Dr. Martens: The Story Of An Icon

Dr. Martens: The Story of an Icon

On 1 April 1960, the first Dr. Martens boot rolled off the production line at the Griggs family farm of shoemakers in Northamptonshire, England. Today, Dr. Martens is a brand famous the world over, as iconic as Ray Bans and Levis. From the launch of the classic cherry-red eight-holer on that day in 1960, to the more recent multihued twenty-holers, Docs have been in the vanguard of style and culture for over four decades-subversive, strident, authority-baiting. Now, for the first time, the boots and their times take center stage in a book. Decade by decade, in words and pictures, Dr. Martens: The Story of an Icon recounts the fascinating story of the music, the people, and the places that breathed life into the boot on its journey from work-wear to in-wear.From Publishers WeeklyMusic and pop culture journalist Roach (This Is It: The First Biography of the Strokes) presents a cheeky tribute to a famous shoe in this brash, colorful volume. Roach chronicles how Dr. Martens evolved from the working man's footwear of choice to punk icon supreme, using chatty prose and gritty photos of the shoes and the people who wear them. The current form of the shoe was born in 1960, although German prototypes existed earlier. An unassuming ad in a footwear industry magazine kicked things off, and, as Roach shows, Docs quickly assumed a key position in youth pop culture. Roach's account is humorous and doesn't take itself too seriously; his book is a melange of fashion, music and general cultural history. Although some bits of the book are only tangentially related to Dr. Martens-e.g., Jimi Hendrix's quote about acting crazy or Freddie Mercury's thoughts on rock stardom-everything ties together thematically, making this an interesting analysis of not only an item of clothing but of music subcultures, as well.Copyright