Casual Fridays #5: The Kinks

Working to look sharp for a rare evening out on the town can actually be easy. The tough job is trying to look sharp on a daily, casual basis. Yeah, you might have your Friday night suit at your beck and call, but what does it matter if you spend the rest of your time in target t-shirts and jeans? Every Friday, I'd like to offer up some style inspiration for tightening up your casual look, because let's face it... sometimes you just don't feel like wearing a tie, but still want to keep it sharp.

Alright, this one's for all the scooter Mods out there! You're probably getting ready for a weekend of scooter riding, dressed in a parka covered in enough Mod badges to match the number of lights and mirrors on your scooter. But wait... take some inspiration from this shot of The Kinks, spending a quiet day on a couple of nice, Italian rides:

Taken from the We Are The Mods online radio station page.
(BTW, give that show a listen... I think the host has stronger opinons on Mod stuff than I do!)

What's this? You can actually see the great shape and design of their scooters since they're not covered up by a silly amount of Christmas decorations? And they're NOT wearing parkas?

Oh no, The Kinks know how to spend a day in sharp style. Check out Dave's chisel-toe shoes, narrow trousers and suit jacket. Ray's sporting a similar look, as he sits on his scooter, looking sharper than most of today's scooter boys!

But my fave here... Pete Quaife, of course! That's because he's sporting that sweet leather coat instead of a parka! Scooter-riding Mods... it's time to graduate to a 3/4-length leather coat for your weekend rides! (Psst! Here's a suggestion: get on Ebay and look up 'vintage car coat'. You might find something nice that'll set you apart from the rest of the parka army!)

Now, if you're don't plan on riding your scooter this weekend, then just pretend you are as you watch this video, featuring a beautiful 1970s Kinks song reminiscing about the 1960s!

Sharp Stylings #27: Dave Davies

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.

I don't know about you, but when I think of 'Carnaby Street dandy,' Dave Davies is usually the first person that pops to mind. Could be because of this, this or this. 

But, earlier on, Dave could be spotted in more Moddish outfits as seen below:

From the Guitarist magazine site: Dave Davies doin' what he does.

Sorry for the black and white photo, but dig on his nice check-patterned jacket. High-gorged, 3-button front, well-shaped thin lapels, and again... great pattern! No wild cravat here... just a simple, thin tie along with a sharp French-cuff shirt with pointed button-down collar.

This type of look has always been a fave... a nice, patterned blazer with tie and shirt. A look that's neat and well put-together without being too formal. And as usual, Davies pulls the look off with no effort. It's almost like he just woke up looking this good. Slick, casual cool.

Here's a little video with Dave Davies in a similar outfit, minus the tie (also a video worth noting for Pete Quaife's absence due to a scooter accident during this time):

Now, let's close this post out with a photo from the ALWAYS excellent Magic Mac photo blog. Ladies, set your phasers to SWOON: