I wouldn't be seen dead in a parka however there is a photo of Mickey Tenner outside the Scene Club, mid 1960s, wearing Levis, cycling shirt and parka - and he looks pretty cool. I wouldn't try to recreate the look though.
I cant find the above photo so I might have imagined it.
The picture exists, but he's wearing a cycling shirt, mohair trousers and bowling shoes. No parka.
No. It does exist. Mickey Tenner just had charisma. Even in a group photo or a flash of him dancing on RSG - your eye just goes to him.
Wasn’t he credited with being the first to wear a watch strap the wrong way? And bowling shoes? And a thousand kids copied him instantly.
I think I heard he owns some kind of fishing business in NZ these days?
'The picture exists, but he's wearing a cycling shirt, mohair trousers and bowling shoes. No parka.'
I'm sure there's one of him in a parka and Levis too.
Last edited by Yuca (2022-02-16 11:23:38)
Now I think about it, It may have been an anorak I’ve seen him wearing. One of those more associated with the mod girls of the time. Can’t find it online now so maybe he’s not named?
"Now I think about it, It may have been an anorak I’ve seen him wearing. One of those more associated with the mod girls of the time. Can’t find it online now so maybe he’s not named?"
That picture is not on his Facebook page. I'm sure it would be - if it exists!
That's a period of 'Mod' that I find slightly confusing. Does it come somewhere between the original Modernists' younger brothers taking themselves off to Ronnie Scott's and the eruption of beach-fighting? It's a long time since I read anything on the subject but seem to remember 'Tiles', later, as the apparent nadir. Presumably the Modernist jazz fans looked down their noses at 'Ready Steady Go'. I once had a copy of Melly's 'Revolt Into Style' and he mentioned an excess of tailoring - bespoke, I assume - with young men seeking the attentions of Bilgorri. Of course I may be misremembering much of this.
I think a lot started calling themselves Stylists or Individualists around the time of the beach fight headlines. And a lot turned their noses up at Tiles etc. I suppose if you loved modern jazz, it’s not a given that you’ll dig RnB or soul. And The Small Faces/Who is a pretty big leap. Plus the usual snobbery when you’ve got your own thing going and the whole world suddenly joins in.
Tailoring’s always been a requirement if you take it seriously. Even when I was involved in the early nineties you wouldn’t wear trousers or a suit that had come from a shop. Textile King and Charley the tailor were visited nearly as regularly as record shops and clubs. It got quite addictive for some. But in fairness buying the material and getting trousers made was still cheaper than a pair of Levis
Melly didn’t make any secret of not liking mods. But he was probably sore coming from a more trad background
I began taking an interest in, I suppose, 1976, when I bought the LP of 'Quadrophenia' and dug the photo of the kid on his scooter. I'd been listening to The Who for a year or so. But I hated the revivalist stuff so much I bought myself a leather jacket from a biker and had 'ROCKERS' painted on the back just to piss off the local pork pie hat brigade. But I was listening to rockabilly by then. Didn't stop me from having my nose broken by the teds, though.
I knew nothing of Modernists then, or of any connection with jazz. My old man, who'd worn Italian suits and gone in for tailoring, never identified with any kind of 'youth group'. I should imagine he was oblivious (although I know he was contemptuous of teddy boys and disliked rock and roll on the grounds they'd half-inched their ideas from his heroes like Big Joe Turner).
My dad was into the mod scene. Georgie Fame at The Flamingo. Spending weekends on London streets. Good mates with Geno Washington who used to scrounge fags off him and his little mob. Brighton. Illegal scooters. I think he just moved on and never bothered speaking about it.
When we got a video recorder he saw Quadrophenia advertised and declared he used to be a mod and recorded it.
Few days later I was ill off school and so bored I put on that old film. Quite a revelation for a twelve year old.
Making connections and nicking dad’s records was half the fun. Pre internet you had to really dig for any bit of information. I imagine it was the same for early eighties Ivy fans.
I quite like revival music. A lot of people don’t like it and that’s fair enough. It’s very much of it’s time and hasn’t aged well. A lot are down on it because they see it as a poor copy of the original. Without realising it was just a part of mod forever renewing and evolving. And when they refer to the original mod music they’re talking Who/Kinks/Small faces. No clue about Jazz, Soul or R&B.
