She talked about the history of the style of the skinhead subculture in her homeland in Great Britain in the 1960s and 70s. This time we will talk about the fashion of Russian skinheads, who, unlike the British, mainly shared nationalist views from the late 1980s to the present day.

Guys in military uniform

Why do you wear Levi's? Your Levi's are Jewish jeans.

- Because when I returned from Iraq, my brother gave me these jeans. Does he understand what we are fighting for? No. But I definitely won't let the Zionist conglomerate decide what I wear.

Film "Absolute Power" 2016


Right-wing and far-right movements in Russia began to emerge in the mid-1980s, and clothing, of course, was one of the important elements with which nationalists formed their image. Nationalist movements of the 1980s like the Memory Society emerged from the Society for the Protection of Monuments. The movement rethought historical processes, its participants were engaged in reenactment and wore “White Guard” uniforms, mostly consisting of modified uniforms of the Soviet army.

Later, their own military uniform appeared, consisting of black tunics with shoulder straps, black trousers tucked into black cow boots, black tunics with a stand-up collar and shoulder straps. In winter, overcoats, caps and caps with oval cockades of the “royal” type were used. On the buttons there were not Soviet stars with a hammer and sickle, but royal double-headed eagles. The reconstruction of the Cossack uniform was also popular. Now people in Cossack uniforms have become a standard landscape in the urban environment, but in the late 1980s they looked extremely shocking.

The “monuments” were replaced by more militarized Barkashovites. The dress code of this formation consisted of a black military uniform, beret, military boots and armband. Many participants in the movement, especially in the regions, wore ordinary military uniforms, which they brought from the army or bought at the nearest military store.

In Russia, the fashion for retro military uniforms quickly became a thing of the past, but in the United States it still exists - these days, participants in the National Socialist Movement (NSM) hold their rallies in a uniform that clearly copies the uniform of the NSDAP of the last century. The Ku Klux Klan remains faithful to the same white robes as 150 years ago.

Military style is generally a hallmark of the right in the United States. And this is not so much a tribute to fashion as a lifestyle - the very way of life that skinheads spoke about in the 1960s and 70s in Great Britain. Many right-wing skinheads, especially in the States, served in the army. In Germany, neo-Nazi cells in the ranks of the Bundeswehr are being systematically uncovered.

Eventually military uniform was and remains an important element of right-wing skinhead fashion throughout the world. The right in the United States tends to be closely associated with militarized radical structures such as citizen militias. The fashion for these people is formed in the military stores in their neighborhood.

Not surprisingly, in January 2017, a gun store posted an ad that showed supposed customers confronting a crowd of anti-fascists. The poster read: “Anti-fascists, today is not your day.” Many modern brands aimed at the far-right public have military-style items in their collections. Moreover, now we can see the rebirth of the favorite skinhead brand of the 1990s, Alpha Industries, which originally sewed clothing for the US Armed Forces.

Modern designers have revived the fashion for bomber jackets by including them in their new 2013 collections. Alexander McQueen, Dior, Victor&Rolf offer leather bomber jackets with contrasting cuffs and buttons. Stella McCartney has designed a bomber jacket made from lace, silk and cashmere. Pinko designers also did not refuse a lightweight version of the jacket, sewing it from mint-colored nylon and decorating it with lace inserts and embroidery on the back.

Bomber life-giving

School bell...

First lesson...

Bomber and knife.
Beat the devils, destroy them all!



Tsunar was the first to accept this knife
Bomber saved you - your best friend.
Blood is dripping from his bomber jacket
This was done by a bribed cop.
Metal corrosion, “Beat the devils”

In the early 1990s, people came to the right ranks mainly from the fan movement. At that time in Russia, these subcultures were for the most part inextricably linked. Most of the far-right fashionistas refused to take part in large movements like RNE (Russian National Unity) and were very skeptical about their baggy uniforms. The main attribute of a skinhead in the 1990s was a bomber jacket or M65 field jacket. Few could buy the original jacket due to the high price - bombers are much more expensive than leather jackets from Turkey, which were worn by gopniks and bros of all stripes.

