One of the most striking examples of this phenomenon is the mod subculture, the origins of which should be sought among the youth of the late 50s. In those years, the word "modernist" was used to refer to fans of modern jazz, opposing them to lovers of traditional jazz. Modernists, or “fashions” for short, understood bebop, were fascinated by the ideas of existentialism and dressed in. In part, the mod movement emerged as a kind of response to the British subculture of Teddy Boys - criminalized youth from the working environment who listened to the American blues and sought to imitate the "golden youth" by dressing in the fashion of the era of King Edward VI.
British culture has been spreading around the world for more than a century, and even the collapse of the colonial empire and the burden of war did not weaken its influence. English stiffness and adherence to traditions have become the talk of the town, but it is difficult to overestimate the contribution of this country to the youth culture, which does not tolerate stagnation, striving for freedom and novelty. 
London Teddy Boys, 1954
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| Teddy Boys mid 50s, Kensington, West London |
Concerning the social layer of the early mods, opinions differ somewhat: some consider them to be from the working environment, while others believe that they were created by middle class London's East End. In particular, the emergence of mods could have been strongly influenced by the culture of beatniks and young representatives of the London bohemia.
The lifestyle of the mods of the late fifties and early sixties - independent, free-spirited, perfectly dressed down to the smallest detail, regulars of jazz clubs, riding Italian motor scooters and often abusing amphetamines, was not yet well known to the general public, but more and more joined it and more young people.
This was facilitated by the atmosphere of fashion-loved coffee bars, where more and more young people from the working environment began to appear, and rhythm and blues sounded more and more often in addition to jazz. Captivated by the incendiary records of Stax, Chess, Atlantic and Motown, wild energy the blues of Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Howlin' Wolfe, the rhythm of ska, the young modernists, now from all walks of life, developed a sense of style and a love of music.
Bye talented musicians foggy Albion mastered new music, record collectors happily boasted of fresh recordings of brilliant American artists: Lee Dorsey, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Arthur Alexander, James Brown and other fashion favorites of the early sixties.
By the middle of the decade, Marvin Gay, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Dobie Grey, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes and Martha & The Vandellas reached the pinnacle of success.
British bands such as Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Zoot Money's Big Roll Band and the Graham Bond Organization also won the hearts of mods. Under their hits, the youth left last strength on the dance floor, giving the last money for a new suit.
Subculture is a phenomenon more meaningful than perfectly matched clothes, dances and music, but fashion is unthinkable without these components. The London clubs The Scene, The Flamingo, and The Marquee, as well as the Manchester Twisted Wheel, became favorite places for modernists. These establishments, legendary for modern mods, had a significant impact on the culture of post-war Britain. The Flamingo Club has played host to many top stars including Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder and has also introduced the British to Jamaican ska.
Alexis Korner, who will be called the father of British blues, performed at The Marquee. Through his Blues Incorporated formed in 1961, prominent British musicians from The Rolling Stones, The Cream and many other bands whose unparalleled worldwide success will be referred to as the "British Invasion".
As the number of mods increased, so did the attention to them from the music and fashion industry, as well as television. The development of the subculture has had the strongest impact on fashion around the world. "Swinging London", as journalists called this phenomenon, included a variety of manifestations of the cultural and sexual revolution of the sixties. In music, it was about the real "British Invasion": the whole world listened The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and dozens of other English bands.
In fashion, the UK has also become a leading exporter: the miniskirt, that symbol of sexual liberation, was conceived by British designer Mary Quant. Charming Britons Jean Shrimpton and "Mod Queen" Twiggy became the first top models with world names.
The British flag even got on jackets and dresses. Interest in Mod clients led to clothing labels like Merc and a boom in London's Soho. Young people no longer had to get suits from Italian tailors: the English ones were in no way inferior to them. Carnaby set the tone, and the whole world listened and copied.
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| Fashion company on Carnaby street, London, 1966 |
On television, the British invasion was reflected in shows such as Ready Steady Go! and "Top of the Pops". Ready Steady Go, which began in 1963 as a run-of-the-mill musical show, quickly changed style, becoming a world-famous youth show about music, fashion and fashion.
