Book Cover

Have you seen the Woman of Wortherly Woods?

Have you seen the Woman of Wortherly Woods? 

Have you ever walked home in the dark and felt like someone was following you? Have you ever been asleep, woken up and had the sense of a looming source of energy at the foot of the bed? Or have you even sworn you’ve seen someone in the corner of your eye and you’ve turned to only realise that there’s nobody there? These are feelings that I know only too well. My name is Diane and I live in Wortherly, a village housing only 200 people. Wortherly is one of those places in which nothing ever seems to change. Time seems to simply stand still. We all still carry on maturing and growing older but we never seem to change our way of life. The whole village still piles into the pub at 11am every Christmas eve, Dave the milk man still brings our milk on alternate days and the ghost stories that are told to my children are the same as the ones that I was told as a nipper. As a community Wortherly is very closely nit, maybe too closely nit. Everybody seems to know your business before you do. The kids all go to one tiny school. The more elderly folk all go to the same ‘knit and natter’ session on Tuesday mornings. And unbeknown to some of the yummy mummies in the bottom of the village they seem to share their husbands. However there is one very specific topic of conversation that splits the village. The Woman of Wortherly Woods.

This is a story which some of my neighbours have put down to myth while others take it as true fact. Where do I stand? I believe that she exists... well at least I think she does.

My anecdote to this tale is not as cliché as the usual, ‘When I was a child I was playing in the woods…etc.’ When I was told of the dreaded woman in the woods during Brownie camp in 1983 I couldn’t think of anything more ridiculous. I was one of those matter-of-fact children who didn’t have time for fairy tales. I was a proud member of the myth party until last year when I saw something that changed my opinion totally.

I had been at the pub with my husband Tom and a few of our friends. I had had a fair few medium house whites and Tom and me had decided to call it a night and walk home. There are two ways to our house from the pub. The first of which is the route I tell the kids to take on the way home from school. It is along three brightly lit footpaths and takes twenty minutes to walk. The other is through the woods with no lights or path and of course only takes ten minutes. Naturally. Being the sensible adults that Tom and I are, we decided to take the later route. As we walked into the woods I gripped his hand tightly, mainly as I was worried about falling on the uneven pathless ground. We carried on walking discussing the day’s events, checking in with each other so we knew what the kids had planned at the weekend and which bills needed to be paid. Boring stuff.  We were just walking past the west hut when I saw her. I stopped. Frozen. The cold dim light from our phone torches revealed her long dark tangled hair. She was there, stood right in front of us blocking our way. She was turned away as if she hadn’t even noticed that we were there. Her clothes were dirty and draped off her like a load of old handkerchiefs.  You could see the mud on her fingers as if she had been digging the ground. I was terrified, I looked at Tom and his face was as white as snow. Suddenly, she jolted round snapping out of her daze. Her face was hanging almost as if she felt sadness, full of pain. We ran. I broke forwards grazing her as I went passed. She was cold; it sent a shiver down my spine – only pushing me further forwards. We ran faster and faster towards our house. Tom was gripping my hand still tighter than ever, making sure I was safe. We scrambled across the wall onto the road and then though door into our hallway.

I didn’t sleep that night; I lay in bed, wide awake, wondering if what we had seen was real. Had we just imagined it? Or had we seen a neighbour that we didn’t recognise? If so, what were they doing in the woods? I’m not sure. Since that night all I know is that I can’t seem to shake her face, her emotion. I sometimes start to feel sorry for her, all alone in the cold woods.  It’s for this reason that I have decided to compile this book, to display other people’s stories of the Woman in Wortherly Woods. Hopefully, to one day find some truth in her tale, and to help her to get rid of her pain.

Yang Du.

 

Du Yang is an emerging designer from Dalian, North China but currently based in London. She graduated from both the BA and the MA at Central Saint Martins and has gained work experience at Vivienne Westwood, Giles Deacon and John Galliano.

 

 

The designer started her own label ‘Yang Du’ in 2009 and has presented her collections at London Fashion Week ever since. Despite showing her S/S 2010 collection on the runway with On|Off she mainly presents her work to the world’s media and buyers through a look book or exhibition. Her style is fun, quirky and humorous and she is also said to blur the lines between fashion and art.

