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The Casuals Alphabet “Aquascutum, Burberry, Cecil Gee, Dior, Ellese, Fiorucci, Gucci, House of Fraser, Ice, Jaeger, Kappa, Lyle and Scot...You get the idea” Danny Walters – A Walworth Roader
Below is the promo film for the book The Mumper, the second best seller from the pens of Baxter and Hewitt...Enjoy
THERE are only so many subjects that would put David Beckham and Darren Ward in the same sentence. Football may be one, but Millwall are a far cry from Real Madrid and The Den is hardly the Bernabéu. No.
It is like that psychological test: ask someone to think of a vegetable and nine times out of ten the answer is “carrot”. Ask someone to think of a common trait held by Ward — “the Peckham Beckham” — and the England captain and the answer is likely to be “dodgy barnets”. These so-called “dodgy barnets”, however, are, in the eyes of many, a part of Ward’s and Beckham’s tribute to the gods of fashion. The mullet comeback kings are the latest in a long line of footballers who have doubled as style icons during their careers. Or, at least in Ward’s case, have held fashion in the same esteem as football.
When we look for fashion tips, we no longer turn to the likes of Jude Law and Sienna Miller. Now we turn to Posh and Becks, or Wayne and Colleen. It may make some enthusiasts of haute couture to shudder, but Paolo Hewitt and Mark Baxter were so taken by the footballer as a dedicated follower of fashion that they have written a book about it.
“When you look at that picture of George Best (featured on the cover of the book), he could be a film star,” Baxter said. “My idea was to trace George through to David Beckham. Beckham’s the same sort of thing. He’s gone above football and he’s become an icon to some. The idea was to fill the gap, over 40 years.”
So The Fashion of Football was born. Think exclusive London clubs such as Chinawhite, bottles of Cristal, Burberry and Knightsbridge — not Filthy McNasty’s Whiskey Café near King’s Cross station, where the book was launched. Think again. Baxter, a Millwall fan, and Hewitt, a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur, are no Trinny and Susannah.
The two came together over their shared passion for football and all things Mod. Quadrophenia and the like, then? “The worst film ever made,” Hewitt said. Really? “Absolutely. It’s a film about mods. Have you ever seen a more badly dressed bunch of people in all your life? Have you seen the poster? Check out Sting’s creases. They stop at his knees.”
The book is a 3½-month journey of exploration of the well-dressed footballer. “That’s Sixties mods for us,” Baxter, who looks and sounds like a sharply dressed version of Ray Winstone, said. “George Best, Bobby Moore, Alan Hudson, Sixties, Seventies,” Hewitt said. “When you get into the Eighties, it’s disaster time.”
What Baxter and Hewitt look for is the individual, a show-off on and off the pitch — apparently an increasingly rare specimen. “That’s how the football clubs want them,” Hewitt said. “They don’t want individuals. They want 11 players. When you have flamboyant players, they tend to dress how they play. George Best dressed like he played. Bobby Moore, too, with the suits — controlled, elegant.”
The pair concluded, after a tip-off from Frank McLintock, that the first “metrosexual” player was Gordon Smith, the Hibernian and Scotland forward from the 1950s who died in August. Hewitt e-mailed Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting and a Hibs fan, to find out more. Welsh delivered a footballing biography of Smith. “A wealth of information, my man, and many thanks for it, ” Hewitt said. “But was Mr Smith a good dresser or not? Was he as sharp as his crosses or as scruffy as Ralph Coates’s barnet?” You get the idea. The book is a bible for the fashion-conscious football fan. You will even find out where Darren Ward gets his hair cut.
The Fashion of Football, by Paolo Hewitt and Mark Baxter (Mainstream Publishing £7.99)***************************************************** ************************************************************ **************************** Images from the original hardback 2004

***The Official Press Release***
THE FASHION OF FOOTBALL From Best to Beckham, From Mod to Label Slave By Paolo Hewitt and Mark Baxter Photographs by Terry O’Neill .
