I love these ads. Look at those f**king gorgeous shoes!!

I originally discovered Pellicano a while back and I quite liked their slogan of “British swagger, Italian style”. I ordered a couple of ties, both polka dot, one burgundy, one blue and they are a particularly strong part of my general suit and tie strategy. They are not too wide and they are of elegant design and silky, high-quality fabric. I also paid a high, but okay price for them, about £22 each.

However, I am sorry to say I find Pellicano’s new site and season a bit of a disappointment.

They do have a couple of things going on. I particularly like their check shirts with their narrow collars and their knitted ties, for example. They also do a good line in pocket handkerchiefs.

But the prices are ridiculous. £82 for a plain white shirt and £50 for a knitted tie. No doubt they are of exquisite design, but I reviewed Art Gallery last week and they charge literally half the price for one of their new-season shirts. Come on Pellicano, are we seriously saying these shirts are double the quality of Art Gallery’s?

​I think it’s a mistake to try to charge this much frankly and Pellicano are in serious danger of undermining their own customers’ loyalty. As I said, it’s not hard to find cheaper shirts and Jump The Gun do knitted ties for much less than £50. Pretty Green did this when they first launched, with some shirts being priced about the £120 mark. Fortunately they realised their error and nowadays they're back in the region of saner economics. I’m sorry to say the marketplace, especially the internet marketplace, is not kind to uncompetitive businesses. 
It's a simple fact that people won't be taken for a ride.

Having said this, there is a lot of nice stuff to be picked up in Pellicano’s “Outlet” section at much more reasonable prices. So have a look at that area of their site for the real deal.

As trailed, these are my fave bits from Art Gallery Clothing’s new season. They only got put up recently and it’s actually pretty hard to tell which ones are the new ones. 

Not that this matters. 

The whole range is pretty solid. I know Art Gallery Clothing for its bold, almost Pop Arty takes on traditional Mod wares and these new additions do not disappoint in that respect.

1. Alfie
I love a cycling top in summer. They feel very Style Council somehow and these come in a good range of strong colours including royal blue and sky blue. Setting them apart from Fred Perry’s ones they also have a stylish French flag stripe down the left side. 

2. Walter
Another strong take on a cycling top - this one with long sleeves. I suspect this might actually be an autumn option considering the price and the style, but I liked it so much I left it in this list. Still one to take a look at.

3. Noddy
Classic Art Gallery here: bullish Pop Art colour scheme on a trad short-sleeved button-collar shirt. What more could you want for in the summertime? 

4. Garton
A close brother to the Noddy, this one again is bold check, in a kind of old Ivy League style.​

The one criticism I do have is that the new cycling tops are quite pricey. But then it's a pretty sick design so I'll probably fork out at some point... 

Art Gallery are also a prime outlet for that eminence of Mod traditional footwear, The Bass Weejun loafer. I feel this is telling when one tries to decide which direction their inspiration comes from!

A while ago I wrote a short post about Supernova Scarves, the inspirational online scarf shop, based near Turriff in Aberdeenshire, making (all in the UK) quality silk scarves of a distinctly Mod flavour for the very decent price of £30 or under. 

Now I post again, having been exposed to their wares first-hand and having been very impressed!

The scarf looks and feels great - silky smooth of course, summery white paisley pattern (good plan, despite the frankly crap weather here) and slightly tassled at the ends. The fabric itself is relatively compact too. Sounds like an odd thing to say, but I do have another scarf from elsewhere whose material can be quite voluminous, slightly ruining the overall look when you try to wear it. Not so with this one, the material is perfect.

So I can now say with a certainty - go to Supernova Scarves for all your Mod scarf needs. That being said, they also do pocket handkerchiefs and ties in silk too!

I also think it’s appropriate for me to mention here as well that none of this would be possible without the internet. Supernova Scarves is a tiny business based well over five hundred miles from where I live and yet anyone is able to peruse their entire collection at their leisure on the website and order a scarf to their exact tastes for less money than it would be to travel into your nearest Pretty Green and buy off the shelf something that might not be as edgy as you’d want. 

For a Mod on the lookout for great stuff and for connecting small businesses and boutiques with the Mod community out there, the internet is the ultimate tool. No more are we at the mercy of diluted-for-the-mass-market products with a price tag of hundreds of pounds hidden in an awkward corner of a high-street shop once every few months. 

For fashion enthusiasts keen on cultivating a stylish, yet individual look, the internet is pretty much the Mod ideal. That's what I reckon anyway, but then I can get a bit carried away sometimes...

Thanks again Belinda from Supernova!

So if you fancy diversifying...

Check in occasionally to see what we're looking at, live and unplugged . The list is not that long at the moment, but quite a range of things going on.

See below.

I love this kind of stuff - a load of my favourite things in one pic: Mod, shoes and infographics. 

Admittedly the metric is a bit patchy (Opera pumps?) and let’s be honest, it’s not exactly an authority. I have no idea who "Renalan" is, but I thank them for their artistry in producing this little graphic!

But it IS a feast for the eyes...

Last week I wrote a piece questioning why Merc’s SS16 seems to have made such a small impact and yesterday I reckoned Pretty Green was doing the best in terms of creativity.

It occurs to me that I may have been slightly too harsh on Merc and after a quick glance at their site, it turns out there are quite a few items which I quite like the look of in their new set. In this spirit, I’ve set a few of my favourites out below.

However, I would still say that Merc seem to have become obsessed with their own burgundy colour scheme. It seems to be everywhere. I like the idea of brand recognition and I like a bit of the burgundies every now and again when the blues are on holiday, but it seems a bit weird that the colour is so prevalent in their gear. Merc, if you’re listening - some oranges and yellows wouldn’t go amiss sometime.

1. Dalton trench coat
I really like the look of this - sharp navy coat with all the trimmings, including epaulets on the shoulders and a cheeky bit of tartan thread on the lapel.

2. Bellman shirt
Classic Merc gingham here - burgundy included, but nothing wrong with that. Nice little detail on the chest pocket, setting it just slightly apart from your average gingham.

3. Welor Geo paisley
“Paisley lite” on this one. Unusual polka style design but with floral swirls instead of dots. Blue buttons look good on the white and blue general theme (+ burgundy)

4. Paulus top
Choosing to pipe the collar and button strip with extra trim here is quite an old-skool design, one that designers should try more often. Makes for two cool variations on the Fred perry -esque polo.

5. Jobling top 
Unusual for a polo to have vertical stripes. Again, good to see something new and fresh here, burgundy in tow.
​
6. Siegel polka dot 
I’m always a sucker for polka dots and this is no exception. I suppose these are more pin-point dots, which is a great variation on a classic. Again, burgundy an option.