Days of glory: The Brits are coming

MANILA, Philippines - We’re living in the fallout, the afterbirth. Fred Perry’s Subculture, a film chronicling 50 years of British postwar youth movements (which premieres locally on Oct. 27 at Whitespace), exhibits punks, mods, skinheads, rudeboys, ravers, soulboys and more in all their musical and stylistic glory. Today’s blogcore doesn’t stand a chance.

What gives Fred Perry the right to make a movie about punks and skinheads? There’s a healthy suspicion of companies that bankroll media because no one believes their intentions are altruistic. We have visions of flabby execs in ill-fitting, overpriced suits brainstorming over steak lunches about who else they can subvert to boost their bottom line.

The answer is in the archival footage that makes up the bulk of the film. Across almost every counterculture, from Vespa-cruising mods to rude boys swaying in dancehalls, the laurel wreath logo crops up again and again on young people’s shirts. Without feeling heavy-handed — except for a few awkwardly inserted testimonials at the beginning of each episode — the film gives its patron due respect: yes, these people wore these clothes. These are quintessential British subcultures and Fred Perry is a quintessential British brand.

Frank-N-Furter: Black sequined cover-up by Delby Bragais, black sequined swimsuit by Maureen Disini, corset by Tina Daniac (0917-8128462), pearl necklace by AC+632

To have any authenticity, a movie documenting inclusive groups needs a director with insider credentials running the show. Fred Perry reached out to scene legend Don Letts to helm the project; Letts’ exhaustive résumé includes: director of 20-plus music documentaries and videos; resident DJ at the Roxy nightclub during the mid-to-late ‘70s, which was to London as CGBC was to New York; manager of the seminal all-girl punk band The Slits; and store manager of Acme Attractions, a clothing shop frequented by The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, and Bob Marley.

Since it’s made up of old footage and interviews, the movie is more edited than directed; still, Letts’ firsthand knowledge of the material pays off in how he takes so many seemingly disparate groups and strings them together into a coherent narrative. There’s a real overarching sense of evolution; each successive counterculture is clearly shaped by those that came before and by mainstream society and economic conditions at large, either as natural progressions (mods to skinheads), or as a violent response (punk as a reaction to the poor economy and high unemployment of ‘70s England).

England’s xenophobia, mostly expressed in football hooliganism, is well-documented; what’s not is how blacks and whites often put aside their differences and made a lot of good music and dance in the process. Letts illustrates how skinheads, who were synonymous with hate, initially had nothing to do with white purity and actually took their musical cues from the West Indies immigrants they stood shoulder to shoulder with in London’s notoriously run-down housing estates. Along with the northern and southern soul movements and the 2-Tone punk offshoot, there’s a secret history here of racial integration that’s overlooked by most accounts. 

Dress by Tango, black mary-janes by Janylin

Think of punk rock and “gender equality” isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. The unexpected and excellent focus of punk as one of the first subcultures where women could literally stand on the same stage as men brings on one of those “I can’t believe I didn’t see that before” moments. The music and fashion of previous countercultures were undeniably male-driven, like the machismo of the Marlon Brando-inspired rockers and the skinhead working-class uniform of suspenders and Doc Martens. In punk, we see distinctly feminine takes on style, mixed-gender bands and all-girl bands; there’s also Vivienne Westwood, whose boutique SEX (which she co-owned with punk band manager god Malcolm MacLaren) was in many ways the epicenter of punk culture in London. Siouxsie Sioux, frontwoman of Siouxsie and the Banshees, also enjoyed icon status in the punk scene before her band moved on to different musical genres. The gender angle that Letts develops offers a rare fresh look at such an exhaustively documented period in musical history.

Riff Raff: Oversized tuxedo coat by Delby Bragais (0917-8117992), white Marilyn Monroe swimsuit by The Ramp, black shorts by Topshop, red velvet slip-ons by Janylin Photos by Carlo Casas Styled by Carla Villanueva Makeup by Ana Paredes Modeled by Sanya Smith Shot at CROWN ASIA RESIDENCES, WACK WACK

Fred Perry’s Subculture is a true insider’s look; instead of rehashing the same footage and concepts, it opens up new ways to look at old favorites. This is a music documentary that stands comfortably beside other mammoths of the genre like the BBC’s Seven Ages of Rock.