Del Speaks!
There’s an old saying that states the 1960s
actually began in the 1950s and when it comes to the origins of Mod, never has
a truer word been spoken.
The original ‘Modernist’ emerged from a
late 50s stew concocted of sharp suited American Modern Jazz played by the
likes of Miles Davis, seasoned by French ‘New Wave’ films starring Jean Paul
Belmondo, spiced up by stylish Italian motor scooters, all consumed by street
smart sons of North London Jewish tailors who could construct clothing which somehow
took elements from all of the above and produced a definitive ‘look’.
Please step forward 15-year-old Mark Feld
(later Bolan) who appeared in ‘Town’ magazine in September 1962 photographed by
the legendary snapper Don McCullin wearing the sharpest of threads.
‘The photos they used’ he complained later
‘were taken seven months previously, so the clobber was out of date by the time
they were in the magazine. Personally my style had moved on seven times by
then.’
Feld was one of only a handful of young men
back then who sported this ‘one off’ apparel.
But what to call them? Dandies? Peacocks?
Well, both of those names certainly apply,
for this was the world of the ‘Bespoke’. Of individual, elitist, even snobbish,
good taste.
Their name however was to come from a
simmering musical rivalry that was also played out on a ‘class war’ background.
In the red corner, you had your Traditional
‘Trad’ Jazz fans, university educated many of them, who were to found decked out
in scruffy duffle coats and beards
(that was just the women…) who’s heroes
were the likes of the bowler hatted clarinetist Acker Bilk and old Etonian trumpeter
Humphrey Lyttleton. Among others, these two gentlemen played a version of New
Orleans 1920s rag time/good time sound.
In the blue corner, stood the Modern ‘Mod’
Jazz fan, predominantly working class, employed in the post room of a Soho
advertising agency by day, but who dressed in a sharp suit, with immaculate
hair, soaking up the cool vibes of John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk by night.
Battle lines were drawn. Are You ‘Trad’ or
are you ‘Mod’?
In all honesty, there could be only one
winner and they would go onto to become the most enduring of youth cults this
country has produced. Ladies and Gentleman, the winner is… The Mods!
The media were late catching onto the world
of the mods and by the time they did around 63/64, many of those North London
originals had moved on to pastures new.
But by then, the ‘look’ had gone over
ground and it was everywhere. It was by now a complete lifestyle.
Retailer John Stephens brilliantly adapted
and commercialised male clothing in interesting and colourful fabrics for his
numerous shops on Carnaby Street and The Who cleverly used ‘pop art’ imagery on
their stage clothes. Hence Moonie in a target tee.
Scooters screeched down to Brighton on Bank
Holidays for fun, fights and frothy coffee.
So, what had begun as a tiny stylish trend
had now developed into a mass movement that still lives and breathes to this day.
And we at Delicious Junction are proud to be considered one of their number.
Til the next time
KTF
Del x