Frame: the film “Russia 88”

Soon, demand gave rise to supply, and inexpensive Chinese black bombers with the famous orange lining appeared in markets in many cities across the country. Their prices were more than reasonable. These jackets were worn almost all year round: in winter, they wore a warm sweater knitted by their grandmother under them. The original M-65 jacket did not have a collar to make it easier for the pilot to place the parachute straps. Among skinheads, there was a story that this was done specifically so that in a fight the enemy could not grab you by the collar.

The orange lining also had its own functionality. The pilot needed it in case of an emergency landing: he had to turn his jacket inside out so that he could be easier to find from the air. Fans turned their jackets inside out to make it easier to understand who was theirs and who was a stranger in the fight. According to one version, the inventors of this were Spartak hooligans from the “firm” Flint’s Crew.

In particularly severe frosts, many people wrapped a “rose” (scarf) of their favorite team around their necks.

Camouflage pants were in use, which were also purchased on the market due to the availability of fashionable colors there, in contrast to the dull, baggy green items from the military store. Especially advanced users wore jeans invariably blue, but again, due to their high cost, they were not widely used, especially in the regions. The finishing touch is combat boots. In the provinces, many marched in them until the 2000s.

You also cannot ignore the use of such an accessory as suspenders. The most popular were suspenders in the colors of the Russian or German tricolor. Then came the fashion for narrow suspenders, which were in short supply. Suspenders were not just a wardrobe element - lowered suspenders meant that “a fighter is ready for a fight,” so many wore suspenders exclusively in this form, emphasizing their brutality.

Shoe cult

The first store of the "Doctor and Alex" company - "Footwear of the XXI Century" began operating on October 1, 1998 in the Voikovskaya metro area. This truly epoch-making event finally gave the Moscow public access to the famous Dr. boots. Martens, Grinders and Shelly's. The most popular were Grinders boots with a high top and the same metal glass. I wore similar boots main character film "American History X" in the famous scene of the murder of an African-American, which entered folklore as "bite the curb."

This scene became a direct guide to action for many skinheads of that time. Grindar was literally flying off the shelves. True, unlike Chinese bombers, not everyone could afford them. The response to the popularity of “grinders” was the emergence of the Russian company Camelot. It positioned itself as a Polish brand and produced shoes that were reminiscent of English brands, but at much more reasonable prices.

As a rule, boots were worn with black laces, but the most desperate ones wore white ones, which said that their owner had cleared the land of foreigners. The famous Panzer boots with swastikas and zig runes on the soles, released by the American brand Aryan wear, became a pipe dream for many skins. This dress code was classic in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The standard skinhead look of the time included high-top boots, camouflage pants or rolled-up jeans, suspenders, a T-shirt with a radical image and a bomber jacket.

When the far-right movement radicalized by the mid-2000s, and serious sentences began to be given for crimes motivated by national hatred, this fashion faded away. At the end of the decade, antifa skinheads dressed in a similar way, trying to revive the spirit of 1969 in this way. Young people who remain faithful to the traditions of this fashion can still be found today, but this can only be regarded as cosplay of those times.

The fashion for heavy boots has faded. The American right-wing brand Aryan wear has closed. Shelly's, with its famous Rangers model, specializes in women's shoes, and Grinders began producing cowboy boots. The only brand that remained true to its roots and managed to survive the competition was Dr. Martens. Moreover, in 2010, the brand got a second wind : classic shoes of the 1460 model began to appear in the wardrobes of people who were very far from skinhead fashion. Alice Erskine and other top stars were seen wearing Dr. Martens.

However, in Great Britain the traditional style of skinheads has been preserved. There are families where skinhead traditions are passed on from father to son. Of course, instead of Chinese fakes, European skinheads who adhere to traditions wear original Dr. Martens, Levi's jeans, Fred Perry polo or plaid shirts and original Ben Sherman jackets. This style has long since said nothing concrete about a person’s political views

Fashionable guys

Remember I'm cool now

 I have my own Lonsdale.

