NORTHERN SOUL STYLE & DRESS CODE
The early fashion of northern soul nodded towards the mod culture style; incorporating brands such as Fred Perry, Ben Sherman and clothing such as; polo shirts, bomber jackets, leather and denim jackets with northern soul patches on, usually with the name of club nights on so the 'soulies' could embrace the nights which they have attended. Wide legged pants and skirts were worn eventually but this isn't what everyone turned up in initially.
'Yvonne Duckett, who designed the women’s costumes for Constantine’s film, describes her first experience of Wigan Casino, aged 14, in Northern Soul: An Illustrated History: “We’d obviously come wearing the wrong clothes. It was so hot in there and I was wearing a green polo-neck jumper. Under the fluorescent strip lights you could see my white bra all night and I was really self-conscious about it.”' - Another Magazine.
Suggesting that people only realised what they should wear when they got there and started dancing, people went in clothes which they became too hot in, and as the clubs got bigger and the more people started to attend the club nights, the clothes needed to get baggier to be able to move and be free, carelessly. The nights got longer, the attire began to form itself, it was not classed as a fashionable event, they wore the clothing for function much more than form.
As Elliot James Langridge, star of Northern Soul, told Dazed, you can’t really understand the style of Northern Soul – whether that’s what to listen to, or how to dress – until you start to dance: “It makes it mean more.” - Dazed.com
For boys the main attire eventually became extremely baggy trousers and sports vests, breathable clothing that wouldn't overheat in the clubs.
The girls wore similar light weight tops and breathable polo's as well as wide legged culottes or full circle skirts - these really exaggerated the skilled movement which the soulie's had out on the dance floor in Wigan Casino.
The hair was always kept short, again for the functionality to reduce the uncomforted feeling of being hot and sweaty. This is also how part of the skin head and mod culture was echoed in the Northern Soul movement as many men and women has skinhead styles.
'Yvonne Duckett, who designed the women’s costumes for Constantine’s film, describes her first experience of Wigan Casino, aged 14, in Northern Soul: An Illustrated History: “We’d obviously come wearing the wrong clothes. It was so hot in there and I was wearing a green polo-neck jumper. Under the fluorescent strip lights you could see my white bra all night and I was really self-conscious about it.”' - Another Magazine.
Suggesting that people only realised what they should wear when they got there and started dancing, people went in clothes which they became too hot in, and as the clubs got bigger and the more people started to attend the club nights, the clothes needed to get baggier to be able to move and be free, carelessly. The nights got longer, the attire began to form itself, it was not classed as a fashionable event, they wore the clothing for function much more than form.
As Elliot James Langridge, star of Northern Soul, told Dazed, you can’t really understand the style of Northern Soul – whether that’s what to listen to, or how to dress – until you start to dance: “It makes it mean more.” - Dazed.com
For boys the main attire eventually became extremely baggy trousers and sports vests, breathable clothing that wouldn't overheat in the clubs.
The girls wore similar light weight tops and breathable polo's as well as wide legged culottes or full circle skirts - these really exaggerated the skilled movement which the soulie's had out on the dance floor in Wigan Casino.
The hair was always kept short, again for the functionality to reduce the uncomforted feeling of being hot and sweaty. This is also how part of the skin head and mod culture was echoed in the Northern Soul movement as many men and women has skinhead styles.
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