October 1, 2013 by JP - 7 Comments

THE LEATHER BOYS, 1964 | THE ACE CAFE, LOVE TRIANGLE, MOTORCYCLES, MORRISSEY & MORE

It was great being a part of 1st Annual NYC Motorcycle Film Festival in Brooklyn last week. Lots of great films and filmmakers were exposed to fresh eyes hungry for inspiring motorcycle art, culture, and history on the screen. An interesting after-film Q & A brought up a seminal motorcycle film of the 1960s, “The Leather Boys”, not just necessarily for the striking “Ton-Up Boys” and bikes– actually more for it’s place in history for being the first British film to be rated ‘X’ for having homosexual themes than actual nudity of a graphic nature, per se.

I was first exposed to “The Leather Boys” as a teenage fan of The Smiths (it was a very influential and transforming film for Morrissey, and many young gay men in England). Clips and images of the film and it’s stars were used in The Smiths’ video “Girlfriend in a Coma” and their single, “William, It Was Really Nothing.” In a 1988 NME interview at the Cadogan Hotel (where Oscar Wilde was arrested), Morrissey even said, “I’m almost quite speechless now, it’s a very historic place and obviously it means a great deal to me… to be sitting here staring at Oscar’s television and the very video that Oscar watched “The Leather Boys on.” (The ‘Oscar’s television’ comment, obviously an impossibility, is Moz being snarky and insulting the intelligence of the NME reporter…) Hearing “The Leather Boys” being referenced all these years later by filmmaker Eric Tretbar (Girl Meets Bike), and Paul d’Orleans of The Vintagent made me want to take a closer look at the historical influence of “The Leather Boys”, of which there is several layers.

Rita Tushingham and Colin Campbell in the iconic British film, “The Leather Boys”, 1964.

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September 30, 2012 by JP - 4 Comments

VINTAGE MENSWEAR | A COLLECTION FROM THE VINTAGE SHOWROOM’S BOOK

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I was pretty stoked when Doug Gunn sent me a copy of — Vintage Menswear — A Collection from the Vintage Showroom — as I’ve long been an admirer. Being in the menswear trade myself, London has always been a favorite stop for inspiration, and there’s no better place to be inspired than The Vintage Showroom. The collection is insane and beautifully presented, covering everything from academia, sporting, hunting, motoring, military wear, workwear, denim– it’s no surprise that they are one of the most complete and prestigious vintage dealers in the world. Of special interest to me are all things related to motoring as you see below including vintage leathers, Barbour, Belstaff, etc., and all the great snippets of the history, construction, and function behind the pieces.

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CHAMPION CAR CLUB JACKET, 1950s– “This is a simple, zip-up cotton jacket with fish-eye buttons at the cuffs and a short collar. What it signifies, however, is so much more. The hand-embroidered, chain-stitched imagery on its back places it squarely in the 1950s, at the height of the hot-rodding craze in the US. Hot-rodding was said to have been driven by young men returning from service abroad after World War II who had technical knowledge, time on their hands, and the habit of spending long days in male, if not macho, company. Rebuilding and boosting cars for feats of both spectacle and speed — often 1930s Ford Model Ts, As and Bs, stripped of extraneous parts, engines tuned or replaced, tires beefed up for better traction, and a show-stopping paint job as the final touch — became an issue of social status among hot-rodding’s participants. This status was expressed through clothing too. There were the ‘hot-rodders’ of the 1930s, when car modification for racing across dry lakes in California was more an innovative sport than a subculture, complete with the Southern California Timing Association of 1937 providing ‘official’ sanction. But by the 1950s, hot-rodding was a style too. decade later it was, as many niche tastes are, commercialized and mainstream, with car design showing hot-rod traits.” –Vintage Menswear, Douglas Gunn, Roy Luckett& Josh Sims

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November 2, 2010 by JP - 12 Comments

THE RUGGED ROAD | AN AMBITIOUS MOTORCYCLE JOURNEY FOR THE AGES

In 1934, two incredible women, Theresa Wallach and Florence Blenkiron, set out on a 600cc single-cylinder Panther equipped with sidecar and trailer and rode from London to Cape Town, South Africa. No modern roads, no back up plan, just a giant set of balls that any man would envy. Both women were already accomplished competitive racers, who were savvy enough to raise corporate sponsorship– which just goes to show how seriously they were taken as motorcyclists. The pair shot straight across the Sahara through equatorial Africa, and South to the Cape, on the long and brutal trek without so much as a compass. A feat that no man had dared to even attempt.

Here’s the AMA’s account of their story, and the incredible account of Theresa Wallach’s lifetime on two wheels. No wonder she was inducted into their Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Warning: If you’re anything like me, reading this may make you feel like an epic under-achiever.

Motorcycling pioneer ~ Theresa Wallach

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Theresa Wallach was a pioneering motorcyclist whose lifelong involvement in the sport included being a racer, motorcycle adventurer, military dispatch rider, engineer, author, motorcycle dealer, mechanic and riding school instructor. Wallach overcame numerous obstacles that confronted women motorcyclists of her era to become an enduring advocate of the sport. Wallach’s willingness to turn from traditional roles led to a lifestyle full of exploration, adventure and a never-ending dedication to motorcycling. Wallach was in the vanguard of redefining the role of women in motorcycling.

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The Panther Redwing Model 100 motorcyle that Wallach & Blenkiron used was fitted with extra heavy-duty Webb forks, heavier gauge wheel spokes, wider mudguards to accommodate Fort Dunlop 3.5 inch car tires, and a Moseley block pillion saddle. The sidecar was a standard Watsonian touring model with long, heavy-duty flat leaf springs at the rear and coil springs at the front. Go read “The Rugged Road”, by Theresa Wallach.

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December 1, 2009 by JP - 10 Comments

MARIANNE FAITHFULL | SISTER MORPHINE

Marianne Faithfull filming La Motocyclette (Girl on a Motorcycle), 1967

Marianne Faithfull– of noble roots in masochistic boots, sang folk songs, took the Stones on, rocked the London scene with Anita Pallenberg Boho Queen… and she was just getting warmed up. Encore, Encore!

Marrianne Faithfull– Italy, 1967 (left) Filming La Motocyclette (Girl on a Motorcycle), 1967 (right)

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April 8, 2009 by JP - 2 Comments

BURBERRY OF LONDON | GABARDINE’S CLASSIC CHECK(ERED) PAST

Undoubtedly one of the most recognizable plaids in the world, the Burberry check, formally known as the Haymarket Check or Burberry Classic Check, was first introduced in 1924, and used in the lining of Burberry’s iconic trench coats– but there’s a lot more than the check to the Burberry story.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting London with the designer Jeffrey Banks, who (along with Doria De La Chapelle) wrote TARTAN Romancing the Plaid. While there, we visited the Burberry headquarters and were given a tour of their archives and in-house museum– which included Burberry coats owned by the Queen and exact replicas of garments they had made for Shackleton, who led the legendary 1914 expedition to cross Antarctica. The Burberry company history is simply amazing. Their many contributions to fabric & garment innovation that hugely benefited exploration endeavors and war-time efforts alike are mostly unknown to a lot of us, and deserve to be heralded.

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