A couple of nice little new things on the Pretty Green website today. You can probably tell I’m getting a bit pissed off with the cold months now. It’s about time we moved on to a bit of sunshine and spring, but not before we've had a few weeks of dark and stormy and these two seemed appropriate for the season.

Anyway first ting is this paisley collar polo. They’ve got them in navy and sky blue, but I’m erring towards the navy personally. This is classic PG – I don’t know why nobody else seems to be getting involved in the paisley polo collar game. There are only so many Fred Perrys one can wear without it getting a bit tedious.

Second is this understated long-sleeved polo. I see long-sleevers as a bit special compared to your standard polo, simply because you see very few around. It’s also a great combo of navy and dark orange.... a strong contrast.

As usual PG are a bit pricey compared to your standard high street polo shirt fare. But sometimes it takes just that little bit extra to be able to stick your head up higher.
It has the edge, you know? It’s not beige like Ben Sherman can occasionally be. It has style that’s worth the price.

​Following on from the Lock Stock theme over the weekend, Merc have come out with whole batch of sick shirts to satiate your sudden new taste for Moddy polos.

Not only this, but every single one has more creativity in it than any of those shitty Ben Sherman “Pool Party” top ranges and probably costs a lot less. 

Now you can be dressed for success at the poker table without leaving this blog.

Quick comment here in that in this scene from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Eddy is wearing an unremarkable polo shirt. I say unremarkable because it's not slick or flashy, but is simply black with a white trim around the collar. It's unremarkable to most, but it has subtle details.

These details got me into Mod-style polo shirts generally. And how much more Mod can you be? Not in-your-face (most of the time), but subtly cool.

I'll post a few more things on this inspiration next week.

Having received my very first Gabicci top for my birthday the other day (thanks to my brother), I am now more fascinated than ever by their range. I'm treating this post as a quick stream of consciousness, but the polo shirt below is a good example of the kind of unusual and niche patterned polos that Gabicci does. 

Weirdly enough though their best stuff rarely seems to turn up on their actual site. Those gems such as that below seem to surface on Atom Retro (where my bro got my one) or other places such as, in this instance, Stuarts.

If you're looking for a Fred Perry alternative, check them out.

​John Smedley have a pretty special story. Unique, some might say, which, after all, is what Mod should be all about.

Their website’s claim that they are “the oldest manufacturing factory in the world, located in the heart of Britain. Since 1784.” is a stunning one. It says the place has been going since the very start of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution that essentially made the whole of modern life, Mod fashion, included, possible. I mean, obviously it took another hundred and fifty years and a couple of  world wars before everyday teenagers had the purchasing power and actual access to the kind of choice in clothing goods that made dressing up possible, but still. Guess it beats starving to death on your landlord’s farm.

And speaking of Mod, they even have a little area of their website devoted to it. 

Worth checking out. Plus they have a couple of very decent (though also very pricey) polos available.

I’ve mentioned Pretty Green’s paisley obsession before, but as Spring … ahem… springs upon us, it’s good to update the register and celebrate the season by sticking some flowers on your shirt.

PG has certainly whet my own appetite for the paisley pattern - and they definitely do it better than some other brands I’ve dealt with - some of which are more clown shirt than rock n roll. I think I’d go as far as to say PG have developed it into an art form, finely balancing their look into equal parts look-at-me rock-and-roll-swagger and not-giving-a-fuck. As I said, it’s easy to mess it up if you make the pattern too bright or too ragged. 

I reckon PG get it just right. Plus, since they sorted their pricing structure out (in SOME cases) I’ve been buying left, right and centre!

​Ah consumerism...

Polo shirts have been in the Mod drawer since Fred Perry. But FP, while the original, are not the only ones that look good. There are a couple of far smaller, less well-known brands that have always show up in my searches online and in stores and they’re mostly unremarkable except for one thing: polo shirts with piping.

Piping on polo shirts looks great. A contrasted piping (usually white) versus a dark colour is particularly pop-arty and Mod, borrowing and expanding from the original Fred Perry concept of contrasting piping on sleeves and collars, but picking out all the major details. The ones below are from Penguin, but there are lots of colourful alternatives to expensive Fred Perrys if you search on Atom Retro.

The other reason it’s cool is because Eddie in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels wears one in the classic card game scene in which he loses half a million £. The soundtrack completes it, but his shirt remains pretty strong even as he walks out of the den in a debtor's daze.

​Been slightly asleep at the wheel on these recently so here’s a quick update.

The theme appears to be Jimi Hendrix - although you wouldn’t know it from the extreme lengths PG have gone to make it clear. Apparently they now sell vinyl and pin badges. 

All of these things also have the additional qualification of being  “Authentic Hendrix”, although given that it’s unlikely Jimi Hendrix personally approved all of these individual items to be released exactly 46 years after his death, we can safely assume that this statement is for PR purposes only. Unless his long-lost son is signing them or something, which would technically make them a “Hendrix” product I suppose.

Despite my cynicism, PG have actually done well here - the overall impression is moody and autumnal with lots of deep reds and oranges, with a darker and moodier tone to the collection, which is definitely strongly passable as Jimi Hendrix tribute. There are some silly orange parkas and bizarre other things, but there is some solid stuff there too, especially the scarves and shirts.

It’s pricey, but it’s certainly rock and roll and it splits from the mainstream in all the right places. 

Repping the new shirts he's the face of too.

Great selection of polo shirts from Relco here - unusual collar designs.

Relco have assured me that the logos are purely website watermarks by the way.

A while ago I was trawling through the usual places on the hunt for something cool and Mod when I stumbled across a reference to Gabicci on the big site for Mod togs, Atom Retro. In case you don’t know, AR is one of my favourite sites, acting as a sort of ebay or discount place for all kinds of clothes. What I like most about it is that among the usual off-season Mercs and outlet Ben Shermans, they always have a fair number of unusual odds and ends tucked away from relatively unknown suppliers if you look hard enough.

Anyway, check it out the site if you don’t know it. 

One of the names that crops up a lot is Gabicci. Their polo shirts are usually pretty distinctive and stylish, with contrasting patterns on the collar and front chest pocket or with button-down collars. They make a striking change to the (classic, but) usual Fred Perry single-colour styles.

Their proper website was down for a while, but it’s now open again.

And it’s a goldmine for anyone who’s got "too many" Fred Perry shirts.

A new thing on Atom Retro - looks pretty hectic.

A few things from Atom Retro. Sorry about the third one - it's all gone so I don't have a name for it!

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.