Mods and Rockers

One of the main differences between the two was what they embraced as a youth culture. Modernists embraced change and welcomed the new whereas the rockers were very traditional and didn’t particularly like change. Each subculture accumulated rivalry of each other, each set in their own ways. A major point to state within talking about these two groups is that at no point was there any politics involved, it was merely through the idea of tribalism that they fought. Each youth culture thought of themselves as a tribe, as a unified subculture that joined together and rivalled opposing tribes, in this case either if a mod the rockers and if a rocker, the mods.

Appearance-wise the two youth subcultures were incredibly different. There was a fashion aspect in both of the subcultures, this meant if to relate to other members of the group meant having the ‘right’ clothes to wear. Mods were well-dressed and very fashion conscious. A great deal of the British mod fashion came across from France where there was a big mod movement in the early 60’s. As in the sense of the word, modernist, these subcultures revolved around the new and change from the old which predominantly was what the a

In contrast to much of the mods styles and beliefs were the rockers. Rockers didn’t like change and despised any fashion. Their dress code was somewhat different and like in the sixties nothing really has changed till this day as there is only one item of clothing needed to be a rocker and this was the leather Jacket. Within this subculture the leather jacket was a symbol. The dress code of rockers were very minimalist all that were needed was the leather jacket, jeans and a pair of boots, although it didn’t really matter what else was worn other than the leather jacket.

The standard mod 'uniform' of the time consisted of the American 'parka' style coat with fur-trimmed hood ( for riding their highly decorated and customised scooters ), shiny two-tone mohair suits, small shirt collars, narrow ties and the famous 'winklepicker' toed shoes or elastic-sided 'Chelsea' boots, although there were variations on this theme as fashion changed so rapidly. Various styles came and went: round-toed, almond-toed, chisel-toed, winklepickers with the points chopped off. Hush Puppies were big favourites as they were good for dancing and really 'In' were Clark's desert boots. Some mods even took up the traditional 'city gent' look complete with brolly and bowler hat. The styling of jackets was of major importance, the deeper the side or back vents the better, being as much as 10" in extreme cases. The girls favoured hipsters, ski pants or long straight skirts, later taking up the mini skirt/dress fashion, often in PVC, with the stark, bold primary colours as used by Andre Courreges and, commonly, large black and white checks or stripes. Their hair was straight, chin-length and with a centre parting or deep fringe.

(internet, Mods and Rockers, 19/10/02)

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