These boots formed part of an outfit worn by Danny Edwards and displayed in the exhibition Streetstyle, From Sidewalk to Catwalk, 1940 to Tomorrow held at the V&A in 1994-5. The complete outfit consisted of a white Exhaust denim shirt, Exhaust denim jeans and these Grinders leather boots. The outfit reflected a style of ‘Ragga’ dress worn by some British men in the mid 1980s to mid 1990s.

‘Ragga’ derives from the word ‘Raggamuffin’, originally a derogatory term for delinquent Jamaican youths. Ragga began in the mid-1980s in Jamaican dancehalls before spreading throughout the African diaspora. Denim became an important element of Ragga style, particularly in the form of the distinctive men’s ‘click suit’, made of an intricate patchwork of shredded or stonewashed denim decorated with appliqué or rich brocade. This outfit, which reflects this embellishment of a fabric originally associated with workwear (denim), was worn by Danny Edwards in 1992. He acquired the shirt from his uncle’s shop Stars in Dalston in 1984. The jeans, although made by the same company (Exhaust - a favourite Raggamuffin label), were bought whilst he was in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1992. The boots came from Camden Town in 1993.