It can certainly be said that the growth of the subculture's popularity contributed to consumerism, but at the same time, attention to fashion from the public showed that young people were beginning to play a much more prominent role in the conservative society of Great Britain. A little more attention began to be paid to their lives, problems and needs. This attention was not always in the hands of the mods: in particular, in May 1964, the whole country learned about their violent clashes with rockers on the beaches of southern England in Brighton, and the government began to jam pirate radio stations aimed at irrepressible British teenagers.
However, the first mass youth subculture Great Britain was also to become the longest-lived, because there was something in it that went far beyond the next fashion trend. This became noticeable only a few years after the recession.
From the second half of the seventies, soul music took on an increasingly funky sound that did not appeal to purist mods, especially those living in the north of England. The fascination with rare and already old-fashioned records without a touch of funk resulted in a movement called Northern Soul (Nothern Soul). Within its framework, the dance component of the Mod culture developed very actively and the dances characteristic of northern soul have now become the hallmark of the direction. By the second half of the seventies, northern soul had reached its peak of popularity and spread throughout Northern England and the Midlands.
At the end of the decade, the direction "Mod Revival" arose - literally "mod-revival". This musical genre incorporated elements of contemporary punk rock and new wave, as well as power pop in the spirit of The Who and Small Faces - the offspring of the sixties mod scene. Mod-revival gave music a lot successful groups, among which most famous acquired by the legendary The Jam, led by Paul Weller.
The fashion style of the mods as a whole remained the same - suits, shirts and . Weller introduced the fashion for the two-tone boots seen in the sixties on Brian Jones, Roger Daltrey and other rock stars. They did not forget the fashion and the Italian motor scooters Vespa and Lambretta, which they loved in the first wave.
In the 1980s, northern soul gained new fans. Also, some mods paid attention to the contemporary ska label “2 Tone” and rare recordings of the sixties, which received new life thanks to reissues and called freakbeat by experts. This term began to be used in relation to music, which is a transitional stage from rhythm and blues to psychedelia and progressive rock.
Somewhere not far from the mod scene was garage rock, which was loved by some mods back in the period of its emergence in the mid-60s, and now, like freakbeat, enlivened by numerous reissues of old compositions and groups that draw their inspiration from them.
In the nineties, the mod-revive of the seventies itself served as the basis for the new British music- Britpop, and many artists continued to feed on ideas directly from the sixties, including, of course, Oasis and Blur. The mod movement itself has matured, become more secular and trendy, but it hasn’t gone crazy at all.
Half a century has passed since the appearance of mods, and their culture still attracts connoisseurs of the richest musical traditions, who never cease to feed musicians from all over the world, and people who are fascinated by the restrained elegance of the British style, which has become classic, but remains surprisingly modern.
Sergey Koshelev
Especially for www.site
Young people never want to be "like everyone else." It is not surprising that it was in England, which gave the world the highest quality rock in the world (and then pop music, of course, but this is - separate story), in the 50s the very concept of “subculture” was born. Although the “subculture” usually expresses the exact opposite of the ideas of morality and the laws of society, young people who wanted to express themselves also needed to somehow distinguish “us” from “them”, dividing according to musical, fashion and even life preferences. This phenomenon became especially widespread after the end of the war, when 70% of the young and cocky joined one group or another.
TEDA (or TEDDY)
Teds (in the Soviet Union, also known as "dudes") appeared on the wave of popularity of rock and roll in the 50s. Especially, of course, American rock and roll and British stars like Adam Faith and Cliff Richard. The style of clothing they chose was “Edwardian”, which meant: well-cut knee-length coats, pipe trousers, velvet collars, suede (or patent) pointy boots and lots and lots of hair gel to “get the right” cook. The ted girls wore pleated or pencil skirts, jeans rolled up to the knees, tight white shirts or T-shirts, elegant little handbags and cravats. Not surprisingly, the Teds, even from less wealthy families, became regulars at the tailors in Civil Row.
