Put on your high-heeled sneakers

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Q.� What exactly is a 'Mod' < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

A.� The Mod - it's short for 'Modernist' - is a member of one of the first youth cults that have characterised teenage rebellion over the last forty years.

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Q.� So what makes a Mod
A.� The Mod scene grew up in London in the late 1950's and early 1960's. It was a cult of fashion and music and was an organic development, which grew out of several economic and cultural changes that occurred around that time.

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For the new generation reaching their teens with no memory of the war, and little memory of food and clothing rationing, this was a time to cast off the austerity that their parents had known. The new generation enjoyed better paid jobs, the rapid rise of hire purchase, which made expensive clothes and transport attainable, and they wanted to cast off the dull and old fashioned styles of dress and behaviour they saw in their parents. Mod was about affirming the individual, in style, music, entertainment, and attitude.

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Q.� What was the music like

A.� Mods enjoyed lots of imported American r'n'b and soul sounds. The Motown and Stax labels produced three-minute dance-based gems, which the Mods loved, and danced to until the early hours, assisted by liberal intake of amphetamines. A lot of enduring soul sounds found their early audience in the dance halls and parties of the Mod scene�- songs like Louie Louie by The Kingsmen, He's So Fine by The Chiffons, Dancing In The Streets by Martha Reeves And The Vandellas, in fact anything with a strong dance beat would find an audience in the Mod scene.

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Q.� Was fashion important

A.� Vital! Mods lived for clothes, and fashions were an integral part of the lifestyle. The aforementioned increase in disposable income meant that young men could afford tailored suits, Ben Sherman shirts, Levi jeans, Fred Perry shirts, and so on, all essential parts of the Mod image. The image of Mod clothing styles and musical input has never really left British culture, but more that later. Keeping up with fashion was vital, and keeping clean and smart ensured that the Mods' chosen conveyance was the Italian scooter.�It was inexpensive to run, and ensured that clothes didn't get oily or covered with road dust. British youth wanted fashion that was theirs, and not associated with their parents, and the influence of European caf� society played its part. Even The Beatles, themselves no strangers to the cutting edge of fashion were drawn into the debate. Famously a reporter asked Ringo if he was a Mod or a Rocker Ringo, with the typically quick and understated wit that made him a verbal equal of Lennon, replied that he was "A Mocker!"

Q.� What about the famous 'Mods v Rockers' seaside riots

A.� This was an early example of media hysteria creating, rather than reporting on a fairly insignificant incident, which took place over the August Bank Holiday in 1964. Mods' opposite numbers were the Rockers, lads who drove big motorbikes, used lots of hair oil, wore leathers, and loved rock and roll. For the most part, the two cultural groups despised each other, and mostly ignored each other as well. There might have been the odd scuffle, but it was usually a 'one-to-one' and not the large gangs that converged in Brighton on the fateful weekend. The mass of media coverage simply underlined the Mods' estrangement from 'society', which of course they loved, and encouraged groups of youngsters who had rubbed along quite happily, to treat each other as mortal enemies.

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Q.� What about the Mod 'revival' at the end of the 1970's

A.� This was a reaction to the excellent film based on archetypal Mod band The Who's Quadrophenia album, the story of Jimmy and his attempts to make sense of his changing life, against a background of fashion, music, pills, and yes, that weekend! The huge popularity of the film kick-started a fashion for Mod that was nothing more than a pale imitation of the original. The teenagers who wore fish-tail parkers and thought the Two-Tone record label was the home of 'mod' would have been laughed at by the originals, who by now were settled into their thirties and forties.

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Q.� But the influence lives on

A.� Undoubtedly. Look at Oasis, who visually at least, are an embodiment of sixties fashion. Prior to them, The Jam took the spiky r'n'b sound of the sixties British bands and made it their own. The Northern Soul cult is based fairly and squarely in the Mod fashion and music arena, and there is a thriving group of scooter clubs who religiously make the pilgrimage to Brighton, or various other seaside towns and pose, trying to re-live a youth cult that was of its time, and is largely history, although the music, and the broader fashion influences remain timeless.

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Andy Hughes