Pop Shop and Teen Beat - Mod Fashion for Teens

There's no aspect of Mod I will not seek out and explore. I'll go to any lenghts to unearth those little gems that give me a glimpse of a bygone era and that inspire me in the here and now. Sometimes it gives a perpective from within the scene, sometimes it's a view from outsiders. No mather where it came from, I always find it relevent because it helps me forge my own identity.

Let me take you back to January 1966 when the term Mod was on everyone's lips. Pop Shop is another one of those British teen magazines that used the word Mod indiscriminately and repeatedly (not too disimilar to this blog but for different reasons).

Pop Shop front cover

Pop Shop back cover

Miranda Ward wrote a typical teenage editorial sharing gossip and idle chitchat about how cute some certain band members are. I did find this excerpt interesting and worth a read.

Before I all but f.f.faded away (!) I went up to the "Glad Rag Ball" at the Empire Pool, Wembley. This all night rave is organised by the Students Union at London University and it is in aid of various charitites, Like Oxfam. Anyway, back to the point... up there I met the fabulous... guess who?... yes, The Who. I think the stuttering that Roger Daltrey does on their latest disc My Generation is great... it's a real raver. Their first LP is too. It has the same title as the single and I first heard it about three weeks ago before it was released, Keith Moon, their knockout drummer, put it on the turntable in their dressing-room up at Wembley... that was at 3 a.m. and I thought it wild. Since then I have heard it in the cold light of day and I still think it was wild... though it appears that they are none too happy with it. My two fave tracks are The Kids Are Alright and It's Not True, they are both a rave... but then in my opinion the whole LP is, so it is rather trying to choose a fave track.

The Ivy League

The Yardbirds

In The London Scene column, part of it refers to how Boutiques are popping up everywhere. It's interesting to note that in the sixties the word Mod was often used as an adjective rather than a noun. You had Mod clothes or Mod music but you were often refered too as part of the "in-crowd" or in this case the "with-its". In this article, I counted the term being used no less then 18 times! No grey area here, you were either a "with-its" or "without-its". Here's a passage I found compeling.

What has all this got to do with you poor readers who have lashed out half-a-crown for the goodies the mag contains and are having to sit there being lectured by me on the inequities of the "with-its"? Only this. It takes as much hard work, business acumen and plain common sense to run a "with-it" Boutique as it does to run a butcher's shop successfully or, for that matter a betting shop. So if you are contemplating opening one. DON'T unless you really do know how. This only applies to the few - we get two or three letters a week asking advice on opening Boutiques - to the many who just want to be customers - it can affect you in this way. Three years ago you couldn't buy "Mod" clothes over the counter... if you wanted to be way ahead in the movement you had to either make your own or have them made for you. At last manufacturers are starting to turn out the sort of clothes YOU want to buy... They are also beginning to wonder whether it is really worth the bother.

Well, let me tell you Miranda. It is always worth the bother.

Enough small talk, lets see what the fuss is all about. Let me step aside and give the fashion the centre stage.

Not sure about the tie...