FASHIONS (or MODERNISTS)
In the 60s, the Tads were replaced by the Mods, choosing as their style a mix of jazz modernists of the 50s and traditions not too wealthy people dress more expensively than they can afford. Basically, the Mods aimed to look like middle-class businessmen. They wore exclusively Italian or custom-made clothes, cut their hair in Vidal Sasun salons, and drove Vespa scooters. In fact, the Mods were the forerunner of modern hipsters. By the way, we owe the fashion for skinny girls to them, who erected the Twiggy twig girl as an icon of style. Fashion for miniskirts, knee socks, and baggy sweaters / jackets - too.
As for musical preferences, for the Mods, the authority was black jazz, ska, well, and a couple of whites - what is there, let them be - for example, Small Faces, The Who and Kinks. The real mods introduced (sorry for the tautology) the use of methamphetamines, which allowed them to hang out all night long without leaving the dance floor.
RASTA
But we must not forget that not only whites have lived in England for many centuries. Afro-Caribbean Londoners of the late 60s chose Rastafarianism as their style. Most likely, of course, in spite of the whites - they can, but are we worse? Therefore the streets major cities flooded with people with dreadlocks, dressed in something incomprehensible, but always bright, smoking ganjubas and loudly listening to reggae. То есть, пытались убедить окружающих, что ни фига они не то, что называют «вест-индийскими иммигрантами», а самые что ни на есть настоящие ниггеры со своей офигенной, бро, культурой. Unfortunately, such an open display of national identity, often led to skirmishes and small-scale slaughter, and eventually gave rise to a current of ... Skins.
SKINS (or SKINHEADS)
You won't believe it, but initially, in the mid-60s, Skins appeared as a white alternative to Rust. Boys and girls from working-class (and only working-class) neighborhoods so admired the freedom of rastafarians that they also listened to reggae and ska. They just dressed differently: instead of bright clothes - straight indigo jeans (exclusively democratic brands Levi's, Lee or Wrangler) or what used to be called slacks, they wore only heavy Dr. Martens, and their hair was shaved bald, regardless of gender. Actually, where does the name come from - “leatherheads”. Just as an element of style, plaid shirts, denim jackets, thin suspenders and rolled up jeans were present, which became a kind of “calling card” of the style. Much later, football fans, known for their intolerance towards everything, in particular, towards people with a different skin color, hair length, joined the skins, and then this began ... By the way, if anyone is not in the know, white groups began to enjoy particular popularity among them, like Slade and then Madness.
HIPPIE
Peace and love, peace and love! Swinging from side to side, with a stupid stoned smile, the biggest pacifists in the world - hippies. Emerged in the mid-60s as a logical continuation of the American beatnik movement, the hippies reached their heyday in the early 70s. Initially protesting against puritanical church morality, the hippies propagated the desire to return to natural purity through love and pacifism (or indifference). One of the most famous hippie slogans: “Make love, not war!”, Fortunately, the reason to say this more often turned out to be Vietnam War. And then it was famous summer love in 1967 in the form of the Woodstock festival, and a couple of years before that, the Isle of Wight festival began to function. They did not want to work and serve in the army for ethical reasons. Thanks to the Beatles, Buddhism was chosen as a religion (you can’t spoil your karma), drugs - LSD and other hallucinogens (to make the world seem more beautiful), and music - psychedelic rock (which gave rise to the use of hallucinogens).
PUNK
Oh, these young and reckless! Anarchists and gouging! Appeared in the mid-70s, as an alternative to any possible society in the world. Coming out, like many, from working-class areas, they positioned themselves as “ lost generation”, identified with alienation and anarchy in its extremely aggressive manifestations. The tone was set by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, in order to finally fix the image of renegades and renegades for the punks, they also had to dress accordingly: torn jeans, spiked boots and, most importantly, unimaginable mohawk hairstyles of all colors and shades. Malcolm McLaren, the group's manager, and his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood, who is now called the "grandmother of punk style", added fuel to the fire of fashion, releasing a whole collection of clothes for punks. As for the music that has grown into a whole trend, it must be admitted that for true punk, the worse the sound and the louder the cacophony, the more pleasant it is for the ear. The punks didn't bother learning to play instruments - you know which end to hold the guitar or drumsticks is enough. Although, it must be admitted that the punk band Clash recorded at least one, but a real hit.
