At the end of a recent event, an individual approached me with some questions. He'd already been present beforehand, so I had already discussed his reasons for being present, and he then chose to remain for the entire presentation. In any case, he asked a couple of more specific study-related questions, before then asking if it would be okay to ask me a personal question.
"Bist Du Skinhead?" ("Are you a skinhead?")
Of the personal questions that I have been asked by strangers across the world - be they in South America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe or in Australia - this had not been one that I had foreseen coming.
I replied in the positive, at which point the individual said that he had thought so, and indicated towards my sideburns. He then volunteered that he himself was one as well, at which point I indicated that I had wondered, given his choice of a maroon Fred Perry v-neck jumper. Sure, he had the haircut, but the beard did not exactly fit the image. He explained that he was the only skinhead of which he was aware at the university, and that he didn't usually where his boots because skinheads did not exactly have a good reputation in Germany. I laughed, pointing out the fact that I have a white collar job and was wearing a suit. The conversation continued by discussing music, with the contents of my mp3 player being shared with him. We exchanged contact details, he invited me to hang out with him the next time I was in the area, and we went our separate ways.
He asked me how I had become a skinhead. I explained that I'd move on from punk into it, which was exactly the same path he had followed. He admitted to having been concerned by the lack of unity and camaraderie within the punk scene, which was why he become a skinhead. Yet neither of us, these two educated skinheads, are part of a local skinhead scene and are clearly somewhat isolated from the scene.
Neither he nor I exactly fit the stereotype of a skinhead. We are both tertiary educated, in my case, working a white collar job, and in his case, a white collar job in big business to come. Whilst we both may have tattoos, they are discretely hidden from view, and neither of us could be described as a thug or hooligan, as the stereotype would have the average skinhead. We listen to the same music as the rest of the scene (even if he himself is not a big oi! fan). Yet, there we were, standing in a German university, discussing the ways of skinhead, having both identified with the subculture, despite not fitting in with the majority of its adherents.
In London a few months ago, the latest fashion in chain stores such as H&M and Top Man had adopted a clear skinhead influence. Mannequins were dressed with turned up jeans (occasionally with braces), heavy boots, checked shirts and vests, and flat caps. Whilst the average skinhead would have baulked at purchases from such stores (after all, where were the Fred Perry and Ben Sherman logos?), I managed to find some items that both fitted my tastes and weren't priced the same as the aforementioned brands. I thereby committed a cardinal fashion sin against skinhead aesthetic.
In the same way as punk before it, skinhead fashion - if not the culture - has, for at least one season, entered the mainstream. The culture will take much longer. Yet, in many ways, the strength of skinhead unity is what so much of society needs - against the big business-driven financial collapse that has engulfed most of the world in the last couple of years, against the consumerist society that obsesses developed countries and to which developing countries aspire. Unlike punk, skinhead has not sold out to commercialism. And in the middle of it all, feet on both sides of the divide, my new acquaintance and I sit.
Is it any wonder that I feel so alone at times?
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