MUSEUM OF YOUTH CULTURE
X 
FARAH





SUBCULTURE RESEARCH PROJECT 1.0
VISUALS
Rebecca Lewis
Johnny Woollard
Caxton Youth Trust

STYLE TESTAMENTS  
Philip Thornton
Antony Frascina
Steven Kelly
Terry Farley
Mark Gordon
Clare Lynch 
Brian Beaton
Gareth Partridge
James Sim
Lee Roberts
Harvey Wright
Kip Retro
Mini Mini Yeah Yeah
Haggis Carmichael
Tracey O'Connor
Ozz Curtis
Jason Ashton
Jan Wright
Stephen Brewer
John Smallshaw
Tim Bailey
Richard Dawson
Tommygun Thomas
Seymore Buttz

SUBCULTURE CONNECTS
Smiley Culture
The Molotovs
We Were Rad
Lloyd Bradley

Farah has always sat in the margins of youth culture — worn by those shaping scenes rather than following them. This project set out to map that presence properly.

Over the past phase, we have conducted an extensive digital network gathering process across Facebook and Instagram, activating decades of subcultural communities. Through targeted call-outs, direct outreach, archival scanning, and private group engagement, we have surfaced rare photography, oral testimony, product memories, styling references and scene-specific context spanning multiple eras

The response confirms what we suspected: Farah is threaded through key movements — from reggae and rude boy lineages to terrace culture, BMX, indie, ska, and adjacent youth tribes that defined British street identity. What exists here is not simply product placement in history — it is lived association.

This microsite functions as a working archive — a curated intelligence hub designed to:

  • Surface Farah’s subcultural linegae
  • Identify credible storytellers and scene connectors
  • Unlock editorial, film, publishing and activation opportunities
  • Position Farah with authority inside its own heritage

We are now at the point of leverage.

Johnny Woollard / Museum of Youth Culture
1970s Southern Soul Scene
Caxton Youth Trust / Museum of Youth Culture


Photos:  Mark Gordon / Museum of Youth Culture


In the 80s, if you had a pair of Farah, I'm from West London, you was the boss man if you wore them in the 80s, so I would have been just going to secondary school.

I nstead of wearing the standard trousers, if you wore Farrah slacks, you was the boss. You was the king the styler. 

You you could slit them at the side so they would fall lovely over your pair of Diadora trainers, or your Adidas Stan Smiths, or actually Adidas gazelles. And you could fray the bottoms as well. 

I frayed the bottoms and I slit the sides and I wore which trainers I had added a samba. But also you had to have your Fila top or nick your dad's Gabicci top. So you could wear your Farah’s to school, and then you could wear your Farah’s outside the pub when you was 15 with your pint and your deer stalker.  

We used to go to Stewart's in Shepherd's Bush. Because I lived in Shepherd's Bush, they took my school clothing vouchers. I could buy a pair of Farah’s and they’d last you a year until you got more clothing vouchers. The best color to get were burgundy, and then I think after that, were navy blue ones. So burgundy and navy blue were the top colors to have. Yeah, and yeah, we loved them.

So yeah, the trousers were a mainstay. Which trousers were big, from rude boy to my skinhead friends would wear, where the Farrow like stay press ones, my rude boys would be normal pharaohs, and the reggae guys would wear farrahs. Actually, all groups would wear farrahs, but style it out in a different way.

“If you wore Farah slacks, you was the boss. You was the king, the styler.”
Mark  Gordon



 
Alexander Apperley / Museum of Youth Culture                       Rebecca Lewis / Museum of Youth Culture “Going into the 80s, I can remember Farah's being  more or less the preserve of reggae boys. It was like Farah slacks, a suede fronted Gabicci and a beaver hat. A beaver hat, that was the uniform for the reggae boys - I can't remember what the association was but Farah was the trouser of choice for the reggae boys.”

Lloyd Bradley author of Bass Culture


“I can remember Farah's being more or less the preserve of reggae boys.”
Lloyd Bradley




Lloyd has agreed to be filmed and has said he will liklely be able to get musician Jazzy B to take apart also.