NEW ROMANTICS
Emerged in the early 80s, as part of " new wave”, the movement had a noticeable impact on the development of the English pop and rock scene and was the only visible alternative to the ascetic and rough punk culture. Although it is difficult to call a “subculture” a direction that does not carry any social protest, but only glorifies glamor, bright styles and hedonism. Oh yes, exquisite clothes, unimaginable makeup, unusual hairstyles - that's glam rock in all its glory. By the way, David Bowie and Roxy Music, and then Spandau Ballet and Depeche Mode were considered the prince of the "new romantics". It is thanks to the "romantics" music videos became similar to what we see today. Unfortunately, it was the "new romantics" who introduced the fashion for androgynous men and no less asexual women, as well as the pretentious aristocracy, which we now call ... hmm ... naked show off (?)
GOTH
Appearing at the same time as the New Romantics, the Goth movement emerged directly from punk culture. Gothic rock - this completely non-auditable music, was born precisely thanks to these people who most they prefer to spend their lives in cemeteries, rolling their eyes and, if it allows intellectual development reading from memory the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. Black clothes, black hair, dark make-up and piercings in all possible and impossible places are welcome. The basis of the movement is passive protest against the dominant cultural stereotypes, however, the Goths have no single worldview. Although the Goths themselves position themselves as "non-militant", many sincerely believe that representatives of this subculture drink the blood of innocent babies at night.
CASUALS
The hand does not rise to write "casuals", to be honest. But who are they? Derived from the working class, of course, who appeared in the early 80s, they preferred to dress “like everyone else” (and this happens), but in clothes of good expensive brands like Fred Perry, Pringles, Ralph Laurent and Burburry. So what is their unusualness and subculture? Oh, this is a separate caste. A cast of football fans who don't want to be associated with skins. But the essence, to be honest, is the same. Football fans are known for their anti-social behavior - fighting during matches, throwing house checkers on the field and massacres after playing with fans of the opposing team. Of course, the police pay attention to the "ultras" dressed in the "colors" of the club and clothing brands popular with the English working class, such as Lonsdale, Ben Sherman and Dr. Martens. To avoid the close attention of the police, some of them stood out in a separate "caste", starting to dress in civilian clothes. designer clothes(casual dress) or sportswear of expensive brands.
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There are many subcultures associated with a vehicle such as a motorcycle. Today we are talking about mods. The mod movement originated in Britain in the 1950s. They used a scooter as a means of transportation. Some people were not serious about scooters, but this stylish subculture for a long time was a powerful movement and competed with such a powerful movement as rockers.
The history of "mod"
The word "mod" originated from the term "modernism". In the 1960s, fashion was at its peak. They differed from rockers not only in means of transportation. Mods were very careful about their appearance, for which they received the nickname "glamorous scum". Scooter riders gave their preferences in clothes to Italian British brands. Due to the rise in production in the post-war period, people began to have extra money. Elegant clothing is something that some segments of the population were previously deprived of. And fashion, one might say, was catching up.
In music, the main currents that mods were fond of were American soul, beat and R&B.
Unlike rockers, who, due to their behavior, were not allowed into public places recreation, fashion spent their free time in London clubs, where they used amphetamines in large quantities.
Introduction to the scooter
The scooter is the meaning of life for mods. The guys were from the working youth, it was one of the exits with which they ran away from the gray everyday life. Unlike rockers who tuned their motorcycles inside and out, mod scooters were only subjected to external tuning. The Mods painted their scooters two colors and put gum stickers on them. The owner's name was written on the windshield. hallmark scooter mods were still a huge amount of trunks, foglights and arches.
In 1966, the mod movement died down. The hippies have arrived. There were a couple more attempts to revive this subculture in the 1980s and 2000s, but this did not lead to anything. The popularity of scooters peaked in the 1960s.
Another point that mods gained their notoriety for was their skirmishes with rockers. Newspapers dubbed this event as the "War of Rockers and Mods"
Mods didn't have the same cohesion that rockers and bikers had, they didn't create clubs where the ideas of brotherhood, freedom and unity were spread. Mods are young people who got together and hung out in clubs until the morning. But, despite all this, they were able to leave their mark on history.
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Mods- London subculture of the 50s - 60s of the twentieth century, which has a special style.