 

 

Boudicca.

Boudicca is a fashion design duo consisting of Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby. They both graduated from the BA Fashion Design course at Middlesex University in 1997. They are considered to create pieces of art through their fashion design. They’re goal is, “to forge the identity of a future of design that is not just about making clothes, but the craftsmanship” (Broach, 2006). 

  
They have previously shown their work at the V and A and were the first British design house to be invited to create an haute couture collection in Paris. Their individual perfume, Wode by Boudicca, shows their creativity and ability to think outside the box as it was available in both a scent and a paint. The paint appears as a deep blue colour when sprayed onto the skin.

 "Mind-boggling—in a good way" Anon, style.com

Fashion East.

What are they?

 

Fashion East is a non-profit initiative established by the Old Truman Brewery in 2000 to nurture emerging young designers through the early stages of their career. The organisation receives sponsorship funding from Topshop, TOPMAN and The London Development Agency.

 

At what stage do they help you?

Within 3 years of starting your own business.

 

 Key figures…

Brix Smith-Start 
Owner of Start Boutique, London

Charlie Harrington
Fashion Director Stella / Sunday Telegraph

Charlie Porter 
Freelance Journalist

Francesca Burns 
Fashion Editor, Vogue UK

Harriet Quick 
Fashion features Director, Vogue UK

Kay Barron 
Fashion Features Editor, Harper’s Bazaar

Lauren Cochrane 
Freelance Fashion Writer

Richard Sloan 
Creative Consultant / Stylist

Sarah Mower 
Contributing Editor, Vogue USA and Style.com

Hugo Scott 
Head of European Operations, Marc Jacobs

Lulu Kennedy is the director of Fashion East and editor-at-large at Love magazine. She has been awarded an MBE for fashion services and is known as the Fashion Fairy Godmother.

Kennedy launched an eponymous clothing label Lulu & Co, which brings together some of the enterprise's alumni and creates their designs in a more accessible, affordable way. Not quite as mass market as a high-street collaboration, Lulu & Co provides a middle ground of commercialisation that appears to benefit all parties.

What do they give you?

The organisation provides the opportunity to present a catwalk collection to the international press and buyers attending London Fashion Week. Designers receive a bursary, free venue and complete catwalk show production, professional catwalk photographs and video. Designers are also given mentoring, guidance and in-house PR throughout the season from Lulu Kennedy and her team.

They also take designers to a sales show room in Paris each season, giving them the opportunity to showcase their collections to top international buyers.

 

Who they helped?

Previous Fashion East designers include, Richard Nicoll, Holly Fulton, Jonathan Saunders, House of Holland, Gareth Pugh, Marios Schwab, Louise Goldin, Roksanda Ilincic and Meadham Kirchhoff.

The designers for this season are, Ashley Williams, University of Westminster graduate who had Pixie Geldof and Alice Dellal walk in her graduate show, Claire Barrow and Ryan Lo.

Taste.

 

Phoenix’s taste:

Phoenix loves extravagant objects and surroundings. She admires ‘the high life’ and takes an interest in smart but casual clothing. Her taste is for quite masculine things and her favourite colour is black.

 

 

 

My taste:

I love soft and feminine imagery. Texture interests me and I admire controlled chaos. The splashes of vibrant colour I like add a vivid layer to my mostly organic interests.  

Why I like what I like…

I like natural and organic things because I spent a lot of time in the countryside when I was younger. I also think that I like splashes of vivid colour because colour is one of my mum’s greatest interests.

The Teddy Boy: My View

The Teddy Boy: A Witness' Account

Jan Land was born in 1951 and she can remember first hand what the Teddy boys were like.

 

Can you describe a specific scenario in which you remember the Teddy Boys?

Jan: The teddy boys I saw in the 50's used to meet together and walk along the seafront in Scarborough. To a young girl they seemed frightening. There were a great number of them and they used to take over the pavements and mess about as young men do! Their clothes made them stand out among the general throng of holidaymakers. Dad used to moan about them being rowdy too!

Do you remember ever seeing the Teddy Boys in the media?

Jan: I didn’t take much notice of them in the media, but if there was any trouble on the foreshore I imagine I would have seen it on the TV. We had a TV from the early 50's.

Did you live in a largely White British community?