“Loved a pair of Farah’s. Often matched with a Gabicci shirt or jumper. Trouble was, when I wore them, everyone had moved on to something else!”
Tim Bailey




Although Farah produce a full range of menswear items, if you had to put the brand into
a subcultural context like Pringle with its V neck jumpers and Peter Storm with its
cagoules it was something of a one-trick-pony. The trousers were covetable while the
majority of the range was largely ignored. Originally designed as a work wear ‘pant’ in
1920’s El Paso, Texas. The Farah hopsack trouser, tight round the arse, straight legged
but with a very slight flare, arrived in Britain unannounced in the mid 1970s .By the early
1980s had become popular with large sections of the nation's youth.
The first group that adopted them were the Sticksmen, London-based Jamaican youth
and direct descendants of the Rude Boys. Sticksmen ran, or followed reggae sound
systems (and were often involved in some not strictly legal activities) They dressed in
what an only be described as an aspirational style, tweed or leather oversized caps,
patent leather slip on shoes by Bally or crocodile skin loafers, knitwear by
Italian-influenced British brand Gabicci and of course Farah slacks
In the early 80s young, white reggae fans as (well as some refugees from the flagging
mod revival scene) began to emulate the Sticksmen’s style and Farahs, along with the
Gabbici jumpers and cardigans began to cross over to the burgeoning football casual
culture. By 1983 they had become a staple in every young football lad’s wardrobe, often
worn with the aforementioned Pringles, a Sergio Tachini tracksuit top and a pair of red
or blue Kickers boots or a pair of Adidas trainers.
Youth club dandys from London to Leeds and beyond loved the range of colours they
came in, including black, navy, beige, burgundy and of course the essential light grey, all
with the essential orange and black ‘F’ logo sewn into the horizontal seam above the back pockets. Mums approved of them as the synthetic, stain-resistant, fabric was easy
to wash, and hard wearing and they were relatively inexpensive to buy. They were also
classed as an acceptable uniform trouser by many secondary schools hence the
popularity of the light grey.
Farahs, like many other 70s and 80s styles enjoyed a brief revival during the ‘Britpop’
era when they were worn by women as well as men and are still popular with those of a
retro mod/casual persuasion. Like many items popular with youth cultures, Farahs were
very much ‘under the radar’, undetectable to those not in the know but highly prized and
remembered with affection by wearers, as the following quotes testify.

JIMM LEAF

“We’re featuring a deadstock pair in our next book. I’ve got lots of memories and we’ve got lots of other people’s recollections recorded for our next book as well.”
Anthony Frascina



We Were RAD is a three-year project that has amassed an archive of over 10,000 images and hundreds of stories from the kids on the street to those of World Champions.


Anthony has confirmed his willingness to contribute written content. The Farah team’s response to this was particularly telling — there was genuine interest in the merchandising potential and in the validation that comes with being correctly placed inside BMX history.

BMX is not peripheral. It intersects with terrace culture, American workwear influence, and youth uniform politics. Farah’s presence here opens a corridor into a distinct but overlapping community

This collaboration could expand into:



  • Book integration and co-branded editorial presence

  • Limited-run product tie-ins

  • Event-based activation around launch moments

  • Digital storytelling aligned to BMX archive imagery

It introduces Farah to an adjacent but credible audience without diluting brand identity.







Ian Aspinall / Museum of Youth Culture
teen years? Yes, yes. So my my memories are mainly from secondary school, which is in the 80s. I was kind of like two tone, if you're talking about subcultures, a little bit two tone. 

I was into the specials, madness, things like that, but also into reggae. Yeah, we used to our uniform was gray and black, so yeah, most people wore gray Hill black farahs. I never really worn them outside of school, but I wore them in the school. And I also remember that sometimes people wore different trousers, which were like Farrah's, but they weren't the same. 

They weren't the same quality, but they kind of like imitation Farrah's, and unfortunately, those people used to get the Mickey taken out of them because they didn't have the proper farrahs on. I remember that one thing, one outlasting memory I have, which is a bit of strong, strong memory. I don't know if you guys remember bundle, that when you have to in school, someone used to trip over or something, and it's like bundle, and everyone needs to jump on top of them. And 
I remember once we had a bundle, and I remember I was one of the last people to jump on top of the bundle. And I remember just seeing loads of Farrah's FARA signs that's sticking from all different angles, like black and grave Farrah signs, which, you know, I wish I had a camera on me at the time, because it would have made it absolutely brilliant.

 I've actually got a picture at home, which is different the trainers, but it was a similar picture. But, yeah, it was a great, great, great moment, and it showed, really, at that time, how Farah was being used by the majority of the school. At the time, it was the thing to use. 

And yeah, and me now, as there's a much older man, I'm still wearing Farrah's, and I'm very proud to be wearing Farrah's. And yeah, it's something that's been in my life. And yeah, I love ferrets, so truth, you know, they've been in my life all the time.

BRIAN BEATON



THE MOLOTOVS




Outreach has been completed and dialogue opened. The proposed structure is a product gifting collaboration in exchange for aligned social visibility.

