As a hopeless and unapologetic Anglophile, I must confess a slavish fandom for Fred Perry sportswear. Perry himself, I gather, was a top notch tennis player and British folk hero for being an obstinate bastard in the same tradition as Ty Cobb. Despite being a less-than- accomplished tennis player myself (my first inclination when holding a racket is to wield it like a guitar and scrape the catgut in a studied homage to Motorhead's Fast Eddie Clark), I still love Fred Perry. I love that sleek Mod/Rudeboy look. Madness wore it well, The Jam wore it well. It's just a great style. The clincher for me was seeing Geordie from Killing Joke wearing a smart black Fred Perry shirt on the inner sleeve of NightTime. After that, being the pathetic fanboy I am, I started sporting the signature laurel wreath myself.
But recently (see recent ad campaign below), it seems Fred Perry are altering their design aesthetic to appeal to a new demographic, namely GARISH CIRCUS CLOWNS.
Seriously, Fred, what the fuck?
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