2025 SS

"UCHRONIA BEFORE UTOPIA" - MANCHESTER -

Manchester is home to two of the worlds most famous football clubs, Manchester City and United. Football plays a huge part in the identity of this city, and its people.
The photography exhibition, “Manchester Flash Back to the 1970s” by Iain S.P. Reid documents the trends and fashions of the fans on the terraces. Photographs of Manchester City's Cool Cats (also known as the Cool Cats) were juxtaposed
against images of Manchester United's Red Devils supporters to show football as a culture, a movement that closely resembled subcultures associated with music. Many enthusiastic supporters were impressive in their style, customising their
jackets with club badges and patches to show their originality and allegiances.

During the 70s Men's fashion was in the midst of a major revolution – with movements like Mods, Rockers and Skinheads developing their own distinct styles. Uniform for the football terraces consisted of wide bell-bottom flared trousers which flapped like sails around the ankle, concealing stacked heels, cowboy boots or the original Doc Martens, or 'bobber boots' as they were called. The swinging sixties gave way to the equally swinging seventies. This can be recognized as a kind of unique fashion.

Richard Davis, originally a photographer covering the music scene, also worked on a photobook project, Football Fans 1991, that captures the relationships and changes in football supporters across era’s. In his work we see how music,
fashion and football blend together to create a unique identity. This tribal identity was carried over into the music scene — Oasis, and its brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, were big Manchester City fans, as was Johnny Marr of The Smiths. The
nightclub scene, known as Madchester, was booming and the Hacienda, co-owned by Rob Gretton, a huge City fan and the manager of New Order and Joy Division, was at the forefront of this.