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Are you Mod?!

Taking original style into the 21st century

No working class bands

20/5/2016

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​Classic Gallagher interview here from 2014.

In a way, I see that he’s got a point, the likes of the bands he’s talking about (Manic, The Verve, Oasis, etc.) definitely don’t fill the charts like they did in the 1990s. 

But then I can’t remember the 1990s as clearly as everyone else. I was only born in 1989 for God’s sake. 

Is NG suffering a bit of the rose-tinted? Does he look back and see, in his imagination, wave after wave of Britpop when in reality there were only a few very good bands? A lot of people look back at the Beatles era and say it was a great time for music, as if the charts were full of decent music in the 1960s. But in reality if you look at the charts, the number ones were quite often just as poppy and flimsy as they are nowadays. My dad has a CD of number ones from about 1965-70. Some great tracks in there, no doubt. Some absolute classics. But it wasn’t wall-to-wall great music like some seem to suggest. 
​So perhaps NG is have a touch of this nostalgia about the 1990s. Perhaps someone could give us their view in the comments below.

However, I do think the man has a point about the major bands. Oasis and their compatriots stand out in the 1990s as the cream of the crop. Perhaps it is about class, like he says. Kasabian, the Libertines and Arctic Monkeys just have a swagger and an attitude, whereas the likes of Coldplay and Two Door Cinema Club just seem a bit wet. 

And now nobody is taking on carrying the torch. There aren’t any standout bands for me at the moment, only a few good songs. Why? Perhaps I'm already past it.
​But I would say it seems a bit weird for NG to literally blame the AMs and Kasabian for this as if it’s their fault. I think perhaps it’s more to do with culture. NG mentions X-Factor dominating TV (with its emphasis on singing rather than instrument playing or songwriting) and so on, where presumably kids would have watched Top of the Pops in the past.

I have a theory that since everyone (including working class kids) started being forced to stay in school longer and encouraged more to go to university, their identity as strong-willed, independent people has been watered down by having to write essays when, in the past, they might have been having life experiences and writing songs. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but modern student bands usually tend to chuck out pretentious rubbish.

Speaking as someone who did go to University, I don’t doubt that this cultural change is good news for some kids. University is certainly good for boosting the career prospects of the scholarly.

But it's not for everyone and I can’t imagine it’s that inspiring for songwriters. 
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Levver

28/4/2016

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​Leather. Is it Mod? 

Ok obviously it’s fine for shoes, that’s a given. No doubt a pair of leather brogues or Oxfords or whatever go down a storm. Trousers? Unlikely. Leather jacket though… there is an interesting one.

I personally don’t own a leather jacket. I have a suede one, as I’ve mentioned before - brown, like Steve Marriott’s one. Suede is leather of course, but then again not really. 

Somebody in Quadrophenia (possibly Jimmy) explicitly says he won’t wear a certain thing “because it’s levver, innit” and he doesn’t want to look like a Rocker. I can see where he’s coming from. 
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Apart from the obvious (conforming to the uniform of the very thing that the Quadrophenia Mods most disliked), the kind of leather jackets that Rockers were wearing were heavy things, full of metal and studs and all kinds of archaic shit that would probably pull you off your bike if you took a corner too fast. I read somewhere the jackets were supposed to be inspired by WW2 fighter-pilot style leathers, complete with those white scarves they’re all wearing in the film, and of course, the huge motorcycles. They just look oily tbh.

So obviously a Mod wouldn’t wear something like that. But times have changed. It strikes me that a slim-fitting, lightweight black or burgundy leather jacket (possibly Italian-made) might fit in quite well in the Mod wardrobe. For an example of what I mean, take a look at Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the film Looper.
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​It’s not Ivy League of course, but it’s light, elegant and looks slick as fuck. Mod has always borrowed from other subcultures it has come into contact with over the years and it could be that this kind of jacket completes certain looks pretty well.

I might not go there just yet, but it’s something to think about.
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The Absence of War

25/4/2016

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Although we’re told don’t judge a book by its cover, those of us of the Mod ilk know that more often than not, what you’re wearing is the face you present to the world, so you might as well make it look good and perhaps a bit distinctive.

Nowhere is this easier to do than in the kind of shirts you wear. There are a billion combinations of colours, patterns and styles that one could look to for a distinctive look, but in this post I wanted to highlight something in particular that I thought was slightly missing its niche from the market at the moment and that is the military-style shirt.

“Style” might be a strong phrase. A shirt with any other pattern can be military style, but I would usually describe it as a shirt that is one colour, with epaulets on the shoulders and two front flap-pockets.

