The provocative, highly acclaimed memoir of one man's life long passion for getting the look just right. 'A bloody brilliant book' Paul Smith 'The youth cult confessional to end them all . . . Funny, accurate and touching' Dylan Jones, GQ 'Think of this terrific book as The Rotter's Club of schmutter and you won't be too wide of the mark' Daily Mail 'Incisive, obsessive, confessional and quite brilliant' Observer 'Provocative, charming and fiercely proud' Daily Telegraph 'Insightful and passionate . . . as stylish and witty as the finery it obsesse over' The Independent On Sunday 'Highly entertaining. . . a must read for anyone interested in fashion' Sunday Express 'Elms's opinionated stances are half the fun of this book' Sunday Times 'Taps into an energy that helped shape post-war Britain' Mail On Sunday 'A hymn to the burning desire of young men to look right and look smart' Evening Standard 'Should be read by everyone who enjoys sharp, witty writing and a shuddering sense of humour' Times Literary Suppliment

The Way We Wore

Elms, Robert

Biographies & Memoirs

Picador

The Way We Wore is a passionate and personal account of the dazzling array of street styles and trouser tribes Britain produced from the 1950s to 1990s. Robert Elms' memoir takes us from Teddy Boys to Acid house, from Notting Hill to Soho. A love letter to London Town and the overdressed, undervalued youth who made this city such a hotbed of cool. This is the story of a life's obsession. From Ben Sherman shirts to boxtop loafers, from bondage trousers to Comme de Garcons, Elms has been there, seen it, and worn it out. It's about why you'd rather not go out at all than go out in the wrong sort of brogues, and why you just had to have a Budgie Jacket to cut it in the playground in 1970. It is ultimately a hilarious, passionate social history of London street fashion from the Teddy Boys and rude boys battling it out in his homeland of Notting Hill in the 50’s to its end in Acid House in the 90’s. A fond memoir of working class lads in tumultuous times and lary schmutter. One day in 1965 the five-year-old Robert Elms fell in love with clothes. His brother had just returned to the family’s Burnt Oak council house in a new suit he’d picked up from a tailor in Kilburn. Otis Redding was playing in the front room. This, as his mum would say, was “all the go” - whatever that meant. This, Elms realised, was what you grew up for.

The Way We Wore: A Life In Threads

Professionals & Academics

Indie

Robert Elms has seen his beloved city change beyond all imagining. London in his lifetime has morphed from a piratical, still bomb-scarred playground, to a swish cosmopolitan metropolis. Motorways driven through lost communities, murder miles becoming estate agents' dreams, accents changing, towers appearing. Yet still it remains to him the greatest place on earth. 
Elms takes us back through time and place to myriad Londons. He is our guide through a place that has seen scientific experiments conducted in subterranean lairs, a small community declare itself an independent nation and animals of varying exoticism roam free through its streets; a place his great-great-grandfather made the Elms’ home over a century ago and a city that has borne witness to epoch- and world-changing events.

London Made Us: A Memoir of a Shape-Shifting City

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

CANONGATE BOOKS *

London Made Us Memoir Shape-Shifting Cty

Canongate

'ABC', as perfect as anything I've ever witnessed up until that point in my tiny little life. Three minutes of divine delirium. In 1972, when Robert Elms was thirteen years old, he saw the Jackson 5 play live at the Empire Pool. At some point during the performance, he found himself in a state of otherworldly perfect synchronicity with everything happening around him. This single event would set him off on an endless pursuit for that same height of pleasure. Since then, Robert has lived his life through live music, from pub rock to jazz funk, punk to country, and everything in between. Each gig is memorable in its own way, and his snapshots of musicians past and present are both evocative and startlingly concise: Tom Waits showboating with an umbrella, Grace Jones vogueing with a mannequin, Amy shimmying shamelessly like a little girl at a wedding, Gil Scott-Heron rapping with a conga drum.&nbsp; While in our changed times, Robert notes that we have found new ways of listening - of being part of something special by uniting fans with their favourite performers online - there is not, nor can there ever be, anything quite like the live experience. Live!: Why We Go Out is a memoir and a musing on why experiencing live music really matters.

Live!: Why We Go Out

Arts & Literature

Unbound

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Elms, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Elms, Robert