THE PAPERBACK OF THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BOOK IS PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 5TH 2006 “ONE OF THE TOP 50 FOOTBALL BOOKS OF ALL TIME”... FOUR FOUR TWO The Ultimate Football Magazine.
This book follows a Spurs fan and a Millwall fan on a journey to discover the origins of fashion in football. They are two football men, clothes men and music men, both season ticket holders of their respective clubs.
Starting from the lifting of the maximum wage for players by Jimmy Hill in the early 1960’s, and the blossoming of Georgie Best with his boutiques in Manchester, they follow the story through to the‘branding’ of David Beckham.
They find the first ever Metrosexual playing for Hibernian in the 1950’s
Talk to Sir Peter Blake about his favourite player
Hear Irvine Welsh tell of his ‘Famous Five’
Look through the labels of a classic Mod wardrobe
Find Bobby Moore sharing a tailor with Michael Caine and Sean Connery
Have a drink with an emphysemic Buzzcock
Speak to the ex England International who runs a bespoke shirt making business
Take tea with two Mayfair Orphans who have their backgrounds in the East End of London
Talk Moore and Beckham with tailors Mark Powell and William Hunt
Compare haircuts with the Beckham from Peckham
Take a stroll down Savile Row and Carnaby Street
Discover which Beatle bankrolled Tommy Nutter ? Get given the elbow by Stone Island
Meet the Granny Takes a Trip designer who acted for Fellini
Hear of the legendary Tottenham Hotspur skinhead girls
Get an Email from the notorious The Cardiff Soul Crew
Discover how one Walworth Road shopkeeper was nearly ruined by Bjorn Borg
And get detailed info. on the terraces of Wolverhampton from Kevin Rowland
...Not your usual Fashion or Football book then....
“A STYLE BIBLE “- The Observer “THIS BOOK IS A BIBLE FOR THE FASHION CONSCIOUS FOOTBALL FAN”- The Times
marketing&[email protected] / 020 7840 8400
Contact for Authors : mono_media@hotmail / 07967 290 150
The Fashion of Football ISBN: 18401 88703 Paperback published January 5th 2006 - Mainstream £7.99 www.footballandfashion.co.uk
Robert Potter of The Weekly NewsThe clothes may well ..maketh the man' - but when worn by a world-famous footballer they also make front-page news. As fans will always follow every haircut and style statement made by footballing fashion icons like David Beckham.
However, this link between football and fashion is long-standing, first forged in the 60s when the term ....players' appearances'' took on a whole new meaning. Now a ground-breaking new book, ..The Fashion of Football,' traces the phenomenon of players looking the part off the pitch as well as on and how this fascination with fashion turned the terraces into seething catwalks for those in the know. For co-authors Paolo Hewitt, a football fashion expert and former Tottenham Hotspur trialist, and Mark Baxter, Millwall's very own Mod culture connoisseur, researching and writing the book was indeed a labour of love.
"I'm a '60's fan and I got an idea for the book after seeing a photograph of George Best in the latest Carnaby Street fashions of the day,'' Mark told The Weekly News. ....I wondered where I could find a book with similar photographs of other players. ....It's the old cliche, but I couldn't find a book like it anywhere and I thought, ..Is there a gap here?'
....The book starts in 1962, when wage restrictions were lifted, the players had to spend their big wages somewhere so they started looking more and more flamboyant. From then on it was a natural progression, from Best to Beckham. ....Paolo and I sat down and drew up a list of players that we remembered from over the years who'd stood out because of their haircuts, clothes, or off-the-pitch stories we'd heard about them and, basically, we wrote to them all.''
Most of the players were only too keen to help, but the interviews were far from formal - and as Mark was to find out, former Chelsea favourite Alan Hudson may well be past his 70s best, but it still takes a decent man-marker to keep up with him!
....Alan was very hard to nail down to one place,'' said Mark, ....but a boxing promoter friend of ours told us he was going to attend a boxing press conference. The idea was that we would come along and have a chat with him in the bar afterwards. ....Suddenly, Hudson's mobile phone rang and he was gone, I'd lost him in a second,'' explained Mark, ....but I was told he'd gone to this local drinking bar and I had to laugh, because when I got there it was just like the old .. Winchester Club' from the ..Minder' series - even down to a barman called Dave!
