A Boy and His Jeans…

By: Daniel Thompson; Photograph by: Travis Dubreuil, http://www.travelingtravis.com


When I was 15, I was a young gay boy living in Charlotte, NC. I found myself hanging out with a group of skinheads. I know what you’re thinking, “A teenage homo, in the South, with skinheads… really?” Well what can I say, I was obsessed with the whole lifestyle and still am. From the strong sense of camaraderie to the specific style sense, to the long and very misunderstood past. I fell very quickly into the lifestyle.
By far one of my favorite parts of the skinhead culture was style. A typical skin can be found wearing a very specific attire, and these articles of clothing are (but not limited to) Dr Martens boots, a Fred Perry polo shirt, braces/suspenders, and Levi’s 501s (typically). Lets just say when I actually started shaving my head and wearing the clothing I became quickly obsessed. Levi’s became a staple in my wardrobe. I wore them almost daily. From school to going to shows, I always had on my trusty 501s.
So when I was 18, I did what most modern skinheads did and got my first tattoo. I had in some delusional way come into manhood, and afterwards, I was hooked. I got my second, third, eighth, and before long I was well on my way to becoming a tattooed rude boy. They varied from semi-traditional, to semi-trashy, to semi-funny. So one drunken night I was out with friends at our local haunt having underage drinks watching some shitty punk band, that I never bothered remembering the name of, when it occured to me… I hadn’t planned out what I wanted to get tattooed on my ass, and I wanted to pay homage to my favorite jeans. The idea was born. I wanted to get 501 pockets on my asscheeks!
Well it took a bit longer than expected, but the first day of spring 2010, I finally got my pockets.
This spread photographs by :Allison Conway