01 April 2009

The return of sharpies



Yes folks, I'm calling it now. Sharpies are back.

We had the short-lived bogan revival, but now it's time for the real deal. We've already seen the return of the rat's tail at schools around the country, but now the clippers are coming out and it's business all round, except the tail. Or even the mullet-light.

And with the heat on bikies at the moment, it's time for those with rough as guts tendencies to find new digs.

I'm celebrating this by hucking up and spitting forcefully into the eye of good taste. Slipping into a pair of skin-tight acid-washed ankle-freezers and bunging on my cardie, it's time for me to ching! ching! ching! cash in on this ferocious era.

Yes, it appears that the [I was threatened to remove this, so I did] had it all over their rivals in Forest Hill, so this one's for them:

[Censored due to similar bullying]

And we all remember those pricks from Funkytown:



And for those of you who fondly remember the days when the inner suburbs were a place of bloodshed and pain - and not the oasis for yuppy wankers that they are now, here's a fond little reminder of when things were BAD:



And I wasn't talking bad in the Michael Jackson sense, oh no.

But wait folks. There's more.

The infamous Footscray Sharps are back with an almost exclusively female brethren (sistren? I give up). Here's one for you, sisters:


Trucker's caps are popular these days.

Here's a little something that I prepared earlier:

Speaking of hats, the little known Toorak Sharps are back too. I plan to cash in on that as well, assuming that Mummy let's them play:



Finally, here's my favourite. Just one for my homies:



Remember, kids: Order yours two sizes two small otherwise you won't look authentic enough.

Edit 16/09/2009: I was bullied into removing certain items from this webpage. If you're reading this, you know who you are, and I'm not amused. There's nothing artistic about threats of litigation.

9 comments:

Dunc said...

Weird - over here (UK) SHARPs are "SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice". They're the anti-fascist wing of the skinhead culture. I've never heard of inter-sharp violence here - they were all about class solidarity. Funny old world...

Dikkii said...

I didn't notice on that Wikipedia link how long SHARPs had been around, but Sharpies themselves had their day in the sun back in the early seventies.

I applaud the aims of SHARPs, however they beg a couple of questions:

1. Why do you simply have to shave your head? (Especially ask this of anyone who clearly isn't going bald)
2. Why do you have to identify with one particular subculture? (Certainly could be asked of Sharpies as well)
3. When the SHARP acronym was originally dreamt up, were they aware of the violent suburban Australian gangs?

I should add that as far as I'm aware, there is no Sharpie revival - it was an April 1 post that may have been a little too obscure.

Dunc said...

I have no frelling idea, man, I'm a dirty fucking hippy. My hair is short at the minute - it only goes halfway down my back.

As for identifying with a particular subculture, I think it's the other way around - they were already in the ska / two-tone subculture, and were pissed off at the way the hard right co-opted elements of it in the 70s, because they knew that its roots were in the solidarity of working-class whites and Caribbean immigrants in the '50s - hence the term "two-tone".

You've also gotta remember that back in the '70s, Australia might as well have been on a different planet from the perspective of a London council-estate resident on the dole.

Dikkii said...

As for identifying with a particular subculture, I think it's the other way around - they were already in the ska / two-tone subculture...

I see your point, however I'll raise you this: At some point they did join that particular subculture. There's this layer of conformity (which might have been there before the racists co-opted it) which they felt that they had to join. Racist skinheads notwithstanding, why did the original skinheads feel that they had to adopt what is essentially a uniform?

Your point about our arse-end of the world being essentially another planet is a good one.

Dunc said...

Well, just about everybody's in a subculture of some kind or another, it's just that some have different signifiers. Never underestimate the power and attraction of in-group identification.

Anonymous said...

"Rat's tail?"

I nervously presume you're talking about the little mini-ponytail that dudes grow from the back of their head. I hope that's not the case.

That was (and, despondently, is) a disgustingly atrocious hair style somewhat akin to the mullet (or, as you've no doubt observed, the "mullet-light") worn proudly, and without irony, in the American South to this day.

Please tell me that the mullet and rat-tail haven't really become popular in any fashion in Oz.

That would depress me greatly.

(By the by, if you remember the Rev. Jenner J. Hull from the misty, distant past, this is the same bloke, just in a new format and with a new moniker. I've been checking in perdiodically, and you're still kicking ass.)

Anonymous said...

Ugh. One of my clients is growing a rat tail as we speak. It's unreal.

Dikkii said...

G'day Service. Nice to hear from you, and also good to know where you are these days.

I nervously presume you're talking about the little mini-ponytail that dudes grow from the back of their head. I hope that's not the case.Sadly it is.

Please tell me that the mullet and rat-tail haven't really become popular in any fashion in Oz.Well, not that I'm aware of. This post was meant to be an April 1st post that might have been a bit obscure for my reading audience. I certainly hope that good sense prevails and that this stupid fad doesn't return.

Mind you, I also said that wearing one's jeans around one's thighs wouldn't last either. Boy was I wrong about that!

Going to have to check out your new blog now. Cheers.

Dikkii said...

@sunnyskeptic - I agree it's ugly. There's simply no accounting for taste.