Today, I answered a simple but embarrasing question from Mez about why I got a vote for 'best walk' in my eight grade yearbook and it reminded me of what we used to wear back then. If you took your fashion history from movies or the Brady Bunch, you'd think guys all wore striped polyester pants and psychedelic tee shirts with feathered hair that was longish but not too long.
Well, not where I lived. If you dressed like Greg Brady in Oklahoma, you'd get your ass kicked. No, there was a uniform of sorts, as southern guys didn't really give a fuck about individuality. Individuality would cause you to get your ass kicked. There was a long list of ass-kicking offenses.
As I was commenting on Mez's blog, I thought of the one and only photo I could remember that illustrated how the southern-fried good ole boy/hippy/bad ass dressed: the cover of the Allman Brothers' Live at Fillmore East, shown above.
Look at the picture. Note that the front row - Duane Allman, Dicky Betts and Butch Trucks - the guys who are seated - are all wearing what were known as Dingo boots. Yes, Dingo is a brand, but it was understood that Dingo referred to the style of boot, not the manufacturer. The Dingo boot was black leather, square-toed and had the signature leather straps connected by a metal ring on the side. As you can see, the Allman boys kept their boots polished, as any good rednecked hippy should.
Notice Jai Johnny Johnson on the left. He is wearing a variant of the Dingo boot, the 'jock boot'. These were worn by the non-pot-smoking guys who still wanted to seem cool. Jock boots are tan and not stigmatized with those menacing straps.
See the jeans? Dark, not faded. No tears or rips. See the hems? Not too flared. That'll get your ass kicked. Not too narrow, either. FFA's (future farmers of america) wore the straight-legged jeans, and you didn't want to look like a goat roper (our derogatory name for FFA's). Note the low-slung waistline of Greg Allman's jeans (back row, white jacket). Hip huggers were once worn by guys and there's the proof.
Notice the shirts. Not tie-died, not 'Hang Ten,' not blowsy frocks or skin-tight stretchy polyester things like David Cassidy wore. You'd get your ass kicked. Nope, simple western button-down shirts. A jean or buckskin jacket rounds out the yee-haw/toke-up ensemble.
See the hair? Has to be long in order waive your freak flag but, contradictorily, facial hair is a must in order to display your machismo. Notice that they all at least have a mustache. My eighth grade class was plagued with premature mustaches and soul patches. How pitiful those soft, fuzzy caterpillars looked. Including mine.
Yup, Bugwit went through his formative years in that getup (and that atmosphere). Had to. If I didn't, I would have gotten my ass kicked.
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PS: By request of Chickybabe, here's an example. This is 1979, so I had moved from Oklahoma and stopped wearing the clothes, but the long hair and cheesy mustache are still on display. Thanks to Tildy for keeping this photo around.
PPS: That is a damned good cd.