Jan: Yes the community was totally white. I remember that the first coloured family Moved into Seamer in 1964.

Were all the Teddy Boys you remember seeing White British?

Jan: Nope, the whole community was white.

Did you hear about the Notting Hill race riots?

Jan: There was coverage on TV and that may have contributed to my fear of teddy boys. I was a nervous child and I thought the people who attacked black (and white) people in London in 1958 were walking round the streets of Scarborough in the summer of 1959. Who knows what they may do? I didn't really understand the racial bit, thought they just attacked any one they pleased. My family had no problems with immigrants to my knowledge and I never heard any racial criticism from them, just criticism of the teddy boys.

 

What can you remember seeing the Teddy Boys wearing?

Jan: There seemed to be a lot of them in blue or beige jackets with black collars and the distinctive hairstyle. Lots of ordinary lads wore the thick soled shoes and did their hair like that like my cousin who was 16, but I think you needed quite a bit of money to buy the jackets.

Do you remember seeing any Teddy Girls?

Jan: I don't remember teddy girls, though I suppose they were there, just remember the gangs of lads.

Did you ever wear any clothes that were adopted by the Teddy Boys/Girls? Why or why not?

Jan: The fear coloured my judgement about the fashion and it never appealed to me even in the seventies and eighties when there was a revival. Think it only appealed to a certain type of person.

Did the look eventually become quite mainstream?

Jan: It never really became mainstream after the fifties when it was at its height among young men in their teens and twenties.

Do you remember the 1970's revival of the Teddy Boys?

Jan: Yes I sort of remember it, though it was not as widespread as in the fifties. Think it appealed to a smaller group of people in the seventies.

 

What sort of person took part in the revivals?

 

Jan: In the 50's it was the main way to challenge the accepted dress code of the mainstream man in the street. Young people wanted to be different from their parents, more edgy and distinctive and had more money than ever before. By the 70's we had had a variety of youth revolts (the swinging 60's) and there were a number of options for young people to pursue to make their mark. It probably appealed to the young working class type person who had some money though I don't know for certain.

Did they dress the same?

Jan: Think the clothes had a softer look to them perhaps slightly more romanticised and were taken up by some pop stars, but there were a lot of different styles of music by then and a lot of different ways to dress.

 

The Teddy Boy: Public Reaction



In the beginning the media treated the Teddy boys as a joke and questioned their sexuality due to the absence of their father’s during the war. It wasn’t long before the term ‘Teddy boy’ was synonymous with juvenile delinquent, so much so that they are the basis for the costumes of the thugs in The Clockwork Orange. This reputation was mainly due to the Notting Hill Race Riots that took place in late August and early September 1958. These were racially motivated attacks on members of the black community by white Teddy Boys. The riots were influenced by groups like the White Defense League attempting to ‘Keep Britain White’ after an increased number of Caribbean migrants arriving in Britain after World War II.

Also some Teddy Boys formed gangs initiating public fights with their rivals. This could be seen as the start of the media’s sometimes negative attitude towards youth culture. Having said this, most people in today’s society do not read the term ‘Teddy boy’ as a negative. We mainly view it as a style of dress with references to rock ‘n’ roll. This amnesia of the negatives is due to the 1970’s revival of the subculture. The Teds came back to life as a sort of nostalgia for the time before drug-taking hippies and aggressive skinheads. This was made more attractive in the media when the Punks came along with their desire to shock, the Teds were from a much more harmless, comfortable era.

The Teddy Boy: Fashion

 

 

The Teddy boy represented their values and ideas. They wore long coats with velvet collars and pocket flaps. Original Teddy boys wore separate non-matching waist coats, jackets and trousers whereas later Teds sometimes wore three piece drape suits. The drape jackets were normally dark in colour with straight sides (not tucked in at the waist) and didn’t have a vent in the back to create a boxy look. The drainpipe trousers were normally high waisted and left the socks exposed. With these the Teddy boys wore a loose collared, high necked white shirt with a Slim Jim or bootlace tie. Brogues or thick soled Brothel Creepers were their shoes of choice. The most popular hair style donned by the subcultural group was a quiff slickly combed back into a ‘duck arse shape at the back’. There were other styles such as the Boston, the pompadour and the jelly roll. They were all strongly moulded and heavily greased.

