How is it 'Mod' got to be so ugly?  I passed a pub the other day, evidently about to host a 'MOD night'.  Photo of some guitar hero trying to look like Weller/Gallagher/whoever/whatever.  Dodgy pub, too, I should think.  Very Brexity area.  Anyway. 
But I'd very much like to hear from the younger Paul Simons shopper.  After all, many of us are set in our ways.  I can't get too excited about French workwear.  Those slack jackets that Woofboxer exposed as being made in China, yes, but not the Breton janitor look.  As for those Japanese togs...  don't they look like cargo pants or whatever you'd call them?

Mod went ugly around 1964. It then went even uglier around 15 years later after a certain film was released. I also believe that in recent years certain scooterists (mostly ex-mod, scruffy racists who spent years mocking mods) have decided in their dotage to 'return to the fold'.

Nonetheless mod has always been whatever the individual makes of it. In other words, the above is only one aspect.

I find that temptation is never far away with that particular emporium.  There's a nice Stetson cap I wouldn't mind having (brown cord) to go with the tweedy one I bought at Russell Street.  Trouble is, I buy anything with plastic, even a book on ABE, and our bank starts sending alerts to my wife.  Who then begins asking questions.  Fair enough, I suppose, as I racked up some massive debts between 2009 and 2012, just on clothes.

I had - and I once told young Jimmy F-M had - clothes that rarely or never got worn.  Which, to my way of thinking, is like putting your fresh-baked croissants into the back of a cupboard and leaving them there.  I had two dozen pairs of shoes and boots in 2012.  Now I've got two pairs of shoes, two pairs of boots and a knackered pair of Topsiders I wear when buying fish and chips/putting stuff in the bin/wandering round the garden.

True confessions.

Mind you, the 'Wild' website is far worse.  The tattoo brigade strike again.  And Jake's is no better.  A nice shirt should not be promoted with long hair and a glass of lager.  Boy needs a trim and a cup of coffee.

I think the Mod aspect has been more on Twitter than the site. That has been more by association to JS than JS doing it. The site walks a careful line. I do business websites, it is hard to please all and avoid constant reinvention.

I totally agree on customers - they have to connect with next generation. In ten years, most of us here will not be buying at all. We talk a lot here but how much buying?

Over time I do not even see why it needs to be mostly Ivy at all, just have that in the mix.

Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2021-10-07 14:22:07)

True. Perhaps 'emphasizing Ivy less' or similar.

Agree with Woofboxer that the journal area is useful. Not so much for the information about the specific interviewees, but helpful to see the clothes on a variety of different looking people and with outdoor shots.

There was a little discussion on models in some recent threads; that's always been a bit maddening. I doubt there's much interest here in LVC anymore, but over the years they've had some decent pieces. I could never figure out why they would reproduce, say, 1960's sta-prest or spikes, then choose to have them modeled exclusively on sullen, hirstute or tattoed models, pushed down below the waist hip hop style, and piled up at the ankles. You would think with web space being infinite, there wouldn't be such a paucity of photos or models. Why not have one wearing the style traditionally in addition to someone "dirtbagging" it up?

A guy with facial hair and a woolly hat lounges in the shop doorway.  Who is he?  What's he doing there?  What's the point or purpose of his posing?  Does he think Paul Weller will find something nice to say about him?  His clothing is nice enough - but could be nicer if he paid a bit more attention to his overall look.  Or am I being hard on him?  I'm sorry - I truly am - but if they want to photograph somebody in the doorway to raise their profile why not just ask Weller or one of his acolytes? 
Better still, ring up one or two 'Talk Ivy' posters (I mention no names) and get them to demonstrate the art of the natural shoulder/how to look good in a marl sweatshirt, Levis and Jack Purcell/how to dazzle in a Madras or seersucker jacket.  Anything, FFS, other than what we're seeing here.  No offence, pal, but you need to ditch the headgear and visit a Turkish barber.

Yesterday I dropped into the shop for no particular reason. Some nice autumn/winter items on display, including military deck jackets if you want to make like Paul Newman in Someone Up There Likes Me. Some exquisite brushed cotton plaid button down shirts from their The Ivy Shirt range. More shetlands on the way. None of this I succumbed to except for the knitted tie that’s  currently in the picture on the front of their website, I have been admiring it for weeks, but once seen in the flesh I was unable to pass it up.

Not everything but the aforementioned shirts will be on the site shortly.

I don't mind the website, maybe not the best but works. As for the Mod thing, it's still a business and they can't rely on the old clientele, me included as we've got enough clothing and shoes to last a lifetime. Even John who remembers the 1960's skinhead trade with some distaste never turned them away when they were queuing up Hill Rise. I still like to visit the shop when I'm in London just for a chat and a catch up but rarely buy much.