The photographer//film director Ken Russell lived a very interesting life. In 1955, he decided to document London’s Teddy Girl gangs. His pictures show strong, stylish young women living life by their own rules. Ken Russell says about the Teddy Girls: “they were tough, these kids, they’d been born in the war years and food rationing only ended in about 1954 – a year before I took these pictures. They were proud. They knew their worth. They just wore what they wore.” At the time, these teenage girls were expressing themselves in a way that society saw as completely inappropriate for young women. It took guts as a woman in 1955 to wear pants, let alone run in a gang of other pants-wearing women! Check out Ken’s photos below and allow them to take you back in time! It’s awesome to see the Teddy Girls getting their shine.
Lee Powell
February 20, 2015 at 11:16 pm
Great to see a feature on Teddy Girls (and too a degree boys). There are still a fair number of teds around, especially here in the UK, of which I’m proud to one
Mike Zee
February 20, 2015 at 7:51 pm
Have I mentioned lately how much I love what you guys do? Because I do.
Jeffry Beard
February 20, 2015 at 6:51 am
Day-um!
Francesca Wagner
February 20, 2015 at 5:39 am
Marcela M Rubio
Killian Ó Ficheallaigh
February 20, 2015 at 2:16 am
Roisin Nolan
Cory You
February 20, 2015 at 1:21 am
and not a single one on their smart phones! Oh what a time. pre mid 90s UK always seems amazing