They're pretty rock 'n' roll and also, IMO, a good look for hot weather. Think Michael Caine, or Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. 
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I always browse the usual clothing sites in my free time (/ time I’m wasting) at work just to see what goodies are bubbling away beneath the surface. This is usually quite rewarding, because I tend to just drift through the sites from page to page, clicking on links that I might not normally pay any attention to, just to see what’s there.  On Thursday, for instance, I was excited to see Adaptor had a few very bold polka dot numbers from Relco. Likewise they have a bit of paisley. Then I went to DNA Groove and Art Gallery just to have a browse and there are some serious checks and stripes going on in those places. At the moment, my favourite is the Noddy from Art Gallery, great colours, strong pattern. Then to Ben Sherman of course, where they can always be relied on to produce a powerful no-nonsense Oxford that always goes well with a jumper or suit.

But of a “military style” there is nothing to be seen.

It doesn’t have as strong a popular tradition as some of the other styles, but it was a thing. They were prominently worn by the Who some of the early pictures (especially Keith Moon), as well as by the Creation on the cover of their How Does it Feel to Feel record. If anyone’s got any other band examples, I’ll be happy to post.them here.
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In the 2000s, DNA Groove had a good series of smart shirts with their classic collars, but with epaulets on the shoulders and a distinctive button style. They also had contrasting colours. All the ones I’ve got are ones I’ve designed myself on iTailor.

But I guess the only conclusion can be that this type of shirt just doesn’t sell as well as I think it should!
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#2 - Mod both on and off the stage

7/3/2016

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Our fortnightly piece on our favourite bands...

The Small Faces are on the spectrum. I don’t mean that in the health sense, but in the sense that they are on the far end of the Mod Spectrum.

Quick explainer: the Mod Spectrum is a handy tool I’ve made up to organise all the different strands of Mod style that have been used by bands and public figures from the Sixties to the present day. It basically arranges them by how smart they look. Oasis and bands similar are on the scruffy, Madchester end. The Small Faces are on the opposite end, what I call the “Ultras”. I will have to explain more about this in a later post I feel.

Anyway so the Small Faces are the blueprint for Mod. It was the Jam that got me into Mod, dragging me in via their music. And from Paul Weller talking about his influences, there I discovered the Small Faces. Strong music and an even stronger look. They are one of the few bands that seem to look as good off-stage as they do on-stage.

There are plenty of examples of how good they look, but their style can be summed up from a few specific sources. 

The first is a photograph of the band in one of those massive Sixties egg chairs in the middle of a street, with Marriott at the front, grinning. Not the one where he’s lying across his bandmates but the one where he sits up straight. They’re all in sharp black suits and coloured Oxford shirts, repping that style. Any of these shots from their early days before they all became hippies are great - perfect exemplars of the early Sixties style.
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"the Small Faces are the blueprint for Mod."

The second is a little-seen clip in a documentary called My Generation. The band drive around London in a jeep while ‘All or Nothing’ plays in the background, again in suits and just effectively messing about on the street with an accompanying cheeky swagger practically invisible in music videos or photos, but that is more reminiscent of Oasis than the Small Faces. Also featuring in this short bit of footage is Ronnie Lane’s suit that was the inspiration for one of my own - double-breasted (though the button rows are very narrow, only an inch or so apart) and with flap on the breast pocket. I’m not sure where that footage can be found now, but it does occasionally turn up in other documentaries. I’ll add in a screenshot of what I’m on about somewhere here.

The third is another anecdote I read at one point about Ronnie Lane - that he never wore the same shirt twice. Apart from being hilarious, this is also so Mod. Like Ronnie Lane, I do occasionally wish part of my salary was paid literally in clothes so I could pull off this very same feat.

Very few bands have been a personal inspiration for the Mod style and that’s what the Small Faces bring to the table here. A classic Mod band through and through (with the added bonus of actually being a Mod band before they started), they bring the look to life like no other band and have the attitude to match, both on and off the stage.
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The Oxford: style of choice for the quintessential English gentleman 

25/2/2016

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The Oxford is the style of choice for the quintessential English gentleman and it is stolen wholesale here as a powerful element of the Mod look. Whether worn with suit trousers or jeans, Oxfords still even now retain that English gentleman image. Stylistically, Oxford style is the Brogue’s baby brother - shoes are in general smaller, smoother-skinned, and more elegant, hugging the feet with an in-step deliberately intended to cultivate a certain style of walking. The lack of extensive stitching means it can polish up much more smartly than other shoes. 

One important thing to note is of course that a shoe can be both Brogue and Oxford in its style. It can retain a closed lace system while simultaneously carrying some perforations and caps.
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While I have never owned a pair of Oxfords (my preference has generally been for full Brogues, unlike the Kingsman), they are one of a number of classic shoe designs that I have long coveted for my wardrobe. I like the fact that they tend to have a minimalist, urban vibe in contrast to the more heavy-duty rural one given off by Brogues. I would point out however, that I always lean towards a round toe, in any style of shoe. Square toes look harsh and jarring to the eye, something you want to avoid when trying to look your Mod-est.

