Noticed earlier this week that JTG are pushing out quite a few nice little things I’ve not seen before.

This swag number here is a photographic triumph and a trio of delights:
 
Tab collar shirt: check
 
Knitted tie: check
 
Tie bar: check
 
I could probably leave the braces, but who doesn't want the last three?

This is a pretty strong pitch actually – elsewhere I’ve seen tab collars go for a much higher price and they have a unique look in the Mod wardrobe... minimal, but razor sharp.

The guys over at Move On Up have done a little bit on this new book come out earlier in the year, tracking the lives of two young gals who join practically the whole country (world?) in falling into Beatlemania in the 60s.

If you're interested in a different angle to the 60s period, this one is probably for you. As is the blog, which I regularly take a look at. They regularly feature "niche" things, shall we say, that you won't find anywhere else. A while ago David even interviewed Paul Brown from Adaptor clothing and he regularly features music.

He also benefits from a photographer. Which I certainly don't and it certainly brings the undeniably visual look of Mod alive when someone who knows their way around a camera is in on board.

By the way, if you did want to buy the book, clicking on the pic (or link below) will take you to Amazon and a small donation will go towards this blog. The price is the same (I can't change that I'm afraid!) - but at least some of your dosh will go towards Mod things and not some corporate finance bill.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Days-Month-Ian-Snowball/dp/1910705713?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=completelymod-21

This is a particularly strong look from the Italian Job, probably the most memorable Caine film.* Any readers who know the film (and who doesn’t) probably harbours a secret desire to put on this exact outfit anytime anyone has ever mentioned going to Italy on holiday. There is a very interesting assessment here that goes through his look in the film outfit-by-outfit, but for now I'm going to look at one specific look in the pics below.
 
First of all, the suit is largely on point- light beige (or “stone” as fashion retailers might refer to it now) with THREE buttons (OMG) and a single dark button on the cuff.
 
I think the pop-theory is that the number of buttons on your cuff is supposed to be some kind of label of social status, ie the more buttons, the higher up the ladder you are. I wouldn’t take this literally of course, but the choice here makes sense for the Italian Job – it gives the suit a slightly more rugged look than the usual 3-button cuff would. Caine’s character is supposed to be a bit of a wheeler dealer. Anyway a “working-class English lads-on-tour” kind of vibe is obviously intended throughout the film.

In general I’ve never had a light-coloured suit. In my mind it’s the kind of colour and fabric that is reserved for hot, tropical conditions. I suppose Italy in the 1960s must have seemed bloody exotic to most people ... so I guess this makes sense.
 
I would point out here that although this looks like the same suit, there is a certain amount of detailing missing in one pic compared to the other. I have no explanation for this, so there may be two suits here–- one slightly sharper, one slightly more overalls-esque, but the overall impressions are so alike for the purposes of this post that I will remark as if they were one.
 
The second point is on the brown leather driving gloves. The leather is always a strong contrast with the fabric of the suit and if you’re looking for excuses to get this look on, winter is now here, so you can get away with it even if you’re not driving Minis in Turin. Again, I suspect the glove-wearing is another nod to this slightly rugged “man of action” vibe Caine is giving off.
 
The third point is the tortoiseshell-frame sunglasses. The glasses he wore in the Ipcress File were such a staple for Caine in this period that it was almost like they couldn’t resist keeping them in the look in one form or another. These types of glasses do have a retro feel now, but in a good way - they don’t look outdated merely “vintage”.
 
His shirt is disappointingly not a button-down and a little bit plain for my liking, but then you can’t have it all. It does however have an unusually long collar.
 
*Of course there are various honourable mentions for this title (including Get Carter or even Zulu) but when people quote the man, The Italian Job is where most of the famous quotes come from.

Two stars for the price of one again - a pretty strong performance.

It's interesting, I feel as if Paul Weller is increasingly becoming more Gallagher-esque in his dress sense as he ages. He seems to have dropped all pretensions of the full-on smart Mod look he had when he was younger!

Or maybe he thinks it's not for him.

Talking of the smarter, younger Jam look, you can look that up here.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand why Mods adopted the Sta-Prest (occasionally referred to as Sta-Press) trousers. As the name suggests, they always “stay pressed” and, as the gimmick went, never crease and can be worn straight out of drying as clean, smart everyday wear. Plus they were American – for the time, exotic enough for anyone. 

Of course those devoted more to the Ivy Look than to the Mod wouldn’t touch them. For the Ivy League, the flat-fronted trouser (“in natural fibres”) is always the preferred option. I however am prepared to throw that idea out of the window – I love the permanent centre crease that Sta-Prest have. I think it looks snappy and sharp.

The best bit about them is that, depending on how you dress, you can up the ante with a pair of smart shoes or simply opt for Desert Boots if you feel the occasion calls for toning it down.
 
In other words, Sta-Prest cover both the smart and casual bases and they also come in a range of decent colours, including in the brown shades that are so favoured by those looking for a genuine sixties look, but ignored by the high street.
 
That’s the expo out of the way, but Sta Prest are a pretty hot product – they are somewhat commoditised (in the best possible way, as in you know what you’re getting) and I’ve got a cheeky top two recommendations for you. I recently had reason to buy from two different very low priced places and I must say I was not disappointed at all. My only question is how these places even make their money!
 
CX London - bought a black pair for £32 (not inc delivery)
 
Jeanwise - bought a navy pair for £24.99 (not inc delivery)
 
Both pairs are good quality. No complaints here, just stunned that I can now spend the rest of the £100 or so I planned set aside for these buys for something else now! Maybe a nice shirt to go with them...

Crossing over from the theme of function over fashion (parkas of course being traditionally "functional" rather than "fashionable" for the original Mods), every Mod looking for a coat to suit his stature ought to own a Crombie.
 
Three-quarter length, with a towering, shape-hugging silhouette and a shimmering red silk lining, the Crombie was the coat of choice for the Skinheads, but don’t let that put you off.
 
The Crombie’s history sits above even that of the Skins. If you were to take a trip back through time to the Scottish glens in the nineteenth century and you would find, at the heart and head of the industrial revolution, a small factory, churning out these dashing v-necked coats for the Great and the Good, triumphing in the Great Exhibition in 1851. Crombies were shipped across the Atlantic for the Confederates during the Civil War and a few US Presidents (including of course JFK) have taken a shine to them. Even Doctor Who wears one now.

For Mods, I think the story of the Crombie is about the reclaiming of a cultural icon. It’s been around the world and back again, but it’s one of the few things in the Mod wardrobe that can be truly referred to as British through and through.
 
The very best Crombie looks are topped off with a silk pocket square and a paisley scarf. That'll set you apart from the Doctor Who fans.

I've always felt this Jam track to be unbelievably and weirdly true about every day life. Difficult to say for sure whether Weller is talking philosophically "in the crowd" as in "in a mindless mob" or whether he means just drifting randomly through a shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon buying random shit (as he mentions actually in the song).

Anyway good tune, bit souly I think. Also, as usual a great look from The Man.