I'd imagine Steve Ellis is blissfully unaware that his name will forever be linked to Dundee gang culture.
Back in the good old bad old days (the 70's) when all of Dundee's gangs paraded around in, and did battle in their gang jerseys...these garments were referred to as your "Stevie Ellis" jumper.
The main design feature of a Stevie Ellis was that it had a high v-neck. This meant you could wear the jersey without a shirt underneath and it would still look smart, although most guys (and gals) wore Ben Sherman shirts with the jersey despite the fact you'd only see a wee bit of the collar poking out the top!
Being exclusively a Dundee concept meant you couldn't go and just buy one from a shop in the high street. They were customised to order. The best quality Stevie Ellis's were made at a shop called The Sewing & Knitting Centre, in Victoria Road. They'd gladly make a gang jersey for you in the housing scheme of your choosing!
You can find a few of the gang jersey colour variations in the Retro Archive, but the example above is the hooped colours of the Mid.
The top pictures are of the man himself wearing the jersey that inspired the cult clothing.
And for those younger ones who don't know who Steve Ellis is, he was the lead singer in a pop group called The Love Affair, who had a few hits in the late 60's.
I've still got a red/blue Lochee Fleet jersey that was taken aff somebody in the Polepark area one evening.
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This was invented by Benny Davis and Paul "Pixie" Reid o' the Hula they were originally short sleeve cardigans buttoned right up to the neck with the band across the chest and stripes on the cuffs and collar. Any combination of colour was allowed it was'nt until later that various teams decided they all wanted to look the same and even worse got their mums to knit their initails onto the pocket
ReplyDeleteThere's a kids TV cartoon character called "Horrid Henry" who wears a Kirkton Huns jersey in the series.
ReplyDeleteWonder if the shop in the Vicky does the merchandising?!!!
If my memory seves me right, I got my jersey from a shop in King Street, I think it was called Marinas, you went downstairs in the shop to get measured for your jersey.
ReplyDeleteThe shop moved from the Vicky to King street when some of the
ReplyDeleteVicky was redeveloped.
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It must have been 1967 or 68 I went to Belmont with the school for 2 weeks. There I met a boy from another school who had a Steve Ellis jumper.I'm sure it was from Marina's. It was bottle green. He let me borrow it for a few days which went great with my pale green needlecord jeans and my Dr Schol Sandles.
ReplyDeleteMe and my mate got our Lochee fleet jerseys made (petrol blue with cherry red stripe) on the Vicky around 1980 during the 2nd flush of gang culture in the Steve Ellis style. Trouble was there were hultoon huns in there so it was a bit tense.
DeleteNever mind all that! Who is the lovely lady on Steve's arm? Just askin'. 😁
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