....Hudson's ..holding court' with these 30 guys and all I had was a ragged piece of paper and a biro, but he was great and he told me about how he'd always been into his clothes, even before the football, which is probably why the fashion-conscious fans took to him.'' As Paolo pointed out, once the players at the highest level became more aware that ..the beautiful game' should be played by ..the beautiful people,' it spawned a friendly rivalry over who knew the best outfitters. ....Hudson told us about his team-mate Peter Osgood, whom he described as a ..country farmer' in need of advice as to which were the best London clothes shops,'' said Paolo. ....According to Hudson, just a week later Osgood was giving the fashion tips to other players, as if he was the one who'd found the right shops!''
Across the river in north London, trends were being kept firmly in check by tradition, as Paolo found out when he chatted with Frank McLintock, the captain of Arsenal's first double-winning side of 1971. ....The club uniform was very strict in the 70s,'' said Paolo, ....and Frank told me how whenever he thinks of the manager, Bertie Mee, it's not about him talking tactics or giving instructions from the touchline, it's only of him saying ....collar and tie, collar and tie!''
However, a gifted maverick with a style to match will always be a crowd favourite and while Highbury's North Bank faithful took the likes of Charlie George and, later, Charlie Nicholas to their hearts, up the road at Tottenham Paolo recalls how Steve Perryman gained respect on ..The Shelf.'
....He came out onto the pitch with this really short haircut and we were all convinced he was a skinhead - it was like, ..he's one of us!','' laughed Paolo. ....But as he explained to me, he'd been down at Brentford working on his mother's market stall and decided he needed a haircut. The barber who cut it also cut a lot of boxers' hair, so he'd shaved it short and Steve thought nothing more about it, but for us on the terraces he became the original ..Spurs skinhead.'
....I've met some real heroes of mine before, from Marvin Gaye to Stevie Wonder and James Brown, but when Steve Perryman first came into the room I couldn't say a word!'' admitted Paolo on meeting his hero.
As football fashion became more sophisticated, players employed the services of experts such as ..Tony The Tailor,' who cut Paul Gascoigne's sharpest suit for his press conference on signing for Italian club Lazio. ....Tony told me it was an immaculate purple mohair, three-buttoned suit,'' explained Paolo, ....all the world's press were there and, this being Italy, the first question was ..where did you get your suit?' Tony thought, ..I've got it made' - until Gascoinge replies ..What this? The rag-and-bone man!'' Football has often been described as a game of two halves and in keeping with this, ..The Fashion of Football' is similarly divided, with part two focussing on the punters rather than the players. ....In the 60s, London was where it was all happening, all the youth cults started there'' said Paolo, ....and what London football fans did by default, following England's World Cup win in 1966, the game becoming a national obsession and the motorways opening up, was to take their fashions all around the country.
....From talking to Kevin Rowland, the lead singer of Dexys Midnight Runners, we heard of how when Wolves were playing a London team their supporters knew who the away fans were because of their short hair.....Unfortunately for Kevin, a Wolves' supporter living in and London travelling home with his short haircut, it was only his Wolves' scarf which stopped him from being a target.
....Football, much more than say music, popularised fashions across the country,'' said Paolo, ....it started with the skinheads and it's carried on ever since, right up to the Casuals and their sportswear.'' As Mark and Paolo pointed out, fashions in the stands change faster than some Premiership managers' jobs, as a must-have brand which filters through the ranks on one particular month is as dated as a ..mullet' haircut the next, but only the keenest eye would spot the subtle changes within football's ever-evolving sub-cultures.
....Whenever you look around you, there'll always be someone who's ..cutting edge','' said Mark ....and football's the same. I've even noticed men at Millwall recently wearing Birkenstock sandals because the weather was hot - and I never thought I'd see that day,'' he laughed.
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