 

We hear a lot about the Teddy boy style but not much about the girls. The Teddy girls wore similar velvet collared drape jackets. However instead of drainpipe trousers they wore pencil skirts or rolled up jeans. The Teddy girl’s choice in clothes was their way of rejecting post-war austerity. They were mostly young women from the poorer districts of London. The style they wore would turn heads and had trickled down from the haute-couture houses that had created collections reminiscent of the Edwardian era.

The Teddy Boy: Music

It is widely thought that rock ‘n’ roll saw the birth of the Teds; however this is not the case. Initially songs were created specifically for the Teddy Boys by artists such as Ted Heath and Ken Mackintosh. It wasn’t until 1956 when the likes of Elvis Presley and Bill Haley’s hits made the journey from America that the genre became synonymous with the New Edwardians.

 

  Ken Mackintosh, Strings On Wings (1950). An original Teddy Boy song.

 

Bill Haley, Rock Around The Clock (1956). This was one of the first Rock ‘n’ Roll songs to take the Teds by storm.

This strong influence of music on the Teddy boy scene meant that dancing in clubs was a big part of the culture. A well-known dance adopted by the Teddy Boys was ‘the creep’ which was a slow shuffle. The song The Creep was released by Ken Mackintosh in 1953.

The Teddy Boy: An Overview



After the war in Britain there was a need for the nation to regain pride in itself. The tailors of Savile Row started to create suits reminiscent of the ones worn when Edward VII reined. This symbolised a time when Britain was seen as great. However throughout the war the working classes had been promised a less class-ridden society and these new Edwardian style suits were opposing this. At the same time the increased number and spending power of adolescents had been noted by the marketing and advertising industries. Previously there had been no gap seen between childhood and adult hood, this sparked the birth of ‘the teenager’. In the late 1940’s–early 1950’s in mainly working class parts of London such as Elephant and Castle, this new youthful group adopted the Edwardian style of dress attempting to gain what they had been promised of a more classless society. Originally named Cosh Boys, they were eventually dubbed ‘New Edwardians’ or ‘Teddy Boys’.

Subcultures: Mods

 

Mods were a subcultural youth group during the late 1950s to early 1960s. They were extremely interested in fashion and spent a lot of their time shopping due to their recently acquired disposable income. They had a strong passion for music of multiple genres, the motor scooter is seen to represent the mods and they had strong links with Amphetamines. There was a mod revival in the late 1970s.

 

 

It was a common misconception that they wore parkas displaying lots of badges. The original mods followed the ‘less is more’ aesthetic. They wore smart suits, mohair clothes, thin ties, button down collar shirts, wool and cashmere jumpers, pointed winklepicker shoes, Chelsea boots and bowling shoes. Some Mods went against gender norms of the era by enhancing their appearance with eye shadow, eye pencil or even lipstick. They were very image conscious people and the song ‘Dedicated follower of fashion’ by The Kinks pokes fun at the Mod’s obsession with fashion. The original mods did wear parkas but only saw them as a practical garment, to protect their expensive suits when riding their scooters.

 

The most important fashion accessory for the mods was the scooter. They were a cheap and accessible form of transport. In that period of time public transport stopped early so they needed a way to get home at night after clubs and dances. The scooters were chosen over motorbikes because scooters' use of body paneling and concealed moving parts made them cleaner and less likely to stain an expensive suit with grease. Normally they road Italian branded scooters like Vespas or Lambrettas. They preferred these due to their clean lines, curving shapes and gleaming chrome.

MODs originated from the Teddy boys of the early 50’s. The Teddy boys were very much ‘Englanders’, whereas Mods thought of themselves as Modern - embracing everything from black American Rhythm and Blues to Italian cuisine. A lot of their look was based on European style. The suits they wore originated from slick Italian designs. Their hair was in the style of actors from nouvelle vague cinema – very controlled, slicked back and cut quite short. Nouvelle vague was a French cinema movement in the 50’s and 60’s, seen as cinema for the youth. This links in with the fact that Mods were a youth culture. This was a new concept in those days, the Teddy boys’ were the first real youth culture only 10 years before.

