Levver

​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. 

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.

​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.