Soldier On & Style Going Hand In HandPosted on February 18th, 2014 in Fashion
A lot of the time the music industry isn’t just about music, it’s about fashion and style as well. So it’s just as well we’re a fashionable bunch!
Look at any band through the years and you’ll see they embraced certain looks and fashions – The Beatles and The Kinks with their suits and more recently Oasis and The Stone Roses with their take on a more modern mod look, sporting their parka jackets.
If you’re in the music industry it’s important to look good, after all you’re on a stage in front of crowds of people, you can’t look sh*ite!
For us, we like the mod inspired gear. Lots of Fred Perry, lots of Pretty Green, and then you’ve got Jordan’s velvet jackets and Liam’s funky scarves.
It’s all about skinny jeans, fitted shirts and smart shoes. Only the best, like we said, you can’t look sh*te when you’re performing in front of crowds of people.
And it’s not just about clobber as well. You need to be rockin’ a quality barnet too.
Fortunately in the scene we jump about in there are a lot of good haircuts, lots of fringes and sideburns, but you always get the odd crap one.
Look no further than Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins. A true mod, he rocks a quality haircut and his sense of style hits the mark. He’s quite obviously inspired by the great Paul Weller – a class act.
Some of you will maybe be reading this thinking it’s a bit gay to be writing about clothes and hair but they’re probably the ones who wear sh*te clothes and have sh*te haircuts.
The mod movement has been around for decades so what is it about it that’s kept it strong for so many years?
Youths of the early 1960s were one of the first generations that didn’t have to give their money to their family. With more disposable cash, young mods were able to buy stylish clothes, with the first youth-targeted boutique clothing stores opening in the likes of the famous Carnaby Street.
As we said earlier, it’s hella important to look good when you’re part of the mod movement. This is something those in the 60s were all too well aware of. In fact some newspaper reports from the mid-60s focused on the mod obsession with clothes, often detailing the prices of the expensive suits worn by young mods. In some cases they were even able to seek out extreme examples such as a young mod who claimed that he would “go without food to buy clothes”. Mental.
Through time male mods adopted a smooth, sophisticated look that included tailor-made suits with narrow lapels, thin ties, button-down collar shirts, wool or cashmere jumpers, and Chelsea boots.
We all know that the mod scene is big on scooters, but some of you might not know that this is because their body panels concealed moving parts and made them less likely to stain clothes with oil or road dust. Yeah they look good, but it’s all about the clothes, the fashion.
In fact protecting the sharp suits worn by mods is one of the main reasons parkas are so prominent in the mod scene just like the stylish yet functional scooters.
This is just a snapshot of mod fashion and the longevity of it. But although short a small insight into the the history and mechanics of the trend, you can see how it’s always been important to look good and take pride in your appearance – a trend Soldier On will continue.
To learn more about Soldier On and to keep up to date with all we’re doing, including our upcoming gigs, you can visit our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
Soldier On.