I bought it at Children's World

 Clock work times - Lonsdale

“Five minutes later, another mob passed by, clearly trying to merge with the first. And another one in ten. Mostly they were young guys, about 20 years old, dressed in the fashion of their hardcore: gingham shirts, blue jeans, sneakers. Almost no one had our favorite weapon, titanium guns, but most of the fighters were carrying packages in their hands, and everyone had glass bottles in their hands. Well, strategists, the scribe is on your shaved heads! - these are lines from the book “Die, Old Lady” by Sergei Spiker Sakin, which he wrote in 2003.

Around this time period, hooligans and right-wing skinheads began to move away from the fashion of heavy boots and bomber jackets. There are several reasons for this.

Skinhead (from English skinhead - shaved head) - a special trend in fashion that arose thanks to the emergence of a subculture of the same name among working-class London youth in the 60s of the twentieth century and then spread throughout the world. Closely associated with musical styles such as ska, reggae and street punk (aka Oi!). Some of the representatives of this subculture grew up from the environment, others experienced the significant influence of the West Indian ore-boys.

Initially, this movement was famous for its apolitical nature and was focused only on fashion, music and a certain lifestyle. However, over time, some of the skinheads became involved in politics and joined various extreme movements, both left and right, as a result of which neo-Nazi and anarchist movements separated from the traditional skinheads who remained true to their ideals.

Story

At the end of the 50s of the twentieth century, Great Britain was gripped by a real economic boom, which, despite all the existing restrictions, significantly increased the level of income of young people from the working class. Some of the young people preferred to spend all their money on new clothes, for which they received the nickname - fashion. Their subculture was characterized by a special affinity for fashion, music and scooters. It was the mods, or rather their offshoot, the so-called hard mods, who were the first to wear work or army boots, straight or sta-prest, with buttons and suspenders. Unlike their more “refined” counterparts, these mods took particular pride in emphasizing their working-class affiliation, cutting their hair much shorter and not averse to fighting. Hard fashion finally developed into a separate movement around 1968 and around the same time they received a new nickname - skinheads.

Skinheads still retained some of the features of the previous mods, but they were greatly influenced by the style of the Rude Boys, immigrants from Jamaica who settled in England. Along with their behavior and some style features, skinheads borrowed from them a love for ska, rocksteady and early reggae. The latter was so popular in this environment that sellers even began to add the prefix “skinhead” to the word reggae in order to increase record sales.

The skinhead subculture was finally formed by 1969. By this time, skinheads had become so popular that the band Slade even used their appearance as an example for their stage image. Skinheads became even more popular thanks to Richard Allen's novels Skinhead and Skinhead Escapes, which featured plenty of sex scenes and fights.

However, by the beginning of the 70s, the former popularity of skinheads began to decline. Many of the representatives of this trend moved to other groups and began to call themselves in a new way: suedeheads, smoothies or bootboys. Previous trends that were once characteristic of mods, such as brogues, suits, slacks and sweaters, have returned to fashion.

At the end of the 70s, the skinhead subculture was resurrected again, thanks to the emerging punk movement. Around the same time, for the first time in the history of this subculture, some skinhead groups became involved in politics, and began to adhere to far-right movements such as the National Front and the British Movement.

Since 1979, the number of skinheads has increased significantly. One of the most favorite pastimes of these young people was fighting at football matches. However, despite this, among them there were still those who were guided by the previous style. One way or another, such behavior attracted widespread attention from the press. Skinheads, like fashion once upon a time, have become a new threat to society.

Ultimately, the skinhead subculture went far beyond Britain and continental Europe, appearing in Australia and the USA, but with its own local specifics.

Style

Traditional skinheads take as a basis the style of the original subculture that arose in the 60s of the twentieth century.

The Oi! skinhead movement was heavily influenced by 70s punk culture, so their appearance is somewhat different. They usually have more short hair

• , taller shoes and skinnier jeans. Tattoos have become popular among skinheads at least since the “revival” of the movement in the 70s. In the 1980s in the UK you might even find skinheads with tattoos on their foreheads or faces, although this practice is no longer as common. American skinheads preferred to adhere to the hardcore style, and this is one of their territorial features.

