//Westside Sharpies Mick Emery and Steve M sporting Connies outside Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, 1978. Photo: Jacques Kosky,  courtesy Stef Egan//

The ‘Connie’ cardigan was an essential element of dress for Sharpies, the tough and stylish Australian music/fashion youth subculture active in Melbourne’s blue collar suburbs from the 60s to the early 80s.

Designed by a Mr Conti, a Greek clothier in the Thornbury neighbourhood to the north of the city, Connies were picked up on by Sharpies for their tight fit.

//Sharpies sport Connie variants outside Young & Jackson Hotel, Melbourne, 1972. Photo from Tadhg Taylor’s Top Fellas//

Tags: Connies, Conny, Damir Grizinic, Flinders Street, Forever Sharp, Greg Macainsh, Julie Mac, Melbourne, Mr Conti, Stef Egan, Tadhg Taylor, Thornbury

//Top fellas and brushes in the 60s and 70s. Photos courtesy Tadhg Taylor//

For my money, Sharpies beat all other youth cults hands down, so news of the publication of the third edition of Tadhg Taylor’s Top Fellas is cause for celebration.

A few years ago on THE LOOK blog I explored the style and musical tastes of this unique subculture which blossomed among Melbourne teens from the 60s to the early 80s, and never tire of the clips from Greg Mcainsh’s 1974 documentary which captures the top fellas and brushes in the prime.

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Tags: Greg Mcainsh, Lobby Lloyd, Melbourne, Sharpies, Tadhg Taylor

Australia’s Daddy Cool scored a big home hit in 1971 with sub-Stones strut Eagle Rock, which soon became a wedding party staple.

Four years later when they headlined The Australian Concert For Bangladesh at Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl Daddy Cool were about to be consigned to the oldies bin by the band which was sixth on the bill that day, AC/DC.

AC/DC had been propelled locally by teenage Sharpie fans, a group of whom are seen here stepping out with a mickey-taking version of the Eagle Rock boogie which mutates into their dance, The Melbourne Shuffle.

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Tags: 1971, 1975, Australian Concert For Bangladesh, Daddy Cool, eagle Rock, Greg Macainsh, Melbourne, Michell & Ferrett, Myers Bowl, Tadhg Taylor, Top Fellas