From the Urban Dictionary -
Swagger
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Swagger was the word of the job - most of the young actors were obsessed with it.
Some of us had long, involved debate about which trouser bottoms worked best with which pair of trainers and which shoelace would go best with which sweatshirt. One well known rapper chose a pair of jeans because the shade of denim on the turn up was greyer than an alternative pair and therefore matched the grey of his sweatshirt better; not the brand but the colour of the wrong side of the denim, visible only when turned up, was crucial.
I obviously loved this enthusiasm for clothing, the tiny details are a language I am not supposed to be able to read, I am not their peer, so working with them all to get looks that worked both for them and for me was thoroughly energising. They understood I had an overall vision for the piece and a story to tell for the characters they were playing and I was open to their ideas and inspired by their input.
Learning all about swagger was such good fun, they're all of an age when your clothing and music language is built to deliberately exclude adults and young people from other 'tribes'.
Just like Punk Rock was for me.
One strange thing I've noticed - sweatshirts have become jumpers. Time and again someone would talk about their jumper and it turned out to be a sweatshirt - what's that all about?