Hair

Most skinheads cut their hair with a razor with a No. 2 (sometimes No. 3) attachment. Thus, the hairstyle was short and neat, but the head did not appear completely bald. However, over time, hair length became shorter and shorter, and by the 80s, some representatives shaved their hair “clean up”. Among skinheads, it is usually not customary to wear a mustache and beard, but sideburns are extremely popular, and they are always carefully maintained. As for the girls, in the 60s, most of them continued to adhere to the mod style, however, starting from the 80s, the Chelsea haircut became especially popular, when the hair on the top of the head was shaved very short, leaving it long. back

• , whiskey and bangs. Some girls preferred a more punk version, leaving only their bangs and temples long.

First of all, skinheads have always been famous for their button-down shirts, short or long sleeves, and polo shirts. Favorite brands include Ben Sherman, Fred Perry, Brutus, Warrior or Jaytex. Also popular are shirts or Everlast, shirts with button-down collars, V-neck sweaters or similar sleeveless vests, as well as cardigans and T-shirts. Some skinheads targeting Oi! or the hardcore scene wore plain white shirts. This style was especially common in North America. The most popular jackets were harringtons, bombers, denim jackets (usually blue, sometimes decorated with light spots using bleach), dunk jackets, crombie coats, parkas and much more. Traditional skinheads sometimes wore costumes made from a special fabric (a shiny material resembling shag, the color of which shimmered depending on the angle and light).

Many of the skinheads preferred Sta-Prest trousers or jeans, mostly brands , or . Typically, the trouser legs were rolled up to emphasize the beauty of high boots or open if the legs were wearing moccasins or brogues at the time. Sometimes the jeans were also decorated with bleach stains. This style was especially popular among Oi! skinheads.

The girls wore almost everything the same, and in addition mini-, fishnet stockings or short skirt suits with ¾-length sleeves.

Most skinheads wore suspenders that were no more than one inch wide. Wider suspenders may be associated with the far-right neo-fascist wing of White Power skinheads. Traditionally, suspenders are crossed at the back, however some Oi! oriented skinheads don't do this. Traditional skinheads wear black or white suspenders, sometimes decorated with vertical stripes. Often, due to the color of this accessory, skinheads determine the group to which its owner belongs.

The most common headdresses among skinheads were: pork-pie hat, felt hats, caps, woolen winter hats (without a tassel). A less common option were bowler hats. They were mainly preferred by seaheads and fans of the cult film A Clockwork Orange.

Traditional skinheads also often wore silk in the breast pocket of their crombie coat or in the pocket of a suit made of their favorite iridescent material. Often a given piece of fabric was chosen in a contrasting color. Sometimes it was wrapped around a small piece of cardboard so that it looked like a neatly folded handkerchief from the outside. Among skinheads, it was customary to choose colors that corresponded to their favorite football club. Sometimes wool or silk scarves with the symbols of their favorite team were wrapped around the neck, wrist or belt loop.

Some iceheads carried canes, which is why they received another nickname: brolly boys (from the English brolly - umbrella).

• Shoes

Initially, skinheads wore simple military boots from army supplies. Later, Dr. brand work boots became popular in this environment. Martens, especially cherry colored ones. Them skinheads they polished them to a shine and always made sure that their favorite shoes looked neat. In addition, skinheads wore brogues, moccasins and low Dr. boots. Martens. During the 60s of the twentieth century, Dr. high boots became especially popular. Martens with steel toes hidden under the leather, which turned out to be quite appropriate in street fights. IN last years

skinheads switched to other brands of shoes such as Solovair or Tredair because Dr. Martens are no longer produced in England. Gradually, sports shoes of the brands or Gola became fashionable among skinheads, in which they were comfortable to attend football matches.

Girls usually wore the same shoes as boys, and in addition, the so-called monkey boots. The brand of choice for this model has long been Grafters, but today the same boots are made by Dr. Martens and Solovair.

