The International Writers Magazine:Music
My
New Jumper
James D Evans
This
is how Blur looked in and around 1993. It was their new image
conjured up off the back of their first LP 'Leisure' released
two years previous, an album that had them camped firmly in the
arse end of a scene called 'baggy' and which was latterly morphing
into something the music press were speculatively beginning to
call 'shoe-gazing.
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Blur had a new
sound too to accompany this new look, a sound which was proving to be
equally out of keeping with the prevalent fashion in threads. Indeed
so shocked were their record company on hearing the finished tapes for
their second album 'Modern Life is Rubbish' that they were heard
to decry that there weren't any potential singles and Blur had
better retreat to the studio and come up with two pretty pronto so at
least they had something to promote this sonic oddity with. A few days
later and 'For Tomorrow' & 'Chemical World' were in the can,
tunes that would both reach the heady chart position of 28.
In 1992 Blur released the single Popscene and if
the record company had been paying attention then maybe Modern Life
Is Rubbish wouldn't have come as such a surprise. It's a defining
moment in their career but there are earlier signs still, sartorial
indicators that Blur weren't ever going to be a band comfortable with
following the pack. Check out their video for 'Bang' released
in the August of 1991 and Damon Albarn in particular is a visual portent
of a style that was a good three years in the offing. Dressed down in
a shabby brown leather sheepskin coat, yellow 70's retro t-shirt and
short layered messy hair he could pass as a member of the Strokes now
let alone a prime mover on the Brit Pop scene he helped to create in
1994 with the release of the era-defining 'Parklife'. But Damon,
hang on to your ego, because it was always as a group that Blur were
perceived, a key to a success unusually withstanding in a business that
thrives on the temporal. Graeme Coxon in particular seemed to know very
keenly what he was doing with his vertically pin striped navy blazer,
grey V-neck sweater and scuffed up desert boots.
He was Damon's slightly more scruffy counterfoil, if he needed one,
often unshaven, slightly miserable and often drunk (as they all were
around this time). Dave picked up the cues and came out wearing the
requisite gear as and when required, demonstrating an eye for detail
way beyond the expected call of a drummers duty. And Alex? Ahhh, Alex,
the handsome Alex. He could have been a model, there's no doubt about
it and all the girls loved him for it. I loved him for it too and what
I didn't share in chiselled good looks and a perfectly cheeky grin I
did share in height and build. And so it was to Alex I initially turned
when fashioning myself in the image of those Brit-pop conquistadors
that fateful summer of 1994.
What Alex seemed to get right about his look before the rest of the
group was the need for a tight trouser. If you're going to wear vintage
Fred Perry's, your old man's V-neck sweaters and slim-line footwear
like the desert boot then you're doing yourself no favours if you then
proceed to marry this ensemble with a pair of long, loose fitting jeans.
And whilst the rest of Blur were putting turn-ups in their jeans to
accommodate this fact Alex was wearing tight, black and slightly faded
slacks to complement his fitted shirts and sweaters.
Shopping in Marks and Sparks for a grey V-neck sweater I stumbled not
upon what I was looking for, but a jumper of a deep yellow hue, described
on the label as being the colour of gold in fact. I was instantly reminded
of Alex James's sartorial dalliances of the early nineties, that piece
of footage in Blur's tour diary 'Starshaped' were an infuriated
Graeme can't seem to drink his cup of tea, sitting at the back of the
mini-bus, spilling it every time he tries; swearing he turns and then
smiles to see Alex looking out of the window, nonchalantly whistling
to whatever's on the vans radio, cup of coffee held motionless in one
hand, cigarette perfectly poised in the other. AND THAT JUMPER MAN!
He's wearing a mustard yellow V-neck jumper of perfect proportions and
the bloke looks great in it.
And so I purchased this Marks and Spencer foil, and now Blur aren't
the band they once were I don't even have to worry about the negative
association that often comes with dressing like well known bands. I
can just wear it with my tight black cords, a pair of desert boots (naturally)
and an old shirt underneath - or maybe just a black T-shirt? And I will
be pleased, pleased that my sense of style hasn't changed much in the
last ten years, untouched by the flippancy of fashion, and girls will
see me and with any luck think I look as good now as Alex James looked
back then in the heady days of the early to mid 1990's. Well, one can
hope...?
© James D Evans
http://nationofjames.blogspot.com/
Young British Filmakers
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