March next year and Going Underground by The Jam is 45 years old. I know, right? Perhaps the saddest thing is that the twenty year old Paul Weller’s lyrics are as relevant now as they were during the purveying nuclear nightmare at the height of the Cold War.

So is it this that makes it a timeless classic? Musically it’s still muscular and leaps and barks like a chained up dog. Even the production which can so often date music seems light-touch enough to have avoided such pitfalls… and lyrically? …well what more can be said… The ‘Boys Brigades’ are still sabre rattling, the ‘Braying Sheep’ are on more a whole lot more than the three channels we had back then… and of course the kidney machines are forever supplanted by rockets and guns… Plus ça change!

I watch the video and perhaps it’s here that the times are revealed. Certainly Foxton’s wardrobe and barnet says 1980… and Rick looking like Dennis Waterman behind the kit… so thats another tick in the consigned to history box.. but Weller… Weller is different gravy… always has been… his Mod sensibilities and eye for detail make him stand out stylistically… he should be anachronistic… pop art shirt, the paisley scarf, the Rickenbacker guitar… it could by The Fabs around their Revolver period. Certainly the LP was a heavy influence on Weller at the time, musically as well as sartorially. And yet, look at the images of The Beatles around the time and nothing screams 1966 more than their styling. The Paisley shirts that Persian teardrop motif that via Kashmiri weavers returned to the UK and its epicentre for production in wealthy Scotland and the town of Paisley who shared its name worldwide for a centuries old middle-eastern design… very Empiric… ‘the public gets what the public wants’ indeed.

So how is it that Weller can pull off a timeless look and The Beatles are forever anchored stylistically to the sixties? The answer is that Mod is a Magpies art! The original Mods often wore paisley scarves and cravats… little new in this of course but this was part of the artifice, the rarity was these items being in the hands of the working classes. This subversion, this artful revolution was at the heart of the Modernist outlook. No acceptance of the pre-ordained place in society for these new-age sons and daughters. Style as a revolutionary act. Where this line gets blurred is what separates Weller from The Beatles. A few years after the paisley neckerchiefs and the bespoke tailoring, the insurrection goes from underground to overground… the pop-art perversion of flags and RAF roundels are a much more in-your-face “Fuck you!” to society and the generations before. This is a key part of Mods legacy… Iconography… despite it being a world away from the original coded signals for the cognoscenti.

Iconography is a Pop art phenom… the ubiquitous target roundels, the Rickenbacker guitars with their Paisley aping headstock teardrop, the 45 centre… 66 clothings new silk scarf collection starts with a clone of Weller’s sublime paisley scarf sported in the Going Underground video, via Lennon’s Revolver era paisley shirts, the Rickenbacker teardrop and the 45 centre all combine to add a knowing nod to the stylistic inspirations of the Mods… which you choose to wear is up to you… its what appeals to the ‘magpie’ in you…

45 years on and Weller still gets it right stylistically… he still studies the magpie art… and the boy still sings, and the boy still shouts for tomorrow

The Paperback Rioter

Would you like £135 To Spend At Modshoes & 66 Clothing?

We need your help with sizing advice, and thought what could we do that would be fun, but also help other potential customers.

We know buying shoes (and clothing) online is hard, we do our best to advise about sizing, and test many of the shoes we sell. We sometimes get asked, ‘Why Cant Sizing Be Standard?’ That’s dead easy to answer, and 70s Tassel Loafers design is totally different to a 60s Chelsea boot.

So with that in mind, we need your experencies of how you got on with our shoes. We would like you to be constructive, i.e positive and helpful when leaving a review.

GET 5 EXTRA ENTRIES INTO THE GIVEAWAY BY UPLOADING A PICTURE OF YOU IN THE SHOES

How it works

1. Find the shoes (and/or clothing) you have brought from us
2. Scroll towards the bottom of the page and fill in the review section
3. In the actual review, it doesn’t have to be ‘War & Peace’ but has to be helpful.
4. Add a picture of you in the shoes >> Remember you get extra entries
5. Press Submit
6. All entries will be verfied before your review goes live, this is to stop spam etc

Review Examples

• ‘I have slightly wide feet, and these are a slim shoe, so I went a size up’
• ‘I found the shoes slightly long, so went down a size from my normal size’
• ‘I have several modshoes shoes, and have found this pair to be same, so stick with size’

Remember you can review as many of our products you have as you want, and add a picture and you get 5 entries from one review. 5 Reviews, each with a different picture, that 25 entries!

PLEASE NOTE, and can we stress this is about sizing and nothing else!
We are looking for postive reviews, and this is about SIZING. If you simply didn’t like the shoes or perhaps the colour wasn’t what you wanted, these reviews will be ignored and possibly deleted. You can mention colour, outfits you have worn or going to wear, but this is mainly about sizing.