During the mod movement some women started to have disposable income as there was a raise in female retail jobs. They dressed up more to go to work; they felt the need to look cool and glamorous. This highlights the commercial mind set of the mods. The women had the same smart clean aesthetic as the men. This meant they could wear the same clothes to work, home and school unlike other subcultures like punk. The female look was androgynous short haircuts, men’s trousers or shirts (sometimes their boyfriends), flat shoes and minimal natural looking make up. It stayed like this until Mod fashion became more mainstream, and the look, whilst still being minimal, became a little more glam.

This was partly due to women icons like Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. Shrimpton was the subject of photographer David Bailey’s famous New York Vogue shoot which represented the acknowledgement of youth culture by the magazine. Twiggy’s classic make up look including painted on eyelashes became popular. She also had slicked back short hair like the men’s. Mary Quant miniskirts and boxy shift dresses became popular. The young mod women pushed parental tolerance, new things, nothing would have been worn that short before, it would’ve been seen as inappropriate.

It was the mod revival of the 1970’s and 1980’s that created stereotype that we know today. They wore parkas, harrington jackets, and Fred Perry polo neck shirts. The revival was a lot more casual, less slick and smart. They had stickers on scooters and when a law was passed saying there must be at least one mirror on the scooters they took it to extremes by covering them in them. They did not follow the less is more style.

The early mods were known for listening to African American Soul, Jamaican Ska, British R&B and Blue Beat. British R&B was performed by bands like the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and The Animals.The music was called blue beat after the record label that produced most of it. The influx of Caribbean immigrants at the time had a big impact on the music they listened to. It is said that the relationship between the two groups and their music interest helped to break down race barriers and reduce tension within London. Mod style music has changed throughout the decades:

·         Early mod Music. - More mellow

·         Mod revival music. - More rocky, to match the time.

·         Mod Style music now. - More mainstream.

The original mods of London frequented clubs like The Roaring 20s and The Flamingo. The Flamingo in Soho, 33-37 Wardour Street, played British R&B and jazz. The fans of that music would meet together no matter what skin colour. With its increasing popularity there were many performers who graced the stage at Flamingo, including Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. In the 60s the club was well known for its all night parties where the club opened until 6am on Fridays and Saturdays. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix were all regulars. The club closed in the late 60s.

 

Apart from clubbing, socially a lot of mods spent their time listening to music with friends, learning new dance moves, riding around on their scooters and shopping for the latest clothes. Drugs were also big part of their recreation with Amphetamines (speed) being their drug of choice. Pre-1964 the drug was actually legal. They took it on nights out to make them more alert and to help them appreciate the music they were listening to more.

 

Mods and Rockers did not get on. Rockers thought Mods were effeminate, stuck-up or snobbish. It was a common jibe that they "couldn't tell the birds from the blokes". Mods thought Rockers were old-fashioned, dirty, greasy and uncouth. However, there was not an all-out war between the two tribes.
 
Mods and Rockers rarely met, except for Bank Holiday weekends in Margate, Brighton, Hastings, Southend and football games from 1964 onwards. Their violent clashes were constantly and sensationally reported in newspapers such as the Daily Mail.

The first such incident was at Clacton on the Easter Bank Holiday in 1964. It was reputedly one of the worst Easter Bank Holidays on record: cold and wet. The Easter Sunday was the coldest for 80 years. Groups of youths arrived at Clacton for the Bank Holiday break. They were bored and frustrated and rumours were circulating that a local café was refusing to serve them. Violence broke out between different groups. This was reported sensationally in the national press.

 

The scale of the disturbance and the violence was exaggerated. However, from now on the 'Mods and Rockers' phenomenon was born. The question in the press and for local magistrates was, 'which town would be next?'
 
In 1964 Mods and Rockers clashed at Margate, Hastings, Bournemouth and Brighton at Whitsun and August Bank Holidays. Once again the actual events were grossly exaggerated in the media.

 

 

Modern day mods include the Gallagher brothers, Paul Weller and Bradley Wiggins. Lots of clothing that was worn during the MOD period has been recycled into today’s fashions. A lot of people still wear Fred Perry and Khaki Parkas are still in fashion too. Tasselled loafers are also quite popular at the moment.  Although there aren’t that many true mods left, there are a lot of older men, mainly in their 40s, which have adopted this style.