AreYouMod
  • Blog Latest
  • Shop Mod Classics
  • About
  • All-Mod Library
  • Completely Mod
  • Blog Latest
  • Shop Mod Classics
  • About
  • All-Mod Library
  • Completely Mod
  AreYouMod

Are you Mod?!

Taking original style into the 21st century

Are the Kinks Mod?

14/8/2017

3 Comments

 
Maybe someone can fill me in on this one - in @MichaelRees84 ‘s battle of the bands on twitter, the Kinks recently beat the Small Faces by popular vote.

Obviously this doesn’t mean they’re more Mod (if there is such a thing), but it’s something I was thinking about - they weren’t exactly as uptight and buttoned up as the Small Faces were … you might even say they kept up a slightly hippy-esque style. Yet they are spoken of in the same breath.

They were of the period and dressed a bit similar, but I can't say I've ever seen them on scooter. They seem somehow a bit more eccentric to be into the Mod scene.

Of course this is my opinion - perhaps you've got some insider details.


Anyway here’s a few of the more Moddy pics that I can take inspo from.
Picture
Picture
3 Comments
Rod link
14/8/2017 07:31:07 pm

IMO 1964 was the watershed year for Mods. Prior to that it was an elite group of faces and stylists with a gradually spreading influence around the clubs and coffee bars of west London. By the time of the 1964 riots it had gone mainstream and became severely egalitarian and diluted from that point on.

Also young English kids who were influenced by the Mod look and their music who decided to form bands such as Townshend, Marriott and Davies - by the time they'd got their skills to the point they could release records it was already 1964-1965 and for me the zenith of The Look had already peaked. Also a lot of these lads - most obviously The Who - were stage managed in their threads. So if you look to British bands from the sixties as icons of Mod style, beyond individual items or some key photos you're on a bit of a slippery slope. Marriott may have looked the dogs bollocks in 1964. A year later he was wearing flowery shirts with his tie inside his collar like a cravat, and a year after that he was wearing a paisley jump suit with bell bottoms. The Kinks flirted with The Look too and definitely appealed to Mods but we're stage managed in hunting pink jackets too before succumbing to the frilly shirts and velvet/brocade jackets of the psychedelic look which The Who and The Stones also joined for a minute.

Lots of Mods said they loved The Who's music and energy but didn't rate them as dressers as the Mods reckoned they themselves were always better dressed than the band.

Reply
TC
16/8/2017 12:48:55 pm

Thanks Rod - this is actually a very significant insight and confirms some of my own suspicions.

Part of my own interpretation was definitely that the movement shifted from the mid-60s onwards from lofty individualism to a kind of egalitarian solidarity as you say. My reference point lies somewhere between 1959-62 currently for the "real" (if there is one!) look.

I also like your point that basically the bands are generally behind the curve in respect to the fashion.

I see the band clothes as a kind of gateway drug which led me into wanting more - and finding out there was much deeper to go as far as the look went.

Reply
Rod link
16/8/2017 10:54:14 pm

Yeah I pretty much agree reagarding the general timing of The Look and it's evolution. I take my personal cues from the very early sixties but I reckon most of those early faces were more concerned with the suited look. Those lads no doubt we're a bit snooty when it all exploded into 'street style' but one thing we have to thank for that explosion is the inclusion of more casual items - Levi's, bowling shoes, polo shirts, cycling shirts, Harrington jackets etc., which can provide a framework for your outfits from formal to casual.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Discussed here:

    All
    2 Tone
    #accessories
    Adaptor Clothing
    Alex Turner
    Amy Winehouse
    Arctic Monkeys
    Art Gallery
    Atom Retro
    AW16
    Baracuta
    Ben Sherman
    Blur
    Bradley Wiggins
    Breton
    Carnaby
    Cars
    Cufflinks
    Dapper Menswear
    Design
    DNA Groove
    El Ganso
    Fred Perry
    #French
    Gabicci
    Gallagher
    Harrington
    How To Fold
    IKON
    Itailor
    Ivy League
    Jacket
    James Bond
    Jeans
    JFK
    John Simons
    John Smedley
    JTG
    Kasabian
    Knitwear
    Lambretta Clothing
    Last Shadow Puppets
    Leather Jacket
    Levis
    Libertines
    Long Read
    Mac
    Madcap England
    Martin Freeman
    Merc
    Michael Caine
    Miles Kane
    Military Jacket
    #modbands
    Modblogs
    Modbooks
    Moddestvids
    Modern Classic Clothing
    Modfilms
    Mod Revival
    #modshop
    Monday Modness
    #Oasis
    Overcoat
    #paisley
    Parka
    Peckham Rye
    Pellicano
    Pinterest
    Polo Shirt
    Posh Watch
    Pretty Green
    Quadrophenia
    Rockers
    #scarf
    Shirts
    Shoes
    #smallfaces
    SS16
    Style Council
    #suitedandbooted
    #suits
    #sundayscooter
    Supernova Scarves
    #SwipetheStyle
    The Creation
    The Jam
    The Kinks
    The Verve
    The Who
    Tie
    Trousers
    Weller
    #Weller

    Other sites you should check out:

    Move On Up

    33rpmPVC

    Parka Avenue

    Restrospective Modernism

    Archives

    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015

    Author

    Mod blogger and style advocate. For all the latest pearls of wisdom, read this blog!

    RSS Feed

.
.