ska harlequin

SONG
"Tears of a Clown" (covered on this album) refers to the commedia dell'arte clown character, Pagliacci. He traditionally wears an all white suit. However, another clown in commedia dell'arte is the harlequin (or arlecchino) and he traditionally wears the diamond-shaped particolored costume.

DESIGN
This period of ska had very a specific "look" to it that was not only about fashion but also graphic design. This included the black/white/pink palette (although often it was just black and white) and the diamond or box check pattern.

GENRE
SKA is what happened when two great musical cultures collided: Jamaica and New Orleans. 1.Ska originated in Jamaica and its "first wave" period was during the 1950s. It was important to the development of rocksteady, dub and reggae. 2. Second wave ska started in the 60s with Jamaican immigrants in England. The Beat (in the US "The English Beat") were a later part of 2nd wave ska (the 1970s and early '80s.) 3. Third wave/ska punk was an American version that took hold during the late 80s and the 1990s.

Of course the story is much more complicated and interesting: e.g., the fact that calypso which is from Trinidad is one of the foundations of ska.

ska: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska
harlequin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin

Read Dick Hebdidge's book The Subculture of Style for the best analysis of ska and fashion.