Type | Footwear |
---|---|
Material | Leather |
Place of origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | Dr. Martens, Grinders, Solovair and others |
A bovver boot is a type of boot that has been associated with violence. Such boots are generally of sturdy design and may be steel-toed. They have been considered as offensive weapons used by hooligans for kicking opponents while street fighting. [1] [2] The boots became known in the late 1960s in the United Kingdom, and continue to be a fashion statement associated with rebellion.
The term bovver in the UK developed as a th-fronting slang term (probably Cockney) for "bother", and was used in connection with aggro (aggravation; aggressive behaviour) by skinheads and hooligans in the late 1960s. [3] [4] [5] [6] Heavy steel-toe boots were stereotypically worn by skinheads, and were termed bovver boots. [1] [5] [7] Initially, heavy black army surplus boots were worn, but later, yellow-stitched Dr. Martens were adopted as the boots of choice. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Use in football hooliganism was countered by warnings to fans that they would have to remove such boots in order to attend football matches. [13]
Punk rockers were seen in the 1970s to "[stamp] their bovver boots", [14] with the boots being part of their "sartorial expressions of violence and disgust". [15] Punk rockers continued to be associated with bovver boots until the mid-1980s. [16] Punk fashion and the "years of teenage boot-wearing rebellion" since the 1960s gave way to trainers, with the arrival of Britpop in the mid-1990s. [17] In 1998, UK high street chain Boots promoted a ladette cosmetics range with a model "dressed in combat trousers, bovver boots and goggles". [18]
The journalist Laura Barton wrote in The Guardian in 2008: "After years in the wilderness, the bovver boot is back". [8] The journalist Karen Kay wrote in The Express in 2010 that " Dr Martens boots" have been worn by The Clash, The Cure, Madness, Madonna, the Spice Girls, The Sex Pistols, Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani. [19]
Type | Footwear |
---|---|
Material | Leather |
Place of origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | Dr. Martens, Grinders, Solovair and others |
A bovver boot is a type of boot that has been associated with violence. Such boots are generally of sturdy design and may be steel-toed. They have been considered as offensive weapons used by hooligans for kicking opponents while street fighting. [1] [2] The boots became known in the late 1960s in the United Kingdom, and continue to be a fashion statement associated with rebellion.
The term bovver in the UK developed as a th-fronting slang term (probably Cockney) for "bother", and was used in connection with aggro (aggravation; aggressive behaviour) by skinheads and hooligans in the late 1960s. [3] [4] [5] [6] Heavy steel-toe boots were stereotypically worn by skinheads, and were termed bovver boots. [1] [5] [7] Initially, heavy black army surplus boots were worn, but later, yellow-stitched Dr. Martens were adopted as the boots of choice. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Use in football hooliganism was countered by warnings to fans that they would have to remove such boots in order to attend football matches. [13]
Punk rockers were seen in the 1970s to "[stamp] their bovver boots", [14] with the boots being part of their "sartorial expressions of violence and disgust". [15] Punk rockers continued to be associated with bovver boots until the mid-1980s. [16] Punk fashion and the "years of teenage boot-wearing rebellion" since the 1960s gave way to trainers, with the arrival of Britpop in the mid-1990s. [17] In 1998, UK high street chain Boots promoted a ladette cosmetics range with a model "dressed in combat trousers, bovver boots and goggles". [18]
The journalist Laura Barton wrote in The Guardian in 2008: "After years in the wilderness, the bovver boot is back". [8] The journalist Karen Kay wrote in The Express in 2010 that " Dr Martens boots" have been worn by The Clash, The Cure, Madness, Madonna, the Spice Girls, The Sex Pistols, Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani. [19]