A bovver boot is a type of boot that has been associated with violence. Such boots are generally of sturdy design and may be steel-toed. They have been considered as offensive weapons used by hooligans for kicking opponents while street fighting. ^{[1] [2]} The boots became known in the late 1960s in the United Kingdom, and continue to be a fashion statement associated with rebellion.

History

The term bovver in the UK developed as a th-fronting slang term (probably Cockney) for "bother", and was used in connection with aggro (aggravation; aggressive behaviour) by skinheads and hooligans in the late 1960s. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} Heavy steel-toe boots were stereotypically worn by skinheads, and were termed bovver boots. ^{[1] [5] [7]} Initially, heavy black army surplus boots were worn, but later, yellow-stitched Dr. Martens were adopted as the boots of choice. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]} Use in football hooliganism was countered by warnings to fans that they would have to remove such boots in order to attend football matches. ^[13]

Punk rockers were seen in the 1970s to "[stamp] their bovver boots", ^[14] with the boots being part of their "sartorial expressions of violence and disgust". ^[15] Punk rockers continued to be associated with bovver boots until the mid-1980s. ^[16] Punk fashion and the "years of teenage boot-wearing rebellion" since the 1960s gave way to trainers, with the arrival of Britpop in the mid-1990s. ^[17] In 1998, UK high street chain Boots promoted a ladette cosmetics range with a model "dressed in combat trousers, bovver boots and goggles". ^[18]

The journalist Laura Barton wrote in The Guardian in 2008: "After years in the wilderness, the bovver boot is back". ^[8] The journalist Karen Kay wrote in The Express in 2010 that " Dr Martens boots" have been worn by The Clash, The Cure, Madness, Madonna, the Spice Girls, The Sex Pistols, Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani. ^[19]

Cultural references

• Bovver boots were worn by the violent street-gang "The Droogs" in the film A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• The use of the boots in an attack was referenced in the song Down in the Tube Station at Midnight (1978) by The Jam.
• The Nipple Erectors released a song titled "Venus in Bovver Boots". ^[8] in (1977).
• A pair of Bovver boots were worn in the early 1980s British TV series The Young Ones, by the punk character Vyvyan Basterd. ^[10]
• Musician PJ Harvey was noted as "appear[ing] immersed in rock 'n' roll" around the time of her album Dry in 1992, due in part to her "leather apparel, hair in a bun and black bovver boots". ^[20]
• In 2000, the Birmingham Mail referred to broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson as "old bovver boots". ^[21]
• In 2017, U.S. punk band Rancid (band) released a song titled "Bovver Rock And Roll" on their album Trouble Maker. Lyrically, the song laments early 1970s cultural references.

See also

• Combat boot

References