In the United Kingdom, in the late 1950s, appearing first mods (short for modernists to describe the origin lovers namesake jazz style, as opposed to trads ).The mods that are generally young urban workers with a certain purchasing power, are characterized by their genesis from a lifestyle festive and hedonistic , concerned about their attire and their taste in music and dance.

The mods move especially on Vespa GS 160, Lambretta SX 200 TV and highly accessorized (covered headlights, mirrors (called stadiums ) and various chrome parts).

The use of recreational drugs is common purpose, amphetamines in particular. Without being omnipresent violence is not uncommon. It serves to affirm the logic of territoriality, the supremacy of one group or defense against potential enemies, especially the rockers . Direct confrontations between groups of modsalso exist, but conflict, together with a desire to achieve excellence, to symbolically solve the dance floor or the exhibition of outfits that needed. The goal is to be recognized by his peers as a face , charismatic leader recognized for its excellence, by its proposals clothing, music, etc.. lance patterns and influences directly on the visible aspects of the scene.

The mods can be found in the evenings during the week and every weekend in rallies scooters or parties held in clubs or pubs. Brighton figure prominently among the favorite destinations and was the scene of many fights with rockers , immortalized in the film Quadrophenia .

Culture [ edit ]

Look [ edit ]

The mods give special attention to their hair. The famous French Line , hair cut "short - mid Long" with a line marked on the side, followed later by the Comb Back and long hair and very short or almost shaved.

The mods are mostly dressed in shirts ( Ben Sherman collar buttoned, or custom), polo shirts ( Fred Perry in particular), costumes ( Bespoke ) two pieces with three-button jackets, setbacks for, and dual rear slits, pants cut "cigarette", if possible tailored, hipsters (hipster) or flat fronted , jumper cut or straight bottom or Levi's 501 (which could be threaded - the first time - by the owner in the bath to be worn close to the body).

Their shoes are ideally imports of Italian designers, but more frequently British mass models such as Desert Boots ( Clarks ), Bowling shoes , Hush Puppies , Brogues , Loafers , Doc Martens ...;Parkas M U.S. 51 Fishtail (or M 65) of the U.S. Army, tails, worn during travel scooter (and only for the most hyped of them), thus protecting their costume elements.

One can notice that the style is a distinctive sign which consists of specific garments from various cultures: American with jazz and soul , with French films of the French New Wave , Italian designers and famous dolce vita but also English with a special attraction to the aesthetics of Victorian England (the collar to crop the Kinks in particular). The clothes are a perfect illustration of the eclectic model which aims to create a symbiosis of different tastes that are found in music ( ska , soul , freakbeat , northern soul , British beat ) and a clear European influence in the case of clothing and lifestyle. The look is strong and vital significance because it illustrates this brilliantly culture.

Dance [ edit ]

More than a purely recreational activity, the dance is one of the founding pillars of this movement. The mods practice it frequently, they are often excellent dancers and regularly invent new steps or take and adapt choreography of singers or dancers soul black Americans. The dance is free expression in mods , it is sometimes the result of rivalry and competition fierce. It is often performed solo for both boys and girls. Several TV shows such as Ready, Steady, Go (every Friday night on the BBC ) or "clips" of groups such as the Who (video I Can not Explain , for example) offer the best of them to present these new dance, and stage their frantic choreography or spirited expression of the energy of motion and more generally buzz mid-sixties .

If we talk about dance, it is important to emphasize the importance of clubs, concert halls and ballrooms where met and still meet the mods in London as elsewhere. The best known clubs in London are obviously Scene , the Flamingo (two clubs that were the essence of culture mod before 1965) or Marquee (known for his concerts including Small Faces , but also groups outside the movement, such as the Rolling Stones).

Other clubs, especially those located in the north of England are to be distinguished, such as the Twisted Wheel Club in Manchester (incidentally, these clubs are also known to have given birth to a musical style in the late sixties  : the Northern Soul ). In France, it is impossible to say that clubs or discos have organized evenings only mods in the 60s.

Music [ edit ]

Besides a passion for fashion style so special and sought (inspired, among others, by contemporary European fashion - France , Italy ...), the mods find their essence in their musical tastes pronounced but very eclectic. Avid collectors vinyls Blues of Soul and R'n'B , they distil in clubs and ballrooms , they do not neglect the music live .