Mod Style Attributes
- wardrobe in Italian-French style
Mods adjusted the Italian and French styles that were just coming into fashion. They wore tailor-made Italian suits of tight trousers with ruffles and well-tailored fitted trousers, nylon shirts with small collars, tight ties, mohair items, woolen or cashmere sweaters (with a V-neck or round neckline), windbreakers or jackets made of faux leather. zippered leather, narrow-toed leather boots (so-called "winkle pickers"), with tassels, or shoes called Clarks Desert Boots.
- hairstyle in the spirit of French actors
The wardrobe of mods was complemented by a special hairstyle that copied the haircuts of French actors, for example, Jean-Paul Belmondo.
- makeup
Some mods used eyeliners, shadows, lipstick.
– scooter as an accessory
Scooters were chosen as the main means of transportation. This was also due to the peculiarities of the style of the representatives of the subculture: in the scooter, all mechanisms were covered with special panels, which made it possible to keep expensive costumes clean. In adverse weather conditions, fashion was worn by the military, who protected their jackets and trousers from the rain.
The preferred brands of scooters were Vespa or Lambretta. After the law came out, according to which every motorcycle was required to have at least one mirror, mods began to decorate their scooters with four, ten and even thirty mirrors.
Etymology of the term "fashion"
The term "mod" comes from the English word "modernist", which in the 50s of the twentieth century denoted modern jazz musicians and their fans. The name was an opposition to the concept of "trad" (from the English traditional), which denoted traditional jazz performers and their fans.
Mod subculture style history
In the 1959 novel Absolute Beginners by Colin Macinnes, the "modernist" appears to the reader as a young fan of modern jazz who dresses in the latest fashion - in the Italian style. The novel is one of the first works where the term is used to describe a young British man with a conscious interest in fashion and contemporary jazz.
- Reasons for the emergence of a subculture
Some researchers define the mod subculture as "a fashion-obsessed, hedonistic cult of all the coolest" worshiped by young adults living in London or the new southern cities.
As the prosperity of post-war Britain bounced back, so did society. The younger generation of the 60s no longer had to work after school to feed their families. Now they worked to secure a comfortable existence in the city. Young people who had the opportunity to independently manage their money often invested it in their appearance.
At that time, in such famous streets as Carnaby Street and Kings Road, the first ones aimed at the younger generation were opening. Independents emerged, such as Mary Quant, who became famous for her minis, or John Stephen, who developed a line called "His Clothes", and whose regular client was the famous group Small Faces.
In the mid-60s, newspaper reporters focused on the cost of mod suits, looking for extreme cases. So, for example, they published the words of a young mod who said that he would not eat better, but would buy himself clothes. However, such a commitment to fashion was not accidental: it allowed young people to leave their gray working days and at least for a while get into another world.
The fashions were very careful in their choice of clothing and created their own artifacts and symbols within their community. So, for example, the British flag (“union jack”) and the emblem of the Royal Air Force (“target”) have become an integral attribute of every self-respecting fashion.
- The origins of the mod style
At the core appearance mods are the styles of at least two youth subcultures: firstly, beatniks with their bohemian, including blacks, and secondly, from which mods inherited narcissism and scrupulous following of fashion.
- Fashion girlfriend style
Mod girlfriends followed a certain androgynous style and were often indistinguishable from their boyfriends. Short haircuts, men's trousers and (sometimes borrowed from guys) flat shoes and minimal make-up. Most often, the girls left their faces pale, applied brown eye shadow, white lipstick and applied false eyelashes.
Fashion girls have become a real challenge for their parents, since since the 60s, the length of their skirts has been shortened more and more. Over time, when the mod subculture moved into the category of a commercial direction, the image of a mod girlfriend began to be exploited by models such as (Jean Shrimpton) and (Twiggy).
- Causes of the extinction of the movement
Mod culture has been replaced by the .
In the late 70s, the UK experienced a resurgence of mods, the first wave of which gradually died out in the late 60s, and in the early 80s, mod culture spread to other countries. It is most widespread in Southern California.
- Style change
As a result of the mixing of cultures, many mods adopted the style of the so-called ore-fights, wearing short-brimmed hats and cropped jeans of the brand. They listened to Jamaican ska and visited the West Indian nightclubs Ram Jam, A-Train and Sloopy's.
