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Friday 21 February 2014

Pearlies


The other royalty of London.  Dating from 1875 the costermongers sewed shiny buttons down the side of their trousers to stand out in the busy market streets.  A young orphan street sweeper named Henry Croft went one step further and sewed the buttons on his hat.  From there it grew until now the entire cloth of their garments are covered in buttons.  Don't be filled into thinking anyone can become a Pearly by donning a shining coat, no to be a real Pearly your title is handed down from generation to generation.  There are 28 distinguished Pearly families, one for each of the London boroughs.
Twenty first century Pearlies spend their time raising money for charities.

8 comments:

Andy said...

LOL. I'll never again complain about how teenagers dress.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Cor Blimey!

Sharon said...

An interesting tradition. I love those "pearly" clothes.

Marleen said...

Nice story, and lovely photo!

William Kendall said...

To borrow a phrase from the Pythons... and now for something completely different!

Jack said...

Great! I have seen photos of Pearlies but have never seen one in person. I envy you!

Tamera said...

What an amazingly cool tradition!

Gunn said...

I learned something new.

Do you see young people dressed like this?

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