Their cult bands are The Who , The Small Faces , The Kinks , The Creation , The Action , The Artwoods , Hipster Image, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, The Birds, The Eyes, Fleur de Lys, etc.. They also like the Southern Soul , the Tamla Motown , Stax , the jazz , R'n'B, the British Beat and Jamaican music ( Jamaican Jazz , Ska , Reggae , Rocksteady ). Many mods attached paramount importance to black music and listened to the beginning of this movement, relatively few white artists. Similarly, some groups mods or related almost exclusively resumed directory African-American artists.

Development [ edit ]

In 1966, the movement loses its magnitude especially in the south of England, and British youth join the mass psychedelia and become hippies strongly influenced by acids, Flower Power and theSummer of Love that sound the death knell of modernism as a mass movement.

The mods have very little impact in France , a country that passes directly copying U.S. 50's rock and yéyé to progressive rock , from almost completely beside the British R'n'B , the Blue Eyed Soul and their musical richness. Only a few small bands or groups of mods appeared in France from 1965 to 1967, in Paris and suburbs, as well as on the French Riviera.

The "cons-reaction" movement hippie translates into a radicalization of (hard) mods which, in contact (musical and clothing, among others) rude boys Jamaican evolve to become skinheads , more oriented towards Jamaican music and soul , always related scooterisme and adopt a style of dress is very popular though less varied in scope ⁴ .

If to 1967-68, the mods tend to fade as mass movement English to virtually disappear, they continue to be present in the north of England with micro-local scenes, few in number but verydedicated . The movement is focusing in the course of 1970 on the Northern soul (especially with the famous disco mod the Twisted Wheel in Manchester will become a beacon scene Northern Soul ) and scooterisme with the creation of scooter clubs .

Revival [ edit ]

In 1978 and 1979, including the cult film Quadrophenia and a music scene that explodes with groups such as The Jam , Secret Affair, Merton Parkas, Lambrettas, Small Hours, The Directions and The Killermeters the output scooters Vespa PX125 and 200E which coexist with 50 Special suraccessoirisés and import Lambretta made ​​in India for the GP 200 ( API , and SIL Lucknow) orSpain in Eibar, in the Jet 200 Serveta the modernist movement is experiencing a revival that spreads throughout England and to a lesser extent the United States and Europe .

In France, Caen, Normandy, Notre Dame & Britz his musical group "The Lords," with their audience Caen and Paris, from the working class and middle class of small, very provocative and not hesitating to compete with potential enemies, lead the way in France in late 1978 and early 1979.

Subsequently, the first point of rendezvous mod Parisian thrift store was the "Scooter" by Étienne Marcel in Les Halles in Paris, where you could buy records and clothes of the 1960s and those of revival . Already crossed this shop the forefront of mods French.

The Jet Club lighthouse scene 1980 situation later rue des Archives in the 4 ^th arrondissement. Later, and following the Crystal Dancers (from the Jet Club ) at Bell Boys Club , the Speedy Arrows, the Vespa Club , it was the mods Gambetta (in the XX ^e ) in Paris, and for ten years with Mod Societies (MS) and scooter clubs (CSIA - "All Mod") such as various Knights Templar , the City Gents , the Royal Dandies , the SC Paname ... that drove the scene mainly hexagonal, not to mention the Playboys Nice that were in the late seventies the first to reproduce the mid-sixties theBritish Beat and Garage U.S. while composing their own creations in French ( English Beat ).

Some "irreducible self" and no less present on the scene revival , is clearly distinguished from those who were attracted only by scooterisme (and some who became the first scooterboys ). They prefer the name Dandy & Modernists , and in 1978 and thereafter were called stylists (to stand out mods "commercial" or plastics ). Some of them hold very regular 60's parties in clubs and bars in Paris.

The scene scooter driver after this revival still exists (which evolve in the early 80s to the scooterisme with scooterboys , fan runs , gear customized and Tunes , and amateur Northern soul ) andmods , although discrete but highly organized, are still present in Britain and even around the world.

Currently the scene mod is very active in almost all European countries (with fortunes and diverse workforce). Rallies scooterists on British beaches resorts are now replaced by weekends in major European cities. In 2007 and weekends are organized in Leeds, Aix-La-Chapelle, Venice, Madrid, Antwerp, London, Manchester, Barcelona, ​​Glasgow.