Today skinheads are a nationalist subculture. The irony is that in the distant 1960s, the non-white population of England largely shaped the tastes and attributes of future neo-fascists, and the war was fought on a completely different front. Initially, skinheads, representatives of the proletariat, opposed themselves to the fashion, the polished youth of the wealthy middle class. But they were friends with the ore boys - young emigrants from Jamaica, which at that time suffered from unemployment. Migrants from the island naturally rushed to the former metropolis to earn money. And, it would seem, the wave of migration should have caused a surge in aggressiveness on the part of the indigenous population, but the ore fighters and skinheads became friends on the basis of common social isolation, and they often worked in the same factories. That is, initially the conflict existed not on a racial, but on an economic plane. Young skinheads adopted the basic elements from the rud-boys appearance and musical tastes. For example, Desmond Decker, a popular ska and reggae performer at that time, and later the well-known Bob Marley became an idol. Moreover, the wide distribution of native Jamaican musical motifs is largely explained by their popularity among skinheads, who have made reggae and ska part of their culture.

Excerpt from “You’ll Never Be 16 Again” by Peter Everett: “Soon you couldn’t go to a black guy’s party without finding a group of skinheads there. But, surprisingly, there was not the slightest disagreement based on racial and cultural differences. White and black youth have never been as close as during the birth of the skinhead movement. Skinheads copied our gait, manner of dressing, speaking, and dancing. They hung out with our girls, smoked our weed, ate our food and bought our records."

What they looked like

Short haircuts

It is not easy to clearly distinguish between the styles of rud-boys and skinheads of the 1960s; in those days, the attributes of both subcultures were closely intertwined. Skinheads, for example, adopted the fashion for short haircuts from their Jamaican friends, but this hairstyle also had a purely practical meaning. The absence of luxuriant hair protected from dust, dirt and lice, which were inevitable when working in factories, factories and mines. Skinheads began shaving their heads only in the 1970s, and initially they wore a short crew cut. Girls sometimes left bangs and locks on the sides, and cut the back of their heads short, just like boys. This haircut distinguished skinheads and rud-boys from mods who preferred long hairstyles.

Suspender

Suspenders are another integral attribute of skinheads, borrowed from the rud boys. Their width, as a rule, did not exceed two and a half centimeters.

Jeans

What is noteworthy is not the jeans themselves, but the way the skinheads wore them: at the waist (suspenders helped) and rolled up almost to the middle of the ankle so as not to get dirty. Among the manufacturers, Levi's, Lee and Wrangler were held in high esteem.

Army boots

Almost all photographs of the 1960s show skinheads wearing heavy combat boots. The choice fell on these shoes not because they were more painful to hit, but because the military uniform was cheap. For the same reason, many skinheads preferred camouflage jackets and pants. Boots Dr. Martens, as the most plausible imitation of military shoes, became popular later.

Shirts and polos

Check, the favorite print of all the British, was used by many brands of the time. The Ben Sherman brand was in demand among skinheads. Polo, in turn, was first worn not for playing tennis. Fred Perry became a classic. According to one version, the reason is in the logo, a laurel wreath, symbolizing victory since antiquity.

Cardigans and V-neck sweaters

Nowadays you won't see a skinhead wearing a cardigan or a V-neck sweater, but thirty-five years ago this was par for the course.

crombie coat

The most desired item for a skinhead was a crombie coat. Coats of a straight silhouette with shoulder pads and lapels were also worn by fashion, but unlike wealthy youth, guys working in factories could rarely afford to buy an unworn new thing. The way they wore it was also different: skinheads looked casual in crombies. Also common were jeans, bombers, harringtons, overalls, and sometimes parkas and trench coats.

From rebels to neo-Nazis

The skinhead movement finally took shape in the late 1960s. It was then that the press first began to write about him. These were mostly notes about small fights: first about battles for territory, in the 1970s - about football fights. But there was no emphasis on race. Skinheads beat mods, teddies, hippies, students, but not blacks.

