i love this post from jilly about DM boots and it made me think back to my youth when i discovered the wonder that is the DM boot!
so come back in time with me if you will...
i was in my very late teens/early twenties and still living at home, doing another A'level (remember those?!) in sociology as i enjoyed college so much and working part time as a chamber maid at a hotel in the village.
i had always been a bit...different...alternative...my poor mother was in despair.... i think probably because i was the eldest and so the first to test boundaries, experiment and find myself.
this started when i was 16 and first in college.
there was a shop in southampton, a half hour train ride away called
bondage in general
remember this was back in 1983/4 and punk was still around, this was before the whole new romantic thing became big.
this shop was a wonder to behold
do you remember...
the mohair dennis the menace jumpers
studded wrist bands, dog collars and belts
trousers with chains and buckles
fluorescent t shirts with screen print designs
crazy colour hair dye
all of this and more was in this shop
i had a studded wrist band
an orange fluorescent t shirt which had the barbed wire screen print
and, my pride and joy, a pair of low black boots.
now these boots were not DM's, these went to just above my ankle and zipped up the front but what i loved about them was the three black straps that fastened across the boot and they were so pointy...very, very pointy.
i didn't class myself as a goth, i didn't listen to goth music (well i did listen to the sisters of mercy rather alot!)i was just different, but i always remember my friends reactions the morning i met them at the train station in my new outfit...
my pointy boots
a floor length black skirt
black jumper over a paisley shirt
black beads
funnily enough my mother did not pass comment on this.
she did however object strongly to me wanting to go on a big CND rally in london with my college~like any teenager i asked my dad and he said yes.
her objections came later, when i was older, which has always mystified me...maybe she felt me moving away from the family towards a more independant life and it was her way of rying to keep hold
.
one day i took myself into southampton, went to oswald bailey (i dont think this shop exisits any more) with their fine collection of DM's and bought my first pair~black, 8 hole.
of course i chose to keep them on and when i arrived home my mothers face was a picture.
it was not long after that i announced i wanted my nose peirced~my parents were divided the same way as they were with the CND issue~so of course i did th same as before, went to my dad.
a friend drove me into salisbury to an hairdressers that did nose peircing. back then it was not such a common thing and the only place you could find it done was in a hairdressers and it was done with a regular ear peircing gun!
i had my first four tattoos at this point but chose to keep them hidden at that point!
from there my love of DM's continued and i have had assorted pairs of their shoes, boots (black, green and purple ones when they first started to make them in different colours) monkey boots and sandals since then.
right now i have a pair of black 8 hole, a pair of sandals and with money i had for christmas i went and bought a pair of their dark brown triumph 1914w boots
i have to say i love them to bits, but what is even better is they are instantly comfortable and warm and as they go halfway up the calf i love the stomping feeling i have...i have always been a bit of a stomper!
as they look like vintage aviator boots i call them my 'amelia's'
as i have got older my mum just accepted my wish to be different and all she has said recently, when i had my last, and rather extensive new tattoo work was...'its finished now-you are not going to get any more are you?'
i didnt have the heart to say i had only just started...
so come back in time with me if you will...
i was in my very late teens/early twenties and still living at home, doing another A'level (remember those?!) in sociology as i enjoyed college so much and working part time as a chamber maid at a hotel in the village.
i had always been a bit...different...alternative...my poor mother was in despair.... i think probably because i was the eldest and so the first to test boundaries, experiment and find myself.
this started when i was 16 and first in college.
there was a shop in southampton, a half hour train ride away called
bondage in general
remember this was back in 1983/4 and punk was still around, this was before the whole new romantic thing became big.
this shop was a wonder to behold
do you remember...
the mohair dennis the menace jumpers
studded wrist bands, dog collars and belts
trousers with chains and buckles
fluorescent t shirts with screen print designs
crazy colour hair dye
all of this and more was in this shop
i had a studded wrist band
an orange fluorescent t shirt which had the barbed wire screen print
and, my pride and joy, a pair of low black boots.
now these boots were not DM's, these went to just above my ankle and zipped up the front but what i loved about them was the three black straps that fastened across the boot and they were so pointy...very, very pointy.
i didn't class myself as a goth, i didn't listen to goth music (well i did listen to the sisters of mercy rather alot!)i was just different, but i always remember my friends reactions the morning i met them at the train station in my new outfit...
my pointy boots
a floor length black skirt
black jumper over a paisley shirt
black beads
funnily enough my mother did not pass comment on this.
she did however object strongly to me wanting to go on a big CND rally in london with my college~like any teenager i asked my dad and he said yes.
her objections came later, when i was older, which has always mystified me...maybe she felt me moving away from the family towards a more independant life and it was her way of rying to keep hold
.
one day i took myself into southampton, went to oswald bailey (i dont think this shop exisits any more) with their fine collection of DM's and bought my first pair~black, 8 hole.
of course i chose to keep them on and when i arrived home my mothers face was a picture.
it was not long after that i announced i wanted my nose peirced~my parents were divided the same way as they were with the CND issue~so of course i did th same as before, went to my dad.
a friend drove me into salisbury to an hairdressers that did nose peircing. back then it was not such a common thing and the only place you could find it done was in a hairdressers and it was done with a regular ear peircing gun!
i had my first four tattoos at this point but chose to keep them hidden at that point!
from there my love of DM's continued and i have had assorted pairs of their shoes, boots (black, green and purple ones when they first started to make them in different colours) monkey boots and sandals since then.
right now i have a pair of black 8 hole, a pair of sandals and with money i had for christmas i went and bought a pair of their dark brown triumph 1914w boots
i have to say i love them to bits, but what is even better is they are instantly comfortable and warm and as they go halfway up the calf i love the stomping feeling i have...i have always been a bit of a stomper!
as they look like vintage aviator boots i call them my 'amelia's'
as i have got older my mum just accepted my wish to be different and all she has said recently, when i had my last, and rather extensive new tattoo work was...'its finished now-you are not going to get any more are you?'
i didnt have the heart to say i had only just started...