generation of teenage girls dressing like Edwardian dandies and enamored with rock and roll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These were the Teddy Girls. Also called the \u201cJudies,\u201d they were the oft-overlooked female counterpart to the \u201cTeddy Boys\u201d of 1950s London. The Teddy boys, or Teds, are considered by many to be the first discernable British subculture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After World War II, there was an economic boom and a move away from the necessary frugality of wartime. Rationing ended and everyone breathed a little easier, returning to frivolous comforts that were frowned upon during the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music, fashion, and media were popular pastimes again, and the British fashion industry wanted to capitalize on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result, for several manufacturers, was the production of posh, Edwardian-inspired clothes marketed toward the young men of the upper classes. Drape jackets, velvet, and crisp button-downs with skinny ties were back in fashion, reminiscent of the Edwardian dandy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least, they wanted<\/em> to be back in fashion. Whoever in the fashion industry green-lit this plan obviously must not have consulted any actual upper-class rich kids because it was an incredible flop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, most of these clothes quickly made their way to discount racks and thrift stores, unwittingly opening the door for a whole new trend to emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teen boys from the bombed-out working-class neighborhoods of East and West London latched onto this style and made it their own, combining the sleek, boxy clothes with quiffed hair in the style of American greasers and chunky \u201ccreeper\u201d shoes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And thus the Teddy Boys were born. \u201cTeddy\u201d obviously derived from the Edwardian aspects of their style; these young men quickly made their way to the top of a lot of people\u2019s least-favorite lists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper-class kids were upset that they had taken on a more expensive-appearing style, because what would society come to if you couldn\u2019t distinguish the poor from the rich with a glance? Treating people all the same <\/em>regardless of class? Insane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adults were also wary of the Teds, as they quickly gained a reputation in the media for violence and rowdiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although reports of the Teds actually engaging in fights and riots being pretty few and far between, \u201cWeird Punks Mind Their Own Business,\u201d isn\u2019t much of a headline compared to \u201cThe Feral Youth.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were soon infamous despite the majority of Teddy Boys focusing their energies on things like concerts and dancing rather than upsetting the delicate balance of London society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, all this is just to set the scene for the real focus of this piece. The Teddy Girls were overlooked by media and society and were mostly a mystery to us until Ken Russell\u2019s series of photographs of them was unearthed in 2005. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teddy Girls were distinctly different from the Teds, but again, reporters were much more interested in brawls than groups of teenage girls going to the movies. So here\u2019s what we do <\/em>know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Teddy Girls were mostly made up of 14-16-year-old girls who also hailed from London\u2019s war-torn working-class neighborhoods. These were girls who had dropped out of school to work, usually at offices or factories, despite their pay being significantly less than the boys\u2019 at only two pounds per week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their lives were also much less public, with \u201cfeminine\u201d activities primarily centered around the home while the boys had time to lounge on street corners and wander the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Teddy Boys\u2019 opulent style and gleeful engagement with music was a response to the austerity of wartime, the Teddy Girls were all this and more, raising a direct middle finger to gender norms of the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the war ended, most women were relieved to trade their trousers and masculine clothing in for the skirts and feminine silhouettes considered appropriate for women. Wartime was over, and deviance from the modest norm was no longer necessary, but the Teddy Girls thought differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their style of dress was very similar to the Teds\u2019 with the classic drape jacket, an absolute necessity. In an interview with Eve Dawoud, Teddy Girl Mary Toovey lists the essentials of a Teddy Girl\u2019s wardrobe as \u201cturn-up jeans, a coat, and something to tie around your neck.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this base, the sky was the limit, and the girls wasted no time bringing their feminine additions to the table. Tiny clutch bags, all the more striking for their impracticality, were extremely popular, along with brooches, jewelry, and lace-up espadrille shoes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An umbrella was also an essential accessory, never opened, even when it was raining – or so says word on the street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace Living, also in conversation with Eve Dawoud, recalls \u201cpainting earrings with nail varnish to have them match your outfit,\u201d which was unsurprising given the fact that a lot of Teddy Girls made their own clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money was scarce even without the lowered wages for women, so in the time-honored tradition of punks everywhere, the Teddy Girls filled out their wardrobes with DIY, secondhand clothes, and even garments shared between friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were unapologetically working-class women, and their style of dress alone set them apart from the crowd, but that didn\u2019t bother the Teddy Girls at all. They didn\u2019t shy away from the brash and sensational, also evidenced by the fact that most Teddy Girls had short hair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They wore their hair in quiffs like the boys, and when skirts and hair lengthened at the end of the war, they pointedly did not follow suit. Mary Toovey even remembers having her friend Rosie Price(pictured) dye her hair blonde. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was frightened,\u201d she reminisces, \u201cbecause my dad would have killed me, so I wore a turban around him to cover that up!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, it makes me happy that this quintessential hallmark of teenage rebellion – complete with sneaking behind your parents\u2019 backs – dates back so far. I don\u2019t usually feel a lot of connection with women born so long before me, but even in the 1950s, teen girls were teen girls\u2013 just like me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Teddy Girls were self-assured and pursued the things they liked in a way that was highly unpopular at the time. They accompanied their male friends to concerts and dance halls, collecting records and magazines with the rest of them and heading to the cinema in smartly-dressed crowds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They congregated at diners to listen to jukeboxes and talk to boys and had a tight-knit community with each other. Us girls do have to stick together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ken Russell photographed several Teddy Girls, he was fascinated by this whole group of youth that everyone else seemed to be overlooking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n