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Skinheads, named after their shaven heads, are members of a working class subculture that originated in Britain in the 1960s, where they were heavily influenced by the rude boys of the West Indies and the mods of the UK. more...

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In subsequent decades, the skinhead subculture spread to other parts of Europe, North America and other continents. Politically, they range from far-right and racist to far-left and anti-fascist — and everything in between (including apolitical). Fashion-wise, they range from the more cleancut mod-influenced 1960s image to the less-strict punk- and hardcore-influenced styles.

History

Mod origins

In the late 1950s, Great Britain's entrenched class system limited most working class people's educational, housing and economic opportunities. However, Britain's post-war economic boom led to an increase in disposable income among many young people. Some of those youths invested in new fashions popularized by American soul groups, British R&B bands, certain movie actors, and Carnaby Street clothing merchants.

These youths became known as the mods, a youth subculture noted for its consumerism — and devotion to fashion, music and scooters. Mods of lesser means made do with practical styles that suited their lifestyle and employment circumstances: steel-toe boots, straight-leg jeans or Sta-Prest trousers, button-up shirts, and braces (called suspenders in the USA). When possible, these working-class mods spent their money on suits and other sharp outfits to wear at dancehalls, where they enjoyed soul, ska, bluebeat and rocksteady music.

Split with the mods

Around 1965, a schism developed between the peacock mods, who were less violent and always wore the latest expensive clothes, and the hard mods (also known as gang mods), who were identified by their shorter hair and more working-class image. Also known as lemonheads and peanuts, these hard mods became commonly known as skinheads by about 1968.

Their shorter hair may have come about for practical reasons, since long hair can be a liability in industrial jobs and a disadvantage in streetfights. Skinheads may also have cut their hair short in defiance of the more bourgeois hippie culture popular at the time. In addition to retaining many mod influences, early skinheads were very interested in Jamaican rude boy styles and culture, especially the music: ska, rocksteady and early reggae (before the tempo slowed down and lyrics became focused on topics like black nationalism and Rastafarianism).

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