For more, in-depth info, see here. 

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#1 - Who’s Mod?

22/2/2016

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Starting here: our fortnightly piece on our favourite bands, asking the eternal question: are they Mod?
NB: This is a series mostly about the clothes and attitude, not so much the music!
Okay. It’s generally well-known that the Who, back when they first began, were the playthings of the Mod-about-town Pete Meaden and were, in a sense, “manufactured”.

For most people this means the band should be discounted. After all, what’s Mod about someone pretending to be Mod? It should be all about looking good, at least looking a bit different and playing some decent tunes along with it. For many, being Mod is not something that you actively pursue, so much as find yourself doing (to paraphrase Martin Freeman) because it comes naturally.

The High Numbers (as they were introduced to the scene) were not natural Mods at all. Roger Daltrey especially had severe trouble keeping his hair under control, so much so that he had to use product to retain his early look. He himself said he gravitated towards the Rocker end of the spectrum, not the Mod end. Everything about the band was contrived to appeal to a Mod audience that needed new music. 

So what’s Mod about the Who? Well I would actually argue that until they hit their “Pictures of Lily” frilly shirts and silly ties phase in the mid 1960s, quite a bit. 

As one looking back on the My generation, pictures and videos of The Who offer a rich insight into what Pete Meaden and the later managers interpreted their audience to be. The band were designed to empathise with a Mod audience, this is true - so they had to dress like them. The band were a reflection of the scene of the time. Perhaps exaggerated, true, but nonetheless their clothes are a powerful reminder of what is possible with that strong early sixties vibe.

“The band were designed to empathise with a Mod audience - so they had to dress like them.”

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A second point in their favour is the band’s legacy in the field of Pop Art. Most of the zany colours and patterns that the band are pictured wearing (for example in the video for Substitute) may not have been everyday contemporary clothing for Mods. However, I think Mod actually draws some of its greatest inspiration from this period, especially in terms of casual clothes. Bright colours, geometric shapes and the kind of retro logos and typefaces around that period all strongly form part of today’s Mod identity in a way that other periods don’t for other youth subcultures. The adoption of the RAF red, white and blue roundel is a prime example of this, stemming straight from the early Who and very often physically inseparable from the band’s name on badges and patches. The whole pop art idea was even later inspiration for the Creation’s early work, as well as some outfits of the Jam. 

So The Who’s record is not entirely scratched; despite their shaky foundations, the original man in charge was a Mod through and through and aimed to dress them to appeal to the contemporary musical scene. Their wild success ought to indicate how much he nailed that objective and managed to project ‘Mod writ large’ onto what would become one of the world’s most  successful bands.


For purists, we may take or leave the logos and roundels, but we can’t deny that bold colours and choppy, punky guitars have remained part of the broader Mod identity ever since.
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The merits of a shirt bar 

21/1/2016

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"If ITailor is cooking at home, Ben Sherman’s shirt bar is the restaurant experience of the Mod world."

As anyone who regularly reads this blog will know, I am enthusiastically in favour of the customisable clothing website iTailor. The ability to design your own shirts (and shoes, suits and ties) with the site’s easy-to-use tools is an incredible opportunity for any Mod to boost their wardrobe for a very reasonable price. The fact that garments take a month or so to arrive by post can be a downside, especially when ordering for Christmas as I discovered recently, but my experience has nonetheless been a positive one.

Why then would I need Ben Sherman’s shirt bar? If everything I can think of (literally) can be built in the iTailor online shop, why bother parting with cash for a high-street brand?

The reason is the same one that explains why people go to restaurants for dinner. It would be cheaper to eat at home every evening and you can certainly cook a wide range of recipes with the ingredients from your local supermarket.

Yet, going out for dinner is fun. The effort of gathering ingredients, of cooking, and of processing, is taken away and my meal is served by waiting staff, usually within half an hour of my ordering it. Depending on where I eat out of course, the food is presented to a high standard and tastes delicious. In addition, I’d probably go with friends and soak up the social atmosphere, fully examining the entire menu before selecting my dish.

Confronted with a fridge of meat and vegetables, even for a seasoned chef. it can be difficult to know how to be original and keep your home cooking fresh. Similarly, for the seasoned iTailor customer, it is sometimes possible to look over the endless lists of tailoring options and yet somehow end up designing the same shirt over and over with only tiny variations.

If iTailor is cooking at home, Ben Sherman’s shirt bar is the restaurant experience of the Mod world. It is the treat of letting someone else do the creative work for you and you choosing from their sumptuous menu of exquisite garments a combination of designs that you would never have thought to put together. It might be a bit more expensive, but the prospect of finding something totally fresh and original on those shelves is always alluring...

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