Is there a site that shows typical urban costumes c.1964-1966? What would a dashing young playboy wear as he zipped along in his sports car, listening to mod music? I have the impression that in the very early 1960s the attire was houndstooth sportcoats and turtleneck sweaters, and beginning around 1967 or 1968 the “flower power” designs started to be more in fashion; but I don’t have a reference. I have an old National Geographic that shows a piper in traditional Scottish garb wearing what looks like Ray-Ban “Wayfarers”. Were they popular in the early-to-mid-1960s?
So what was the “mod” look before the “hippie look” became popular? What are good films to watch to see this? Quadrophenia? And of course, are there any web pages?
Watch Nick at Nite.Maxwell Smart.mid60s mid thru late sixties.Note also it’s a satire.
Early Connery Bond 63/66
You want to see an authentic period item,check out the Naked City ('48) and the one cop’s wife in her shorts and top ensemble.Girls really dressed that way for casual summer attire,at least til about the mid/late fifties.
I’m noticing the costuming on The Twilight Zone. The clothes are a little unhip, but I think it’s actually closer to the look I’m looking for than the mod look. And the Bond thing is a good idea. Especially since I’ve been meaning to A) watch some old Bond films, and B) it sort of “gels” with the idea I have.
AFAIK, Quadrophenia is the only film specifically about the Mod era. Films made during the mod era are also a good bet; Lure already mentioned the early Bond films, which I believe were pretty popular with the Mod set. I’ve never seen Blow-Up, but that’s supposed to be a good one from the period too.
The Boiler was once the most comprehensive guide to the Mod movement on the Web, but it went to members only many years ago. I don’t know what sort of content they have there now if you do register.
During the Mod phase of my ill-spent youth I purchased a photo book called Mods!, which I believe is now out of print. However, a quick search at the Barnes & Noble site turned up The Mod: A Very British Phenomenon, which appears to be the same book under a different title. If it’s not identical it must be very similar in content.
You might also want to look for photos of the early Who and Small Faces, the two London groups considered the most Mod by Mods. Some care should be exercised here, though, as the clothing of professional entertainers was different and often much more extreme than that worn by ordinary young people. I know Pete Townshend has always said that a young man who dressed the way he did at that time was sure to get beat up…unless he was in a group!
Are you trying to decide what an American playboy of that period would dress like? Why not look at Playboy magazines for that period? Surely that would be the best source for the lifestyle that an American playboy of that era would aspire to for clothes, car, furniture, etc. (although many of the readers of the magazine actually dressed less flashily than the magazine portrayed, sometimes because they couldn’t afford the whole lifestyle).
Look at back issues of Esquire and Playboy; watch movies like Parrish (1961), A Hard Day’s Night (1964), That Man from Rio (1964), Help (1965), Darling (1965), Blowup (1966), and A Man and a Woman (1966); and television series like Hawaiian Eye (1959-63), and Route 66 (1960-64).