The main attributes of the style of mods have retained the early . They also wore polos and shirts, sta-prests and Levi's, but now paired them with suspenders and .
Some researchers believe that there were no spiritual principles behind the mod culture, just ordinary fetishism with its objects of worship, among which were scooters, Italian costumes and American soul records.
“Fashion”, without exaggeration, is an incredible “cultural” phenomenon of our century.
You can always remain a “fashion”, the main thing is to move on an unbeaten path, constantly discovering new layers in music, clothing, literature and cinema. “Taking from everywhere the most worthy, they sought to create something previously unknown, something that cannot leave indifferent. It is not surprising that among the mods themselves, the most worthy was considered the one who had the most exquisite wardrobe, the most interesting collection of records, the best library, the most developed mind. In terms of style, and fashion came from the so-called upper-working and lower-middle class (that is, from families of professional, highly paid workers and employees) - this is Dressing Up, brought to the absolute. In 1963 The Beatles blew up musical culture and "invented sex". Around the same time, fashion began to take shape as a purely teenage subculture with its own traditions, ideas and idols. The reason for all this is the post-war economic boom that England experienced in the fifties and sixties. As a result of the boom, young people had some free cash in their hands, and young minds were at the mercy of previously unknown problems - where to spend all this?
Both the “Teddy Boys” and the “Beats” found something to borrow from the “Teddy Boys”: from the first they inherited a heightened interest in the smallest details When it came to fashion, the latter gave the style of “mods” a distinctly minimalist twist. Combining these two components, "fashion" and got their own unique sharp image. The average Englishman, accustomed to more insipid things, had difficulty digesting this. “When everyone in England sang about free love, which was very ambiguous, fashions also turned out to be troublemakers - but for exactly the opposite reason. The feeling was that they were deeply indifferent to this problem. I think mods were by nature too self-centered to pair up.”
Search mods own style was not limited to borrowing alone. In many ways, they went "from the contrary." Motto - "Moderation and accuracy!" Narrow-collared shirts, fitted suits, always white socks and neat hairstyles (usually “French” style). The last money was spent on getting the latest Italian fashion - whether it be clothes or a scooter - the main means of transportation for mods, unlike rockers. Moreover, the appearance was determined not only by material possibilities, there was also a lot of subtleties that prescribed what was possible and what was not (for example, such severity - with a certain width of the trousers, the distance between them and the boots should have been half an inch, and with a slightly larger width - already a whole inch ). The slightest oversight - and you turned into a universal laughing stock.
The main word in the “mod” lexicon was “obsessed”, borrowed from the “cult” mod novel by Colin McCleans “Absolute Beginners” (1958). This obsession was also in music - they absorbed like a sponge and modern jazz, and blues, and soul, it is unknown how leaked from black musicians in the States, and absolutely exotic things, like Jamaican ska music. Thus, a cross-cultural dialogue of subcultures was carried out. Moreover, the “mods” adopted from the blacks not only music, but also the jargon of the Jamaican “rudiz” and some other elements of style. They imitated Prince Baxter, the creator of many songs about the Rude Boys. In 1965, a boom among the mods was caused by Baxter's song "Madness" - hence the name of the presenter British group"ska". In the 60s, the first multi-racial clubs appeared - "Ram Jam" in Bristol, etc. Mass culture, having digested the “mod” radicalism and mixed it with the British beat and rhythm and blues, brought The Who and the Small Faces to the top of the commercial success. Really innovative ensembles such as Action, Creation and The Eyes were left behind.
The image of “fashion”, thanks to the press, soon became really fashionable among a huge number of teenagers and, with its mass character, prepared a short-lived phenomenon that would be called “Swinging London” in the mid-sixties. In 1963-65, the famous confrontation between rockers and mods began in the seaside cities of England, and up to a thousand people sometimes participated in mass fights on both sides. If later ethnic minorities appear in the image of the enemy in the image of the skinheads, then here there was a struggle between social groups within society (rockers were usually from the lumpen strata of society, and listened to hard rhythm and blues, such as “ Rolling Stones” and “Kinks”). In connection with the mass distribution of the image, “real fashion” dissolves in the crowd in the literal sense of the word. In addition, with the release of the “Generation of Flowers” on the stage, the values have completely changed. And as Kevin Pierce wrote: “When everything was blown to the wind, those who once stood at the very source preferred “self-immolation” to “looting”. But their very spirit, the true mod spirit, turned out to be immortal. AND the best of that the proof is the punk "explosion" that broke out in the 70s, behind which one sees the shadow of old mods.
