Mods

60s England

Mod subculture a "fashion-obsessed and hedonistic cult of the hyper-cool" young adults who lived in metropolitan London and emerged in the late 1950s and hit its peak in the mid-60s. By this time teenagers were bored with what they deemed as the dull, uninspired British culture around them, repressed and riddled with British class system. The Mod rebellious lifestyle revolved around consuming pleasures such as Italian suits and French fashion,night-clubs and amphetamine,Italian motor-scooters,collecting records and listening to the music such as African-American soul, Jamaican ska, British beat music and R&B.By doing so the youth subculture rejected the class system and grueling nine-to-five working week that gotten their parents nowhere.An opposition to Mods were Rockers,who viewed the vanity and clothes-obsession of the mods as un-masculine.The conflicts between them often led to riots.


Mods in white suits. Bound for dance, Barry Hall, 17, Ken Todd, 18 and Brian Hemmings, 17 (all with face powder), show off their new suits. 1964
Female modeling Mod Street Style,Richards,1966.


Mods were self-conscious and critical,they customized existing styles, symbols and artefacts such as the Union flag and the Royal Air Force roundel symbol, and put them on their jackets in a pop art-style.Carnaby Tavern Shop ad for Union Jack 'Jam" Jacket.ca.1965. Twiggy an iconic 60s model and the symbol of Mod high-fashion in union-jack dress,designer unknown. Look Magazine, 1967


Compared with other youth subcultures, mod culture gave young women high visibility and relative autonomy.The emphasis on clothing and a stylized look for women demonstrated the same focus for detail in clothes as their male mod counterparts.Female mod fashion went from an underground style to a more commercialized high-fashion mod look.



Luella Bartley Spring 2007




Philip Lim 3.1 Fall 2009