The Heritage of Mod

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‘The photos they used’ he complained later ‘were taken seven months previously, so the clobber was out of date by the time they were in the magazine.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

The History of Rude Boy

‘Walking down the road

With your pistol in your waist

Johnny you're too bad

Walking down the road

With your ratchet in your waist

Johnny you're too bad

You're just robbing and you're stabbing and you're looting and you're shooting

Now you're too bad

You're just robbing and you're stabbing and you're looting and you're shooting

                                                 Now you're too bad…’

Those lyrics from the song ‘Johnny Too Bad’ by Jimmy Cliff, from the seminal 1972 film ‘The Harder They Come’ sum up the lifestyle of the ‘rude boy’ perfectly.

The term originates from 1960s Jamaican street culture and has a strong association with ska music with ‘rude’ being a slang term for ‘mischievous or obscene’

The original  ‘Rudy’s’ were at the forefront of a Jamaican youth cult where crime and violence were part of daily life. That lifestyle was documented in many a song like the one above.

With immigration to the UK from the West Indies beginning in the late forties with the arrival of ‘The Emperor Windrush’, a second generation became firmly established in British life, slowly assimilated into the street cultures of white youth and by the mid 1960s, a few young black faces were evident on the Mod scene.

The sub culture that grew from that became known as ‘Hard Mod’ whose dress code was a more paired-down, less flamboyant style, teamed with shorter and shorter hair and this evolved into the world of the Skinhead. Ska and Jamaican ‘Blue Beat’ was the music of choice for those involved as was the dress styles of the ‘rude boys’ displayed by Black youth on council estates around the main cities of the UK.

Skinhead was a tough, often intimidating, working class cult, with younger kids often copying elements of their older brothers/uncles look, smart ‘Tonik’ two piece suits for example, but then adapting it with the details borrowed from their black neighbours. So, slimmer trousers, which showed off plenty of sock, became the norm, as did the ‘stingy’ brim pork pie hat. Boots were the normal day-wear, for that industrial job you had, with brogues and loafers being sported for the evening dance.

A memory burned forever in my mind is of three, smartly dressed chaps, two white, one black, cutting across my estate in what would have been 1970, clearing a path through us gawping younger kids, all drooling at the clothes they had on. Sheepskin coats, highly polished shoes, red socks and candy striped long collar Ben Sherman shirts among the finery on display,

The late 1970s saw interest in this look once again, with ‘Two Tone’ revival led by the likes of The Specials, Madness and The Beat.

Once again hordes of youngsters began dressing like their forebears and once again, they made a permanent mark on British culture.

At Delicious Junction we are very proud to say that the one and only Neville ‘Original Rude Boy’ Staple from The Specials has chosen our very own ‘Rude Boy’ tassel loafers as his footwear of choice; what could be better than the ‘original rude boy’ wearing our very own ‘rude boy!

Like all things, styles may have changed slightly over the years but essentially our shoes retain the same ethos as the back in the late 60s and it’s good that they can be still be seen on the high streets of Britain today.

Our ‘Rude Boy’ loafer is the best selling shoe in our range and no doubt it will continue to remain a part of British culture for a long time!

Til the next time

KTF!

Del x