The Mods

• A Mod (Modernist) was a product of working class British youth of the mid-sixties, originally from London and the South East, although it was still around through much of the seventies.

• The Mod boys dressed in suits, neat narrow trousers, and pointed shoes.

• The girls displayed a boyish image. They darkened their eyes and wore their hair short to fit a unisex type of culture.

• Rituals: The Weekend away. In an era when youth didn’t take public holidays, and most lived at home with parents, day trips were frequent.

• Pilgrimages to places such as Brighton and Margate were of importance to part of belonging to the culture.

Quadrophenia (1979) Trailer - http://youtu.be/RVQXZin5ytI

Fashion

• Mod fashion adopted new Italian and French styles in part as a reaction to the rural and small-town rockers, who were seen as trapped in the 1950s, with their leather motorcycle clothes and American looks.

• Male Mods adopted a smooth, sophisticated look that emphasised tailor-made Italian suits, with narrow lapels, mohair clothes, thin ties, button-down collar shirts, wool or cashmere jumpers.

• Mods were very self-conscious and critical, customising ‘existing styles, symbols and artefacts’ such as the Union flag and the Royal Air Force symbol, and putting them on their jackets in a pop art style.

• Mary Quant, who invented the miniskirt designs, gave women a ‘retro’ styled addition to mod fashion.

Music

• Through the jazz music of Black America, Mods appeared to distinguish themselves from mainstream society.

• They seemed to be attracted to the ‘cool’ character and elegant clothing possessed by jazz musicians, and strived to imitate their style.

• They hated commercialism and were drawn towards obscurity in their taste of music.

• They preferred the British bands who played a Rhythm & Blues, including The Rolling Stones and The Small Faces.

• Dancehall music was popular. ‘Soul nights’ became a new trend of the late 60s.

• The Who were the most popular band as they also followed a Mod lifestyle. Their violence on stage personified the aggression inherent in the Mod subculture.

The Who – ‘Quadrophenia’ album cover

The Small Faces

Critics

• Stuart Hall – “Mod young men accepted the idea that a young woman did not have to be attached to a man, developing new occupations for young women, giving them an income and making them more independent.

• Dick Hebdige – “Mods rejected the rocker's rough conception of masculinity, the rockers viewed the pride and obsession with clothes of

the Mods as not particularly masculine.”

• Suzanne Ferriss – “The emphasis in the mod subculture on consumerism and shopping was the "ultimate affront to male working-class traditions.”

• Shari Benstock – “British mods were "worshipping leisure and money... scorning the masculine world of hard work and honest labour" by spending their time listening to music, collecting records and socialising.