The transformation into the image we know today began with the first waves of Asian migrants in the 1970s. While the African and Jamaican populations were able to adapt, people from India and Pakistan did not find love among the “second wave” of skinheads. Their culture was too far from European, so they were perceived as strangers to a much greater extent than African Americans. The skinhead movement became massive, and in the wake of dislike for the Asian population, it also became politically active. The British nationalist party, the National Front, also contributed to the change in thinking. In the second half of the 1970s, it actively recruited aggressive skinheads into its ranks. For the first time, the slogan “Keep Britain White” was heard, the music group Skrewdriver, which considered itself a skinhead, announced its neo-Nazi views at the “Rock Against Communism” concert, and in the popular British program Donahuue show, for the first time, a skinhead was identified with a racist.

Shaven-headed guys in high boots, rolled-up jeans, thin suspenders and buttoned polo shirts finally began to be associated with fascism and xenophobia with the coming to power of Margaret Thatcher. As a result of its internal economic policies, mines and factories were closed en masse, and entire sectors of the economy were abolished. Unemployment has increased enormously, leading to a fierce struggle for jobs. From this moment, the movement of NS skinheads (National Socialist skinheads) began, who believed that emigrants were taking away their jobs. As a result, Nazi sentiments prevailed among skinheads, and the original principles and ideals were forgotten.

Despite such a sad end, true tolerance towards representatives of other cultures is worth learning from the “first wave” of skinheads. To those who are in modern world considered the embodiment of racial intolerance, aggression and extremism, in the 1960s the idea of ​​hating someone for their external differences could not have occurred to them. The same cannot be said about their followers, or indeed about most people today.

Very often on the streets you can meet young people calling themselves skinheads. The word “skinhead” can be divided into two English “skin head” and is translated as “shaved head”. Compared to other informal movements, representatives of this subculture have the most complex and developed ideology.

Unfortunately, modern young people have lost the true purpose that the founders of this culture had. And nowadays, most skinheads adhere to rigid racist views, often fixated on fascism and nationalism. Although, there are also groups that adhere to a more peaceful, anti-fascist ideology.

Here is a list of existing directions of this movement:

• traditional skinheads - appeared in response to deviations from the original skin culture; they take the founders of this movement as an example. Traditional skinheads listen to music in the style of ska, reggae, rocksteady (all other styles prefer rock and patriotic music);
• S.H.A.R.P. - Skinhead Against Racial Prejudices - this direction is against racial prejudice;
• R.A.S.H. - Red & Anarchist Skinheads – these representatives support the ideas of socialism, communism and anarchism;
• NS-skinheads - Nazi-skinheads / Boneheads - Boneheads (also called right-wing skinheads) - preach National Socialist ideas, right-wing and far-right views on politics and other values;
• Straight edge skinheads - sXe Skinheads - people who believe that bad habits such as alcoholism, smoking and drug addiction are bad. This group is for healthy image life.

What do skinheads look like?

1. Distinctive signs of skinheads:

• “Celtic cross” (an image of a cross placed in a circle);
• classic German swastika;
• skull and Bones.

2. Skinhead clothing. Preference is given to the military style - everything to make it comfortable to move. Boots are also usually military boots with thick soles. Since we started talking about shoes, I’ll note that the color of the laces is of no small importance. By the laces you can determine whether you belong to one direction or another.

3. Skinhead hairstyles. As you probably already guessed, this is a clean-shaven head, but simply a very short haircut is also allowed.

4. Skinhead tattoos. The themes of tattoos are very diverse. These can be inscriptions and abbreviations, as well as ordinary patterns. Some tattoo their bodies with fascist swastikas or any other designs with a racist-Nazi theme.

Skinhead ideology

Most skinheads are racists and nationalists, and everything that follows from this is their main ideology: love for representatives of their nation, their culture and hatred for others.

Well, in the end I will answer the question “how to become a skinhead?” If you are close in spirit to the ideology of skins, then feel free to change your image and look for similar friends. Just never forget that all your actions must be legal.