By 1979, when punk was already starting to slow down, interest in what was hidden behind the very concept of “fashion” arose with new force. This was largely due to the famous British musician Paul Weller and The Jam. But it just so happened that Weller went to his mod peak for ten years, finally connecting Debussy, The Beach Boys surf rock and The Swingle Swingers modern jazz on the last disc of the Style Council group. This is how Mod's obsession was molded into a new art form.
Modov's subcultural "Renaissance" in the 1978-1980s brought a new rise in the popularity of the Jamaican "ska" and "bluebit", as well as the songs of "rudiz". These times were not so good. 1979 Not long after the Winter of General Discontent, Thatcher came to power. Unemployment rose. This affected the appearance of punks, who became the reincarnation of old mods. There was no trace of the former neatness. The graceful lines of the fashionable Italian suit were replaced by semi-military khaki outfits tailored without much refinement. However, this casual style allowed for some variety. One of the options: a very thin tie, a cardigan, bleached pipe jeans, white socks and powerful shoes. Calling what is happening “the revival of mods”, “the press and researchers of youth subcultures did not understand one obvious thing: if there was any funny moment in this “revival”, then it was a moment, nothing more, but at the same time there was a whole process of learning, learning new things. And very, very many people were involved in this process.”
The eighties became the time for the subculture of “mods” to search for new forms. The music became more and more sophisticated. This process was fueled, on the one hand, by the re-release of the Negro “soul” classics of the 60s, and, on the other hand, by the activities of underground bands like The Jasmine Minks and The Claim. Fashions increasingly entered jazz territory, which, in the end, led to the creation of the famous Acid Jazz company. Eddie Piller, one of the co-owners of "Acid Jazz", in the early eighties dealt with a "mod" magazine, and a little later connected several "mod" record companies on one label (recording company). And now, in the nineties, without any exaggeration, you can call all this “funk jazz” a living embodiment of the very spirit of the old mods.
Well, what is happening in the nineties with the “mod” style is already just rampant pluralism and democracy. Even the very word "mod" is no longer amenable to precise definitions. Thirty Years' Reign youth culture with the endless change of “epochs” and “styles” has done its job. There are so many “Mods” now that it is not possible to make an accurate description. This has also been facilitated by the current musical explosion in the UK, the rise of the so-called “Britpop” - musical direction, in which rock bands (Oasis, Blur, Supergrass and Cast) actually returned to the rhythm and blues sound of the “mods” of the sixties, only slightly heavier and faster sounding, responding to the demands of the public, who want the music to be more politicized and aggressive . There are "Garage" mods in "psychedelic" shirts in poisonous colors, there are acid-jazz mods with sideburns and all in fancy white. There are Blur-mods (by the name of the group) in the "Adidas" suit. There are Mixer Mods, Rhythm and Blues Mods, and Northern Soul” (Northern Soul Mods). Please note that within each of the named "units" there are "suborders". So, hardcore-style “mods” can be divided into at least four more categories! But with all this diversity, there is something that unites “fashion-96” with its predecessors. It also has its own "Zeitgeist" - that is, the spirit of the time, marked by certain political trends. A few years before that, “grunge” dominated the minds of young people. Not very attractive aesthetically, he became a sign of his difficult and stressful time. The new “fashions” gave their own stylistic response to this “aesthetic of decline and destruction”. The sporty style of the “new wave” and the elegance of the “new glam” are closer and dearer to them. The English beginning is beginning to take its toll. Here is what Adam, owner of Jump The Gun, a store in Brighton that sells products exclusively for mods, has to say about this: After a period of marked American influence, we are returning to traditional British values. Fashions, being a typically British phenomenon, is the best fit for these new needs.”
