This is a forum for people obsessed with clothes that went out of fashion decades ago - we all look daft. To be fair Bop is a gurning freak so maybe he looks slightly dafter than the average forum user, but on the other hand he does have some considerable competition (without wishing to blow my own trumpet, I like to think I can give him a run for his money in the daft-looking field).

And to be fair US your original comments were a little odd. Not that I personally was sufficiently motivated to question them at the time, but I'm not surprised they were questioned. You're going to avoid the JS shop for a month or 2 because you're worried about an influx of plastic mods? Firstly: damn you must spend a lot on clothes if avoiding the JS shop for a month or 2 takes a conscious effort. Secondly: if any plastic mods decide a clothes shop is of interest, they'll be patronising it indefinitely. Thirdly: wtf?

I'm in London every week for work with time to spare, so often pop in or by JS. Good point on 2!  Right, going now. It's sunny.

I think the main point being missed here is John sells John Simons type 'stuff',
the shop is filled with vintage point-of-sale material not because they've scoured the internet to add a fake authenticity to the shop but because they had it all from the first time around.

The lineage of the products John now sells isn't some random collection of 'Ivy type' clothes to fit a 'fad'.
For example the Keydge jackets were the (literal) successor to the Linnet brand he sold in Covent Garden in the 80s ( I still curse the fact and I didn't follow John Lally's advice and get a second pair of trousers to go with the Linnet cord suit I bought at the CG shop),
the reason he knows that current Bass loafers are 'slippers' is because he was the first place in the UK to sell the imported 874 model ( altho' you could get them £5 cheaper at the Natural Shoe Store just around the corner or in their Kings Road shop within a year) and also why he comissioned the Rancourt shoe to replicate what he used to sell.
The details on his own brand shirts are there because those are the exact things on the imported shirts he sold by the truckload from the Ivy, Squire and Village Gate shops long before the Covent Garden shop.
He's happy to sell the current BD Baggies shirts cos 'near as dammit' they are the same as the old BD Baggies he sold , and he still had a few of the old ones to make a comparison.

His longevity in the retail game hasn't been because he's followed fashion, it's because he's stuck with a style and it's resonated with multiple sub-cultures, as each sub-culture has faded another finds something in his shop that fits their look.
Just because some chubby 'weekend mods' with shit haircuts will find the shop 'cos Weller is on a dvd extolling it's virtues doesn't detract from the place or the man, in fact it may serve us well allowing the shop to continue in it's glory in John's dotage.

You're not getting off the hook that easily. We need at least one photo a week of you in the JS shop for the next 6 months.

And an open response to BB ...I think your interfering moderation is getting a bit over the top now, not just from this but quite a few things recently and others have bought it up too,

I don't really need to be taken aside like a school child, what was wrong before with the mods here was letting political/religious posts get way out of hand, the back and fourth has always been part and parcel, you're sanitising this forum to the point of beige. Going in and editing, private messages slapping wrists...I'm quite happy to be modded off a sanitised forum, you won't even need to show me the door.

To be honest I find the whole thing laughable these days, seems to be a pecking order of middle aged men in really average stuff  looking down their nose at middle aged men wearing pure crap. But there are two mod scenes and sometimes they cross but you only get the comedy ones at places like Brighton. I've read people who are wearing cemented shoes and Ben Shermans, relco trousers ect calling others "comedy" mods. You've only gotta look at those jokers from MG forum, totally clueless, or checkout Parka Ave. Just terrible. And yet their belief that their top dressers is solid, all slapping each other on the back on their forums and in their clubs. Best off out of it.

So when you see something that should be cool like this DVD and it has the same old suspect, Weller on it along with the bloke outta Madness you can see why it's off putting to some before its even gone into the player. (Don't even get me started on "9 lives" Elms) I know its good for sales but you get the feeling its gonna be the same old same old.

Unseen comparing it to returnees to the northern scene is bang on, thats split into two things now as well. I've not even got round to watch that film "Northern Soul" that came out 3 or 4 years ago yet, thats most likely same old. I stopped buying books on mods and related stuff years ago. Theres only so much same old you wanna read or watch. But there you go, it is what it is.

I watched it tonight, it was fairly enjoyable - more so I'm sure if you're unaware of some of the anecdotes before and haven't seen the source imagery shown. Anyone who has been here for a while, or read The Look, of the various other books/articles covering the shop - will know some of the stories.

I found it better than the Tubby Hayes and Peter Blake documentaries by the same team, perhaps because there isn't as much to try and cram in across the length of a life.  This isn't that much about John's life as we know, it's a summary of his style ideology and shops - so fits well.  The contributions were okay, especially I thought from the customers.  John Hegarty was insightful and balanced out the more obvious celebrities that help bring in viewers.

I guess for film length (and possibly the era's style) reasons the Village Gate and 70's 'hairy, flarey' decade wasn't touched upon much. But that's okay, it's not intended to be definitive in that regard.  I was surprised the Suedehead time got so much attention, it was short lived stylistically giving way to the Smooths fairly quickly and meant there was probably 10 minutes, maybe more without mentioning John at all.  I do appreciate that style though.

The section at the end with Paul talking made me wonder if there will ever be a P. Simons spin-off where he can focus on other aspects of his style interest.  Just idle thinking.

I had previously raised the strong promotion of the Mod interest on social media (if you look at Twitter, there's a lot of that doing the rounds, which will help sales as people said) - but the specific Mod referencing was fairly low key and not predominant in the actual film.

The DVD is just the film, it would be nice to have footage of John just walking around the shop talking about the items maybe or further unedited talking, but that could be put online maybe if there is any.

Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2018-05-03 14:23:58)

Whoops.  It's a more atmosphere than plot driven movie.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/may/11/john-simons-dressed-mods-shops-style-explosion-martin-freeman-paul-weller-kevin-rowland

Whoever wrote this seems to be confusing JS for John Stephen and/or The Merc, but still it's good publicity and a well-deserved tribute. Plus a nice old flyer I'd not seen before that shows how they really had to spell it out back in the day.