For a long time I became drawn like some kind of magpie to the most radical and eye catching shirts I saw.

Which is great. Everyone needs zany shirts.

But it is a bit like constantly eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It might taste great at the start, but after a while you feel pretty sick. You really should do it only occasionally.

These kind of shirts just don’t GO with anything. At best, it’s your basic, like jeans.

So there's that, but there is also no artistry to wearing a loud shirt really. You can't build an outfit around it.


When I discovered designing shirts online, again the same problem.

I tended to reach for all the dramatic contrasts and ridiculous settings

Bright button threads, strange internal cuff colours.

Exact same problem – you end up with a ridiculous creation that doesn’t get worn because it doesn’t go with anything except the most basic of additions.

I must have about 20 shirts that are either so gaudy that I can’t wear them in daylight or so patterned that they have to be worn almost universally with jeans or black trousers.


Now however, I feel like I’ve learned my lesson... this latest is a grand, but everyday classic in white with blue window pane check.

As a bit of added smartness, I went with cream buttons rather than simple white.

It’s now one of my favourite shirts and can be worn literally anytime. Even a blue tie could work.

There is an important lesson here and that is that smart consistency in shirts really can stand the test of time compared to pointless impulse “shiny new thing” purchases.

Now if you’ll excuse me I just need to go and make a paisley…

Recently created and ordered a whole series of shirts online in a kind of mini celebration.

Not sure what I was celebrating. Probably just life in general. Or maybe it was just a burst of Mod-tastic exuberance that I know we all go through from time-to-time.

I bought those new desert boots from Hutton so perhaps it was simply that wanting something to wear with them. In other words the thought that I’m buying some new boots, so might as well go for a whole outfit.

Anyway so that happened. Details irrelevant.

The result is this beaut - a white shirt with nearly-pin dot polkas- in red and blue. On reflection cream buttons would probably have looked smarter, slightly contrasting with the shirt fabric, but there it is.

Classic design:
•    Button-down collar
•    Back tab
•    One-button cuffs with gaps for cufflinks

There was also a second shirt. More on this later.

Probably should do these kind of posts earlier on to help out the relatives (as opposed to me just putting together the list a few days before) but I find it's always good fun to think about your fantasy Xmas list.

Not necessarily "for me" (for any relatives who might be reading) but just a few bits and pieces that I was impressed by this year.

1. Bretons from Jump The Gun
Superb pieces, I think some of the best value on the market. Chunky, heavy knit (proper fisherman style), fitted, subtle colours and a nice shoulder-button thing going on. And of course from the shop at the beating heartland of Mod itself, Brighton.

2. Tab Shirts from anywhere
Still not got any of these due to my general penury and not really getting around to it, but I have been mucking about with a collar bar and I like the effect. It's a step up from the ordinary button down in terms of the exact look. I've seen them at loads of places, Pellicano, Modshopping, JTG and even a new French-ish place I found called House of Shirts.

3. Sta Prest Trousers in general
Undergoing a bit of a revival for me of late. Super smart-casual and a bit different to the usual blue Levi jeans look without the fuss of your suit trousers. Some excellent value items out there. If you're looking for classic at low prices, go to CX or Warrior. Merc also do a version called "Winston" which is closer to the original Levi Sta Prest, looks a bit more rugged and has vertical pockets. Costs a bit more though.

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.

As I promised last week, this week’s Swipe the Style is not going to involve Paul Weller at all

(although admittedly he is the best source for some of these – not only does he have good music, but his look is always great too)
 
This one’s from the Animals, House of the Rising Sun.

Grey suit - Jump The Gun
Price: £325

Tricky to find anything like the grey suit exactly as it is in the video. The black trim around the edges is obviously something they’ve had made for them as a band. On top of this, 3-button grey suits seem to be a bit scarce at the moment among the usual suspects. What I’ve got here is Jump The Gun’s grey suit. I’ve had JTG suits before so I know they are strong quality. It is however quite pricey.

An alternative, if you were really into that black trim, might be good to visit this site, where you can design your own boating blazer. It’ll be 2-button but you’ll get that black trim that is so distinctive.

Yellow shirt - Adam of London
Price: £50

Yellow shirts, not particularly hard to find, but from details in the video these have French double cuffs. So it has to be Adam of London. If you want to have a go at source your own one, I've got a little guide that might help you with that, based here.

