BOY mail order catalogues

[Planet Mondo]

I dunno if any of you ever had one of the BOY 'Blackmail' catalogues - I used to, but sold it on Ebay a few years back. However I scanned all the pages before selling it. Some of these have been uploaded onto my blog. It includes a few bits and bobs that you may recognise from Nastys - I've also loaded up a couple of Punk bootleg remixes

Scans are here
planetmondo.blogspot.com/2008/01/blackmail-boy.html

bootys are here
planetmondo.blogspot.com/2008/01/bovver-boots.html

[South-Punk Admin]

Hi Spacehopper - Yes, I remember those catalogues well. In fact, I was talking to China Doll a while back (100 Punks) and he said that Sadie Frost was supposed to be one of the punk girls who modelled the clothes in the catalogue.

I remember those T-Shirts with the giant heads/faces - I had the Bowie one, and remember the Siouxsie and Jordan ones. I definitely remember those Modzart trousers at Nastys. This thread has reminded me that I want to add a section on this site soon about the sartorial side of things soon, so we'll see!

Cheers for the scans!

[Planet Mondo]

I had the Bowie one too, plus several of the others Mickey with exploding head, a couple of Vive Le Rocks, and a Marilyn one.

There's a great book - Not Another Punk Book (pink cover) printed in 77(?), which some has great togs in it including someone waering an A and M Pistols GSTQ T Shirt - wonder how much that would be worth now?

A section on togs and clobber would be a great addition to the site

[tonyvan]

Clothes/value-related...
I had a coupla the cheesecloth T shirts from Seditionaries - a GSTQ and an Anarchy one. Somehow, they didn't grow as fast as I did, and I found them in the attic about 4 years ago and put them on ebay.

GSTQ made 800 pounds, and the Anarchy hit 650.

If only the Vive Le Rock shirts hadn't faded to nothing...

I still have my Seditionaries boots in minty condition, and I still occasionally wear them. They actually work quite well with a dinner suit believe it or not.

[South-Punk Admin]

Hi There - firstly, inspired by your mentioning of the Pink Punk book, which I agree is brilliant, I decided to add a section to the site that is dedicated to all the early punk books from '77 - '78.

www.southendpunk.com/html/punkbook.html

I remember that particular book was part of a trilogy that came out in '78, along with Michael Dempsey's early 'Sniffin' Glue - The Bible' one and the '100 nights at The Roxy'.

I think Caroline Coon's '1988' book does well to attempt to capture the sprit and I always liked it.

In relation to Cheesecloths, I remember talking to a lady at Christies and she said that given the nature of the material, that even partially disintegrated old Seditonaries clothes are still worth a lot and worth keeping. Washing the cheesecloths once seemed to totally change their texture, but they still looked and felt great.

I'm impressed you had a pair of the boots Tony, as they were a tad dear at the time from what I can remember? I do remember loving the black bondage trousers to death though, and as you say the Vive Le Rock is an absolute classic.

[tonyvan]

My cheesecloths were unwashed....I never quite trusted my mum's washer with those little D rings and clips. My wife had one that was washed, and it was definitly a lot softer than mine.

As for the boots - Here's the full story... I remember getting them like it was yesterday.
For the first tme in my life, I actuially had a little cash, so I drew out 50 quid from my Bristol & West account (my aunt had died a moonth or so earlier, and left me just 50, so I had about a fiver left in the account after the withdrawal), and went up to Seditionaries.
I remember trying on the purple ones (didn't like them), and disregarding the red ones.
I was served by Jordan, and I asked in my best 16-year-old voice whether they had any black ones in a size 10.
She said they only had an 8, but 'they come up big'. Indeed they did - they fitted perfectly.
When I went to pay, I found they were exactly 50 pounds. Not 49.99, and to a 16 year old, handing over my entire fortune and not even getting a penny back in change was terrible. To this day, that lack of change still hurts.

Anyway, I wore the boots that same night to a concert at the Rainbow (can't remember who, but I do remember meeting Charlie Harper on the WALK back to Tower Hill. Walking long distances in those boots is NOT to be recommended.
Got to Fenchurch St - all closed up, so my pal and I settled on to the benches outside the station and slept until Fenchurch St. opened.
Partly for comfort, and partly because they were so expensive, I took them off . I had to take them off because of the pain, and didn't want to leave them on the floor, so I used them as a pillow. Marginally more comfortable as a pillow than they are as a shoe.

I noted right there and then that the leather lining (which was black) was wearing, and the black was rubbing off to reveal red leather underneath...Also, the chrome plating on the studs (mine have the cross-shape on the front rather than the diamond-shape) was flaking off. Luckily, the studs are shiny underneath, so they didn't rust or anything.

Like I say - I've still got them, on their original leather laces, and they still look great, and my aunt's money is worth a darned sight more in those boots than it would have been in a Building Society!!

And before my last Vive Le Rock faded to oblivion, I copied the design to the back of a new (1983) leather jacket, that again, I still have and (very) occasionally wear.
It still makes me smile thinking of 'Ours is the best effort so far to leave the 20th Century and join the Punk rock Disco'
What was that all about?

[Planet Mondo]

Have you ever seen the seditionaries bucket boots with the check/line pattern ? There's a girl wearing them at the back of 'Not Another Punk Book'

My cheesecloths went brown (I eventually cut the arms off) and my Vive Le Rock faded - I would guess the prices have escalated because these clothes weren't really built to last - flimsy fabrics and fading prints etc..

Also punk in it's early stages didn't have much merchandising, like other 'youth' movements, and if items became worn out they got binned.

Things that have managed to survive, get stored away in private collections driving the prices up of anything that comes on to the market.

I sold my BOY Catalogue for £150

Have you noticed Steve Jones Destroy t shirt (worn at the A and M signing outside Buckingham Palace) it's got a block font and different design to the traditional style.