We can learn so much from yesterday’s fashion icons. And living in a post-Mad Men world means we can even enjoy aspects of current male fashions! Every Friday, I’d like to start your weekend off right with a little style inspiration from either then or now. Hopefully, my fellow Mod enthusiasts will find the whole or some detail of the whole to appreciate and maybe even adopt.
Lookin' for the king bee? You found him. Slim Harpo, the man who helped fuel hits for The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and many more. Not only was he a master of the harmonica (and guitar), but he was also as swank as they get:
The photo above is filled with nice, detailed touches, from the thin, harlequin-patterned tie (with tight, perfect knot) to the hard-edged fold of the pocket square. In addition, you have the sharp, striped suit with thin lapels, and the broad (wedding?) ring and wrist-watch. Slim Harpo's just looking at you and daring you to match his suave self!
Slim Harpo is, hands-down, one of my favorite blues musicians. When I first moved to the Bay Area, one of the first LPs I purchased was 'The Best of Slim Harpo'.
What caught my eye immediately was just how slick he looked with that gal totally entralled with him. But when I played the LP for the first time, it was like all these Mod musical questions being answered at once for me. I was getting the roots of all these covers I had been listening to up until this point: The Rolling Stones' cover of 'I'm A King Bee', The Crawdaddys' cover of 'Rainin' in My Heart', The Yardbirds' cover of 'Got Love If You Want It' (which wasn't on this album, but a song I heard around the same time), The High Number's re-dux of that song as 'I'm The Face' , etc. Slim Harpo's originals were just so much more haunting than their covers. Then, when I heard 'Mohair Sam' for the first time, that funky groove just hit me right!
Slim Harpo... one of the most suave blues men that ever was. Now get to groovin'!
At a pretty early age, I became infatuated with a particular British subculture... which is obvious if you're reading this blog. However, it wasn't the 'Britishness' which captured my attention. It was the method by which that subculture chose to express itself which piqued my curiousity, leading me into a life-long obsession.
Sure, the fact that the whole Mod thing was, indeed, very British did get me interested in the social/economic/cultural conditions of post-war England that led to Mods and surrounded their existence throughout the sixties and beyond. And to this day, I still find that whole history fascinating.
However, as much as I love that history, as much as I think the Union Jack is actually a great design motif, and as much as I really dig the humor of Ricky Gervais, I've never considered myself an Anglophile. For one thing, I don't spell the words humour or colour. Too much typing energy for me. I have also never used the words mate, oi, blimey, carboot, arse, or shite in conversation. I use my middle finger when flipping people off, not a two-finger salute. I call women women, not birds. And I don't know a thing about Manchester or Liverpool football teams. (But I do know it's better to call it football and not soccer!)
That said, I love a lot of British music from the 1960s up to today. (But, I also don't care for a lot of British music... Blur and Oasis, I'm looking at you.) I would rather watch a marathon of the U.K. Office instead of an episode of the U.S. Office. (Let's face it, the British know how to make great TV!) I think know James Bond is way cooler than Jason Bourne! And, of course, British culture helped spawn my greatest obsession: Mods!
And yes, it was a 'very British phenomenon.' Over the years, on occasion, I've heard about how non-British Mods have gotten called out on how they can be into this subculture when they themselves aren't even British. I've always found that to be an odd put-down, especially considering how world-wide interest in Mods has grown over the years. As a Mexican-American, personally, I've been asked before how I could be into a culture that is neither Mexican nor American in nature. And heck, I don't even live in Mexico, unlike these Mexican nationals!
My response to questions like these is that Mods/Modernists themselves weren't feeding off their own culture to begin with! Heck, they were influenced by bits of European culture (Italian scooters, French films, etc.) and a whole lot of American culture! In fact, as I've gotten older, I've realized I'm getting more into the American influence that originally fed Mod tastes and continues to do so today.
So today, in honor of the 4th of July (Independence Day), let's celebrate some of the American influences on Mod/Modernist culture over the years. (Click the header links for more info!) And then, go throw on The Kinks' Something Else LP to balance it all out!
Photo source: The Weejun (didn't see that coming, did you?)
American Pop Artists(Yes, British Pop Art did pre-date American, but keep in mind the prevalence of these images in Mod design over the decades.)
Roy Lichtenstein - Sweet Dreams, Baby, 1965
Andy Warhol - Campbell's Soup Can, 1964
Well, there you go. Mod may be a British phenomenon, but where would it have been without all of these great American influences? And, quite frankly, where would I be without all of those great British Mod influences? Not writing this blog, I'll tell you that.
Hope you have a super fun Independence Day today! Me, I'm oddly craving some fish & chips, a pint of Boddingtons, and some British freakbeat music right now. Go figure.
