Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Sixties Mods

I had THE greatest find EVER last weekend at my local  thrift shop. I'm pretty sure no one will ever top this find so I'm feeling pretty great right now. Curious alright? Well, I found the most perfect pair of worn down bowling shoes. I think these shoes are so perfect that I started wondering why they don't make regular shoes like this. Or am I missing out on something?

Anyways, I wore these shoes out to dinner the other night. Together with some pants and other stuff, no worries! And everybody kept complementing me about these shoes, about how wonderful they are and how it seems they are made just for me. HOORAY! One of my friends said there was some kind of movement in the sixties and those people would also wear bowling shoes and ride on Vespa’s. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I did some research today.

Seems he was right. They were called “Mods”. In fact there were two main groups in the British sixties: The Mods and The Rockers. They were very different and therefore didn’t get along very well. Although most of their quarrels were being enlarged in the media.


Mods


Mods vs Rockers




So who were these so called Mods? First of all, the name “Mods” is derived from “Modernists”. Mods loved modern Jazz and well in fact everything new, exciting, controversial and “modern”. Hence the name. Most Mods were working class teenagers who wanted to escape their working class faith. They had little responsibility and little money and wanted to “live for the moment” instead of saving up for the future. They were inspired by Italian and French styles and loved to wear tailored suits. However, when their style began to evolve they also wore sneakers with (Levi’s) jeans, shrunk to fit. Bowling shoes went in and out of style but their favorite shoes were Clarks: Desert boots. As for transportation, they rode on Vespa’s or Lambretta’s which they treated as a fashion accessory. They customized their scooters with lamps, mirrors and even fur. Scooters were the ideal transportation for these youngsters, it was cheap and they didn’t had to rely on public transportation when they wanted to stay out all night at dance clubs.

Mods didn't like The Beatles, but listened to The Who, The Small Faces, The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds and so on. They also liked The Rolling Stones, but didn't like their 'scruffy' look.

The Who - Quadrophenia
Mirrors, mirrors, mirrors!



So in this outfit, I’m a bit of a Mod’er! However my bowling shoes might be too ‘scruffy’ to be a typical Mod. And my hair isn’t nearly neat enough! I'm also loving this blazer I'm wearing. It's so darn versatile, it works with everything!

Blazer, top: H&M - skinny jeans: ZARA - bag: Forever21 - shoes: thrifted











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2 comments:

  1. kan je ze niet oppoetsen? Dan zijn ze wrs nog mooier! ik ben gek op de mods en the who en de hele stijl :)

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    1. Oh ik vind het net leuk dat ze zo 'versleten' zijn! Het past dan wel niet volledig in de Mod-stijl but ah well, dan ben ik maar een scruffy Mod. Anders moet ik ook nog beginnen met m'n haar te kammen, pfooeee. Maar ik vind de stijl ook wel geweldig ja, hoewel ik toch ook wel n boontje koester voor The Rockers!

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