Is there a doctor in the house?

Well there are loads of doctors here…by doctors I, of course, mean Dr Martens. They are totally on trend this year and we can’t get our greedy little mits on them fast enough. I first noticed everyone wearing them at the Clothes Show Live last year…and now they are positively everywhere!

We have green ones, red, ones, flowery ones, high top ones, smart brogue ones….the list continues!

But who exactly is this doctor?

The company was set up by Benjamin Griggs and Septimus Jones, in the early 1900s, making boots for workmen and the army. In 1945 Klaus Maertins, a German army doctor hurt his foot on a skiing accident. Finding that his army boots hurt his injured foot, he set about to invent the famous air cushioned soles that DMs have. He used discarded rubber from the airfields.

It wasnt until 1960s that Bill Griggs who owned the company bought the licence for the sole. He then went on to design the new boot with the classic yellow stitching and the loop at the back of the boot. It is apparently his handwriting on it.

The cast of This Is England do the skinhead look

Up until the skin heads took it as their own, they were mainly sold as work boots. Pete Townsend of The Who famously wore them on stage in ’66 and the boot never looked back.

Air Guitar

The punks in the late 70s wore them too with pride alongside the goths….the DM boot became iconic.

Sid Vicious in a Saatchi and Saatchi ad

This continued into the 90s with Grunge.

More practical than stacked platforms huh Naomi?

I bought some second-hand ones from a workwear store in Bedford in ’88…and teamed them up with vintage hot pants and mini dresses! (I’m looking for a picture as we speak!). I only had one pair in black, then upgraded to a pair of German Army Boots. Fancied myself as Bedford’s version of Tank Girl. (yes I wore cut offs and shaved my hair before you ask!)