@Spendthrift, it's just a thought but would that picture of Mickey Tenner be in Richard Barnes book "Mods !"
Don’t think so RG. Although he does feature a lot in there. I’m sure it is a book or magazine article. I remember being surprised he’s wearing a parka. Then realising it’s one of those hooded anoraks the girls used to wear. He’s surrounded by girls, all except one wearing the same anorak, so he’s obviously borrowed it.
Mystery!
Plenty of action over on 'DW'. On 'Talk Ivy' sometimes one poster asks a question and the others voice their opinions. That's all there is to it. No right or wrong answers.
I've just read the discussion in question. It certainly has its moments.
https://www.dressedwell.net/threads/what-are-you-wearing-today.86/page-401:
'If a grocery clerk punches me, I might just stand there and take it as I'm not going to fall down, others, I might decide to bring the heel down and break the bone. It might be worth doing time for that, or not.
I'm pretty sure any place, I would wear that jacket - which is from WII not Vietnam - I wouldn't be under threat from ex-Vietnam veterans or their offspring looking for a fight. And if they did, I would refer them to the images of napalm on the naked girl's back...which in this part of the world trumps John Wayne's Green Berets.'
The above is written by a Brit who lives in Holland incidentally.
The mod photo I am thinking of isn't in the Barnes book. Which I used to study religiously at one point in my life.
‘ The above is written by a Brit who lives in Holland incidentally.’
Oh dear - history repeating itself.
Actually I have some sympathy for him, it’s not like he was walking around wearing a Military Cross or some medal that he didn’t win, just a Buzz Rickson shirt with USMC, on it, a fashion item and a fairly naff one at that, but the other poster is making a big deal out of it. I’ve spent 2 or 3 USA holidays walking around in an M65 jacket (no insignia) and I never got attacked by Vietnam vets once, even when I went to Arlington Cemetry.
Nor I have been attacked by sailors for wearing a pea coat. But it's quite possible that USMC on your clothing is a different matter. No idea.
Being a mostly TI poster I'm not urbane and fashionable like the DW gang are, so of course I'm not cool enough to wear a military insignia anyway. Although I don't feel like I'm missing anything.
I'm all for people wearing whatever they fancy, bar, I suppose, full SS regalia, which might look a tad eccentric. As for old Buzz Rickson, well, as I said above, I never did quite get it. But that's just me. Buzz is - what shall we say? - part of that enjoyable, rather fascinating Japanese way of doing things (including - let's not make any bones about this - business: AUS will know more, not to mention our Gibson). That particular poster was a Rickson addict way back - it was how he fancied spending his cash and, aside from the fact he once suggested on that dubious forum of theirs that I didn't exist except in the fevered imagination of Frosty Mellor, I still have quite affectionate feelings toward him.
Speaking of Mickey Tenner, I wonder if Chris Hardy knew him.
One time when I met Chris he said he went to the Scene Club in Ham Yard so a real possibility, that Mickey chap would have stuck out in any crowd I’d imagine, as mentioned before, Chris was pissed off Cathy McGowan hadn’t selected him to go on RSG from the Scene club crowd!
‘ Being a mostly TI poster I'm not urbane and fashionable like the DW gang are’
Perhaps it was a bespoke US Marine Corps shirt?
It was a Buzz Lightyear - so more expensive than bespoke.
Militaria is best when de-militarized. L.L. Bean was pretty good at this. With surplus, there are a few different ways to do it. One easy way is borrowing another country's military gear, provided it is sufficiently different that no reasonable person would assume that you were, in fact, a member of the Russian navy due to your sailor's shirt. Another is to age it away, although once it gets old enough to become a rarity it loses that "found at a surplus store" casualness. That's where you get the Buzz Rickson style repros, which say more "I have a thing for a particular place and time that these clothes represent" which is true for Ivy in general, but sometimes a little awkward with militaria as the other main group of folks who like vintage militaria are historical re-enactors. I think sometimes Ivyists can get a little sensitive about this because of the blurry line between "living tradition" and "probably dead, but I personally am giving it CPR."