Rules & T&Cs

• The Giveaway closes 4th July @ 12pm
• The winner will be drawn randomly on the 5th July 2023
• All reviews from 27th June 2023 to 4th July 12 Midnight will be included in the draw, reviews from before, won’t be included If you have previously added a review
• No Cash alternative
• This giveaway is in no way affiliated with Instagram, Facebook etc etc!
• Giveaway open internationally
• The prize is a voucher, you can buy worth more than £135, but you will need to pay the difference, like wise if you only want something worth £60 you won’t get the cash refund
• You can review clothing as well, and this will be added to the draw

Terry Towelling

For a cloth that seems so evocative of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s its somehow crazy that the basis for the material with its protruding loops of thread has been traced back some 4000 years BC, with pieces found that were woven in ancient Egypt and in pre-Columbian Peru. It’s effectiveness in absorbing large amounts of water has meant that it has been used to keep people dry for many thousands of years.

It wasn’t until the middle of the Victorian era that the material reached Europe, after travellers noted the material being used in Turkey. For years the material was called Royal Turkish Towelling and was bestowed Royal patronage by Queen Victoria and remained popular solely as a towelling material right up to the first World War.

Between the War’s the French started to use the material for clothing and it underwent a name change of “French Terry” and “Terry Towelling”, likely as a result of the French word “ tire’ “ (pull) which give the loops their distinctive look as a result of the special looms used that have two longitudinal warps through which the weft is fired laterally. Despite the machinery involved it was a slow process and as a result Terry-Towelling (usually in pure cotton) was considered a luxurious and expensive material.

Fast Forward to the late fifties and it became a popular beachwear material. The quality had been further refined so that the outer side was smoother than the inside. (Unlike Towels where the looped material was on both sides). This made it a much more visually appealing as well as a practical garment.

Terry (French) Towelling hit the big screen courtesy of a belted baby-blue playsuit adorning the enigmatic James Bond as he lounged around the pool, pausing occasionally to pat ladies’ bottoms, in the 1964 film Goldfinger. It took someone as masculine as the Sean Connery to pull off this quite camp look, especially with the shortness of the shorts.

Auric Goldfinger also sports a terry cloth lined lounge shirt (in Gold naturally). Goldfinger, as a man of luxury should be sporting this material and appears both appropriately and fashionably dressed for poolside 1960’s Miami.

Bond sports Terry Towelling in other films too. He appears in an oatmeal-coloured camp-collared Safari style shirt in Diamonds Are Forever, and of course Dr No. The Dr No Polo shirt is probably the most famous and a piece that has been a main stay of high-end fashion house Orlebar Brown’s wardrobe. Ironically the original shirt in the film was a cotton pique and its style was appropriated by Orlebar Brown and remade in Terry Towelling and so the ‘copy’ has supplanted the original. Thankfully Mod Shoes have remade this item at a substantially more affordable price and yet no less stylish, looking as cool on the streets as on the sun-kissed beaches of the Caribbean.

Terry Towelling was used in a number of other areas too. It was a common material for nappies where its comfort and absorbency made it the ideal material to use. Perhaps its most familiar use was in the sporting world. I’m sure anyone reading this will remember the likes of tennis legend Bjorn Borg, Brighton Centre half Steve Foster and others sporting head and wrist bands as aids to absorb sweat during their endeavours.

And, finally, of course, the ubiquitous white terry towelling sport sock. It’s hard to say when these crossed over into the fashion world. Possibly the Mods were the first, with their love of magpie-like appropriation of sports and casual items. (Or maybe Sweet Gene Vincent with his “white face, black shirt, white socks, black shoes”). The look was also adopted by the Two-tone Rude Boys whose ankle height trouser hems were thrown into sharp relief by the pristine white flash of sock and who could forget The Jam when they burst onto the scene in monochrome suits and ties. White socks were the prevailing look of the Mod Revival and beyond. Not bad for a material some 6000 years in the making…

SNEAK PEAK!! – BRAND NEW ZINNIA’S & DUSTYS LAUNCHING 23RD JUNE! 😍
We are very excited to present to you Zinnia in Sky Blue (brand new heel and sole design) and Zinnia in Aqua!
Dustys in Cream & Violet, and Cafe Au Lait , super new colours perfect for any wardrobe
Shoes Available for Pre-Order 16th June 2023, Go On Sale 23rd June at 5pm 2023

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2023SummerWomens

The Dusty in Cream and Violet Patent – Ladies Retro Shoe by Mod Shoes

Rated 5.00 out of 5

£120.00

£120.00

UK2 - 35 UK3 - 36 UK4 - 37 UK5 - 38 UK6 - 39 UK7 - 40 UK8 - 41

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2023SummerWomens

The Dusty in Cafe Au Lait Patent – Ladies Retro Shoe by Mod Shoes

Rated 5.00 out of 5

£120.00 £69.00

£120.00 £69.00

UK2 - 35 UK3 - 36 UK4 - 37 UK5 - 38 UK6 - 39 UK7 - 40 UK8 - 41

This option is required

Select options