Oh boy, you guys are so lucky - there are two parts to Vintage Wednesday today! I have so much to share that I thought it might be too overwhelming to put everything up at once. This week for Vintage Wednesday I'm featuring fashion from my favorite decade - the 60's! Even more specifically I'll be focusing on the mod movement of the early to mid-sixties. Groovy, eh?
Mini skirts? Vespas? Op-Art? Heavy eyeliner and pale lips? Yes, please! Oh how I love the mods!
(photo by F.C. Gundlach)
(photo by F.C. Gundlach)The term 'mod' comes from 'modernist' which was a term used to describe jazz musicians and their fans in the 1950's. The sub-culture originated in London and is said to have been influenced by and perhaps even be an extension of the American beatnik movement of the 50's.
Beatnik photographs:
(artwork by Joe Bowler)
The mod movement does get a bad wrap for being a hyper-consumeristic and egotistical culture, which is the opposite of my ideals. Even so I love the fashion so much that if I wasn't married to Jon (no Nintendo in the 60's, so I don't think he'd go with me) I would get in my time machine and happily live out the rest of my days in 1960's London. It would have to be a Groundhog's Day-esque scenario, but instead of reliving one day over and over I'd just keep reliving 1960-1965 over and over. Riding around Carnaby Street and King's Road on my italian motor scooter...oh what a life!
Also, even though it was a sub-culture driven by the need to have the coolest fashions, it's important to keep in mind that the reason behind the consumerism was to break away from the mainstream fashion of previous generations. This was a youth movement being run by the youth generation who were producing the clothing that they wanted to wear, which also brought about independent clothing stores which we now know as boutiques.
Edie Sedgwick, the American face of mod:
Marianne Faithfull looking adorable in mod fashions:
Peggy Moffitt, the epitome of hip:
And of course we all know the words, 'mod' and 'Twiggy' go hand in hand:
Another thing I love about this era is how stylish the guys were! I know very few straight men who would dress this well now-a-days.
The Kinks:
The Who:
Although it wasn't necessarily the best time for a woman to be a stewardess (they couldn't get married, get pregnant, be overweight, be of a different race, and they were often sexually harassed) it was certainly the most fashionable time. This was a time when mega babes ruled the airways. I would be a stewardess in a second if this is what my outfits would look like:
By 1965-66 (in London) the movement began to give way the the more mellow feel and look of the hippie culture (although it was still popular in the U.S. and other areas for a bit longer). There was a mod revival in London in the late 70's and again in the United States in the 80's. Today (with the help of the
Mad Men craze) people are once again looking to the 60's for style inspiration and mod fashions are being seen back on the runways and in magazines. I can't even explain how thrilled I am to be seeing these looks all over!
Here are some contemporary mod looks:
That's it for part 1. Part 2 will be up later tonight with a mod inspired outfit shoot and some cool videos that I found on youtube!
(All photographs for this post were found through google image search.)----------------------------------------------------------------