On the surface this is light-touch. In practice, it’s about building contemporary relevance through artists who are operating inside live scenes rather than legacy nostalgia circuits.


The opportunity here is twofold:



  1. Immediate cultural signal — Farah visible within an active band ecosystem.

  2. Long-term relationship building — creating trust with emerging voices who shape taste organically.




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I bought my first pair of Farah trousers in Deptford Market in 1995. They are yellow and were new with tags.

They were being sold on a second hand clothes 'stall' that arranged it's clothes piled up in hills rather than on rails.

I still wear them now, I have carefully removed marks and stains and repaired them many times. I later bought a navy pair but don't have them anymore. I recently bought a vintage pair of red Farah trousers. I love the pockets, the fit. These are mens trousers but for me they work.

I have some photos including this one from 2001 / 2002 in the Colony Room Club in Soho.

CLARE LYNCH

“We wore Farah stay pressed in my all boys secondary school which was close to Peckham in South-East London. I still wear Farah now. I was glad when the Brand came back.”
Brian Beaton







John Ingledew / Museum of Youth Culture

“I wore boys trousers and I think they were called Ray Seams or something like that 🤔. Early 70s.  I'm afraid I was Bay City Roller fan around 1975. I just loved boys trousers, my mum was horrified. Do you remember Skinners and writing your name on the label? Happy Memories.”
Tracey O'Conn





Praesent eu pharetra ipsum.
THE CALL OUT


The content gathered for this project has been built through a combination of structured social media research, direct outreach and long-standing cultural networks.


We carried out targeted engagement across Facebook and Instagram, focusing on established subculture groups and community pages where original participants remain active. Posts and call-outs were tailored to each specific scene to encourage considered responses rather than general engagement. This approach generated image submissions, personal recollections and direct introductions to further contributors.

Alongside public outreach, we conducted one-to-one conversations via direct message and email with individuals whose photography, styling or lived experience indicated a connection to Farah. This allowed us to gather more detailed context around garments, moments and scenes.

We also spoke with independent retailers and long-standing shop owners who have historically stocked Farah. These discussions provided useful insight into how the brand was positioned, who was buying it, and how it circulated within different youth communities.

In parallel, we activated the Museum of Youth Culture’s network of subculture photographers, writers and creatives. Many of these individuals have documented British youth culture over several decades. Their archives and knowledge helped verify material, cross-reference timelines and add depth to the research.

Taken together, this approach has enabled us to build a well-evidenced picture of Farah’s presence within multiple subcultural contexts, grounded in first-hand accounts and archival material.
Ed & John Silvester / Museum of Youth Culture

SMILEY CULTURE

This has moved beyond initial curiosity. The Smiley Culture team engaged directly with the Farah archive and responded strongly to both the depth of material and the way it has been contextualised. The energy in the room was real — there is recognition here that Farah sits naturally within that lineage of British-Caribbean sound system culture and style politics.

The next steps are already structured:

  • Their wardrobe designers are developing a mood board rooted in authenticity rather than retro styling.
  • They will confirm precise garment requirements, quantities and silhouettes.
  • There is live discussion around UK remanufacture or sourcing historically accurate deadstock through trusted American contacts.

Strategically, this presents more than a placement opportunity. It positions Farah inside a culturally serious narrative around Black British music history — one that carries generational depth and credibility. If handled properly, this could anchor a film-led heritage moment with substance rather than surface reference.






LINK TO GOOGLE DRIVE


LINK TO ALL QUOTES



USAGE STATEMENT

All files, imagery, research documents, interview transcripts and associated digital assets supplied as part of this project are provided strictly for Farah’s internal usage.

These materials:


  • Are for internal use only
  • Must not be published externally in any format
  • Must not be used for marketing, advertising, retail, press or social media output
  • Must not be shared with third parties without written permission
  • Must not be repurposed beyond the agreed scope

Any external use or commercial license requires a separate agreement from the Museum of Youth Cultture.


USAGE STATEMENT

All files, imagery, research documents, interview transcripts and associated digital assets supplied as part of this project are provided strictly for Farah’s internal usage.

These materials:


  • Are for internal use only
  • Must not be published externally in any format
  • Must not be used for marketing, advertising, retail, press or social media output
  • Must not be shared with third parties without written permission
  • Must not be repurposed beyond the agreed scope

Any external use or commercial license requires a separate agreement from the Museum of Youth Cultture.

Thank you. From the team at Museum of Youth Culture. 

© MUSEUM OF YOUTH CULTURE CIC2026