Black tie - Tootal (via JTG)
Price: £20

The black silk tie is pretty standard around and about. But I’d say Tootal is the best price.

Winklepicker shoes - Underground
Price: £125

Shoes again are not particularly clear here, but I’m going to get creative and say they’re all wearing winklepickers. A strong pair of winklepickers can be picked up from Underground, although I can’t remember where I got mine from.

Grey socks - Primark
Price: £5

Pretty nondescript when it comes to socks – stylishly neutral one might say. But Primark do most socks very cheaply, grey included here.

I’ve seen the light

It’s true.

I’ve been doing it wrong for years.
 
And I only realised last week.
 
To start at the start, I reread The Ivy Look, by Graham Marsh and JP Gaul.
 

Great little tome, mapping out the details of the Ivy League style.
 
Especially great considering this is one of the key roots of Mod itself.
 
It also has some great pics in it, in that old-skool 1960s artistic style.
 
But that’s a bonus.
 
The great bit was that for ages I saw this thing called the “Tab Collar”.
 
Which is literally the worst name ever. It sounds like something a computer would wear.
 
“Tab” always meant to me, a kind of bland, square collar and I just assumed it referred to the standard everyday collar you might see in an office.
 
i.e. boring af.

But no! I finally understand it.
 
The Tab is the bit that clips around the back of the tie that draws the collar together to make it that smooth roll-shape that any Mod or fashionista highly approve of.
 
Closes all the gaps in the collar, fits snugly over the knot of the tie, with no buttons in sight.
 
In the words of The Ivy Look, this is “the epitome of the Ivy League style.”
 
As usual in this situation, I am now obsessed with it.
 
Every day at work when I should be concentrating on my laptop screen.
 
Looking at spreadsheets that tell me where Hampshire Local Authority are going to be building their new public service hub (or something)
 
All I see is a nice snug tab collar and tie.
 
It’s the new autumn look for 2017 I’ve decided.
 
Throw out all your button-downs, this is the new (old) thing.

Image is a bit smaller than I'd like but still a good impression of the man.

Nice cuffs on that floral shirt too.

Not usually a fan of the black shirt and suit look. But as usual he makes it work.

Following on from a minor whinge I noticed on twitter the other day about a new PG shirt, I thought I'd check out their recent paisley offerings.

The whinge by the way was about the way that PG has started putting little badges on their shirts with their own logo on. I share the annoyance - it's not really necessary. If someone likes your shirt, they'll come up and ask you where you got it. You don't need a massive advertising billboard on your chest.

Plus, it says Pretty Green all over the paisley anyway.

This aside, I did find a nice navy paisley shirt on their website where the badge is much less in your face and, actually PG really do paisley very well.

At least when they stop fucking advertising. Click pics for a closer look btw.

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...

I'm going on holiday over the weekend so I thought I'd dig this out for mine and everyone else's benefit!

Is it sunny outside yet?

And they look great...

2016 was an interesting year for shirts - I came up with the idea of the Edinburgh design for starters, but there were strong entrants from a variety of different quarters, including from check, paisley and polka dot.

1. PG Hornchurch
I don’t think this ultimately was part of the PG Jimi Hendrix collection but it should have been. The dark moody autumnal paisley has a firey, late-sixties feel and now occupies pride of place in my own wardrobe.

2. Edinburgh 001
This was a design I came up and designed myself on iTailor after seeing some pics of Skinheads while on holiday in Scotland. I don’t think this is a widespread style, but the check against the solid colour upper back section gives it the edge over classic gingham. I've done a few more with this theme, but this is still my favourite.

3. Merc multicolour polka dot
This was one I got for my birthday earlier in the year and still top of the menu. Goes well with brightly coloured knits as seen in the pic here. No idea where it came from - never seen anything like it since, but it is a Merc label.

4. El Ganso blue “tartan”
A new entrant for my modshops catalogue and one that doesn’t disappoint. Unique at the time in being a modern take on an Ivy League / Brooke Brothers sixties pattern, rather than keeping to a generic modern design.

5. Ben Sherman Pink
I preferred to think of this as a pastel red when I first got it, but it clearly is just pink. Strong combination with patterned trousers and has that classic Ben Sherman collar roll. 

Here's to hoping 2017 presents me with a few more mod masterpieces to add to this collection!

Not come across these guys before, but it looks like their site has a strong selection of goods - more on them later in the month!