Harrumph. Actually I'm getting I've just got a burgundy pair. I'd have got Tan, but they don't do it now. In fact I'd have got 10-hole Tan, but not only did they stop doing those years ago, they've stopped doing them in Cherry Red, too. It's any colour you like so long as it's black, now. Dr Martens is a fashion company now (though I suppose it has been since Paul King appeared on Top de le Flops in a multicoloured pair. Or perhaps they were when they were associated with skinheads in their Ben Shermans and colourful bow ties).
Oooh. I was getting really excited at the prospect of a dapper uniform, splendid torchlit rallies and all the schnitzel and sauerkraut I can eat, but then I noticed zis (sorry, this”).
Seems like Black, Cherry, Burgundy, Blue. Green, & White are all available. Spoilt for choice! https://www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/1460-burgundy-smooth-leather-lace-up-boots-burgundy/p/27277626
Yes. Those are 8-hole. The white ones are just £80, that was tempting, but since I've already got a yellow pair... Like all true old time aficionados I used to wear 10-holers exclusively. Tan, and black. On the whole I preferred tan, which polished up like new conkers. When I bought my current cherry 10-holers about a decade ago I asked why they didn't do tan anymore and was told they weren't popular. I said I thought they were the classiest but the opinion of this old customer seems to have counted for fuck all. Personally I think with their worldwide popularity and ever inflating prices, they can afford to still make some in traditional colours other than black.
Ah, I've never really paid much attention to the number of holes? I actually prefer the ones with the upper eyelets because they're easier to put on/ take off. Probably means I'm a Dr M heretic!
Colours off, obviously. But the height's the thing. The skinhead heyday was before my time. I saw them often enough but I was a nipper and a comparatively protected one at that. But when I was going about in ten hole Doc Martens, I wasn't really stylistically the type. I didn't have my jeans short and turned up. Yes I may well have had the plaid shirts, but not the braces. I did, briefly, toy with wearing the bow tie in primary colours, but found out the genuine, 'boot boy' style, were revolving. Though they were rarely turned on. But think about it: clear your mind and cast it back to the late sixties/early seventies, when they were stomping en masse to the ground of a Saturday afternoon, hyped up for a scrap with the rival supporters, either with a half time pitch invasion or outside the ground at the Fulham Broadway tube station (the Chelsea Shed ambushing the Stretford End or the Kop or whoever). Think of them striding purposefully, like Mr Natural, a couple of dozen abreast: what you noticed, back then, were the soles of the boots, the trouser turn-ups. The braces. The haircut. And if you try really hard: the spinning bow ties. That's when they powered them up. Many of them would light up too. And, of course, many had razor blades stitched into them. You can see it, once you make your mind a blank slate.
