British "drag kings" circa 1955

From the U.K. comes an amazing photo gallery of gender-bending rockers.

Published February 7, 2006 8:06PM (EST)

Thanks to Boing Boing for pointing the way to this awesome photo gallery of "Teddy Girls," gender-bending rock chicks from 1950s Britain. Adopting the short, styled pompadour hairdos and Edwardian-influenced long coats and ties of "Teddy Boys" -- their male counterparts -- these girls were true sartorial pioneers, shocking their parents' generation with their postwar cool and paving the way for the rockabilly, punk and new wave looks of the next three decades.

I especially love the photo of "Rose Price and Admirers," in which a fresh-faced, pompadoured Rose stands in front of a row of Teddy Boys, their arms intertwined and smiling, her starched white collar sticking out from inside a dark coat, and her thin fingers clutching a polka-dot purse and a pair of matching gloves.

Now -- as then -- that's style.


By Sarah Karnasiewicz

Sarah Karnasiewicz is a freelance writer and photographer based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Until recently, she was senior editor at Saveur magazine; prior to that she was deputy Life editor at Salon. She has contributed to the New York Times, the New York Observer and Rolling Stone, among other publications. For more of her work, visit thefastertimes.com/streetfood and Signs and Wonders.

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