Vice Fashion - Fix Up Look Sharp

Sharpies emerged from Melbourne’s suburbs in the early 70s and evolved out of existence by the end of the decade. They wore jeans and tailor-made cardigans, which they would design themselves in an attempt to outdo all the other sharpies. They got their name for the simple reason that they liked to look sharp. We organised something of a reunion with a group of ex-sharpie friends and they gave us the down-low on “the good old days”. Photographer: Travis Hogg
Stylists: The models

Mick wears Wrangler jeans, original Conte and a Kangol hat.

Michael W John (Skinny Mick)

I grew up in West Heidelberg and went to a Catholic school before I met some Sharpies and dropped out at 15. For some reason there were lots of Micks in my group, which is why we all had to have nick-names. I was always skinny so mine is obvious. We used to work every day and drink every night at places like the Fox and Hound and go to dances at places like the Heide Town Hall and Q Club. We were just young kids getting up to no good. We’d go to the football and bash people up or go to the Pizza Hut in Darebin, eat and then leave without paying. We didn’t pay for anything if we didn’t have to and we normally got away with it.

Cliff Mitchell

I grew up in the commission flats in Jordanville where there was a big Sharpie contingent. Our main rivals were surfies and long hairs rather than other Sharpie gangs. I think the Sharps and Skins were the first of the actual street gangs but it was very different from gangs now. There were no Asians—it was a very anglo culture with a few wogs thrown in. The whole thing started mainly because we wanted to look sharp and clean—dressing like that made you feel you were something. We were really particular and would iron creases into our pants and try to outdo each other with our cardigans. We looked good and the girls liked it, especially the private school girls.

Unlike gangs now, we had certain principals that were really important to us; things like when you got into a fight, you could only hit the other guy with your fists, as kicking was considered dirty. We didn’t like drugs either and if we saw someone smoking dope, we’d beat the crap out of them. There were obviously guys who didn’t live by these rules, and drugs definitely became a much bigger problem in the later years, but all my friends lived by these kind of standards.

Chris O’Halloran

For me, becoming what you call a Sharpie, was really just a natural evolution. It wasn’t something we consciously did. We just kind of cut our hair and started wearing different clothes. We would wear Levi’s, Lees or Wranglers and the cardigans were hand-made by local tailors like the Conte family. Everyone would come up with their own design and try to outdo each other with the stripes, cables, collars and detail. We’d get new shoes and cardigans every couple of weeks and spend all our money on them. There wasn’t much else to spend it on anyway—most of us had left school to work and still lived at home. The only other things we spent money on were smokes and the $1.90 it cost to get into the dance on Saturday night.

We were into lots of local bands like Lobby Loyde, Billy Thorpe, AC/DC and Skyhooks and would also listen to stuff like Deep Purple and Zeppelin. In 1980 at the AC/DC concert at the Myer Music Bowl, there were massive riots when Sharpies descended en masse and just started beating the shit out of everyone and destroying trams and cars and stuff. That pretty much signalled the end of the Sharpie movement. I moved into punk from there, again, just a natural evolution.

Andy wears Levi’s, crest knit polo, original Conte cardigan, shoes model’s own.

Andy Smith

I had a natural ability for starting cars without keys, which meant that from the age of 16, I would drive a lot of the guys around. I’d steal a car and take everyone to the dance at the Q Club or wherever. After we’d used the car, I’d normally ditch it in the Yarra. There was one particular spot that I favoured because there was some soft grass where I could roll out before the car hit the water. One time, the car went into the river but instead of sinking, it just sat on the surface of the water. I eventually figured out that it must have been on top of the 15 or so other cars I had dumped there.

It’s pretty surprising I was never killed because people did carry and use guns and I had at least three cars shot up while I was driving. Another time there were some Sharpies hiding behind cars who were shooting at some bouncers across the road who had thrown them out of their club. I didn’t realise and was walking towards the club when the guys started shouting my name and telling me to duck. All I remember is diving into the gutter and when I heard them start their car, I ran and they pulled me in as they drove off.

Chane Chane

I lived on friends’ couches most of the time so moved around a lot and ended up being in quite a few gangs as a result: the Frankston Sharps, Melbourne Sharps, West Road Sharps and the Oak Park Boot Boys. I was generally in trouble, in a few garage bands and would steal the equipment and get in fights and stuff. I was the youngest and smallest of the group so they’d make me go up to surfers and hippies at the pub to ask for money. Whether the long hairs gave me money or not, we generally beat them up anyway.

One night I went home to find a bunch of rival Sharpies had broken into my house and were armed and waiting to kill me—it was a real Sharpie stand-off. I managed to distract them until I got outside and ran for my life. The next day, a guy called Peter Rossi, who was in a great band called the Teenage Radio Stars, contacted me and told me they had got rid of their singer and wanted me to replace him. We formed La Femme and it was the reason I got out of violence and am alive today probably.

Terryann Appleby

I was 15 or 16 when I met some of these guys. The first night we hung out, we drove around throwing eggs at people on the street and I remember having so much fun. Sharpie girls would wear really short a-line skirts, massive wedge shoes, tiny cardigans and really heavy make up. We’d meet the guys at the dances on Saturday night. The dancing was really distinctive—with the guys there was a lot of elbow action and the girls would all stand in a circle, shuffling around with our hands in our pockets. It’s funny to think about now but at the time there was an electric air about it all.

Graeme Penton

We were really the second generation of Sharpies but the way we dressed was much more defined than the generation before. I grew up in Camberwell and spent heaps of time at the junction and outside the bowling club there. We were always just hanging out or driving round in a car full of like 12 people. I had a camera and took a lot of the photos of the guys that you see today.

(For more information on the whole thing call Sam Biondo on 0411 410 737)