Skinheads are often considered fascists. The image that these shaven-headed guys (and sometimes girls) created around themselves with constant fights has become confused in the mass consciousness with groups of neo-Nazis who also generally shave their skulls and like to wear dark colors. In fact, fascist skinheads do not exist, just as Muslim Christians or Ukrainian Indians do not exist.
The skinhead subculture has not preserved the exact date of its origin for history. It is reliably known that this happened somewhere in the port cities of Great Britain in the late 50s and early 60s of the twentieth century. If you try to approach this moment creatively, you can draw the following picture.
British guys from poor families, after an ordinary day of work, sat in an ordinary pub and drank beer in anticipation of the next conflict with sailors from merchant ships. We didn’t have to wait long, the sailors came and gave the guys a good scolding. Once after a fight, the guys shaved their heads bald, which is very convenient in street fights, since there is nothing to grab onto (hence the name “skinhead” comes from skinhead - translated from English - bare head), tore off the collars of their jackets, rolled up their pants and put on their shoes. your Dr. work boots. Martens. They looked, if not scary, then at least aggressive. True, this still did not frighten the sailors and they mostly gave the guys kicks, but the image itself was firmly entrenched in the heads of residents of working-class areas, who began to imitate and quickly spread this fashion throughout the country.
It was at this time that immigrants from Jamaica began to settle in London. They were looking for a prestigious job here, but very often they could not find it, so they spent a lot of time on the street, huddled in groups called rude-boys - “rude” (by the way, the famous musician Bob Marley was a “red-boy” in his youth ). White youth often visited black neighborhoods, were interested in their culture, and it was from this time that the skinheads were captured by the musical style of “ska,” which at the beginning became almost the official music of the subculture. Another thing that combined black and white bullies at that moment; All of them are lovers of the “holy” drink - beer.
The beliefs of skinheads were not defined at that time. More precisely, they existed, but completely different, like the youth themselves. Among the blacks there were those who liked to chat about black brotherhood, and among the whites there were those who sympathized with right-wing movements, although racism and chauvinism never existed as the official ideology of skinheads. On the contrary, it often happened that skinheads, together with black red-haired boys, attacked representatives of the middle class teddy boys, for whom they felt class hatred and fought with racist rockers, who were often hired to guard rallies of right-wing parties.

Of course, it cannot be said that this subculture was completely angelic. Chauvinism was very widespread among skinheads, and in the 70s, everyday racism was also attached to it. They spent their time fighting, drinking beer, listening to ska music, and in between all this they added another item to their wardrobe that has become today a classic sign of belonging to a group - suspenders. Although, one note should be made here - heavy boots, rolled-up jeans with suspenders and jackets without collars are considered “skinhead work clothes.” The original uniform is black formal suits with matching black shoes. True, for fights they still used comfortable work uniforms. And they fought with whom - with blacks, with whites, with yellows, with rich people, with fans who supported another football club, with other skinheads and especially with hippies. The hippies got the worst of it from the skinheads, because in their imagination, “flower children” were representatives of the middle class and could always move away from their hobbies and move on to a normal life. Hippies wore long hair, and the skins shaved their heads.
After 1972 the skinhead movement faded and skinheads became a rarity on the streets. Most of them grew up, grew their hair, and put their boots and heavy socks in the attic. But a few years later a new boom was waiting for the world - the punks came! Punks brought with them new symbols and new music. The skinheads, at least what was left of them, recognized some of this music as their own. But they were not interested in all punk, they listened only to those groups that in their lyrics raised the problems of the working class, corrupt politicians, and patriotism.

Journalist for the popular British publication “Sun” Harry Bushell called such punk a simple but meaningful word “Oh!” (Oi!). Among the most famous groups of this direction are “Sham 69”, “The business” and “The angelic upstarts”. Style "Oi!" distinguished by a very dirty sound and almost tuneless singing. The main thing in this music is to shout out the loudest slogan. Characteristic of the style is the cry “Oi! Oi! Oi! " In Ukraine, this kind of music is played by the Kiev group “Rebel boys”. This is where the ideological basis of the skinheads that we know now came into conflict. It can be expressed with the slogan: “I love the country - I hate the government!” Many of these groups even had a leftist bias, and therefore, when one of these teams, namely “Skrewdriver”, held its concert under the slogan “Rock is against communism”, the real skins turned away from it. Since then, “Skrewdriver” no longer belongs to the “Oi!” style, but are representatives of Nazi music, which is called “white power”.