Modern Day Mod - Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins

BBC Interview

"British Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins has been variously described as "mod-loving cyclist", "king of the mods" and the "fastest mod on two wheels". But just what is that makes Wiggins a mod? If sport replicated life, Bradley Wiggins would have ridden up the Champs Elysees on a shiny Lambretta scooter. Wiggins is a self-proclaimed mod. His thin torso, narrow shoulders and surprising lightness - he reportedly weighs less than 11 stone - makes him an unusual modern athlete. With his previous Paul Weller-style haircuts, carefully pruned sideburns, and collection of scooters, Wiggins could almost have been an extra in Quadrophenia, the classic mod movie of the late 1970s. His Tour de France win prompted admiring tweets not just from cycling fans but from style commentators and Weller, who is known by fans and journalists as the Modfather.

The term "mod" is thought to derive from the modernist jazz fans of the 1950s. In contrast to the earnest chin stroking image of traditional jazz, modernists were young, hip and sleekly dressed, taking their influence from black America. But the mods people think of today - and those Wiggins takes his cue from - hail from the 1960s. There are both musical and style cues. Wiggins has spoken previously of his musical tastes - listing The Who, Small Faces, The Jam, Oasis, and Ocean Colour Scene as his favourite bands. All are mod favourites. Mods of the 1960s wore parkas, tailored suits, loafers, skinny trousers, and Fred Perry polo shirts. Wiggins has designed cyclewear for the Fred Perry label. The parkas of the post-war era were often ex-RAF issue and so displayed the classic target symbol, known as the roundel. Wiggins reportedly has the RAF roundel on some of his training kit.

Mod hair was neat and clean in contrast to greasy-haired rockers and long-haired hippies. Wiggins has said he grew his hair long in 2007 in honour of John Entwistle bassist from The Who. The sideburns were another Entwistle touch. Mods defined themselves as sleek, neat and well turned out. It was a tribe. Convoys of scooters would descend on seaside towns and scuffles - greatly exaggerated by the media - would break out between the mods and rockers. The classic mod movie is Quadrophenia, which came out at the end of the 1970s at the height of the mod revival. The hero Jimmy, played by Phil Daniels, sums up the philosophy. "Look, I don't wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a mod, see? I mean, you gotta be somebody, ain't ya, or you might as well jump in the sea and drown." "It's about staying clean under pressure," says Robert Elms, author of The Way We Wore. There's always been a cycling crossover, he argues, with "mod designer" Paul Smith having initially aspired to be a professional cyclist.

Wiggins is a classic mod, Elms says. He is a working class Londoner with a certain style, an arrogance. And he looks right. "You can't look good as a podgy mod," Elms says. There's also an anti-establishment attitude. In Quadrophenia Jimmy tells his employer to "stick his job" in the post room. There are vague parallels with Wiggins's dealings with the media. He has attacked journalists for their poor questions and swore repeatedly when asked to comment on tweeters who suggested only drug cheats could win Le Tour. Amphetamines - often called blues - were a central part of the mod existence, whereas Wiggins has made it clear that he has no time for doping in cycling. Reinvention is crucial. After its jazz incarnation, bands like The Who, the Small Faces and The Action took on the mod mantle. It was revived in the late 1970s by The Jam and in the 1990s by Britpop acts like Oasis and Paul Weller as a solo artist. Unlike being a punk or a new romantic it is a look that a middle aged man can carry off, says Elms. But it's more than a look. It's an attitude, Elms argues. A mod is cool and sharp and open to foreign influences - qualities that Bradley Wiggins encapsulates in his life and cycling. "He's slightly sardonic and rock and roll. But it's not about rock and roll excess. It's slightly pared back."

Paul Weller

Paul Weller (born 25 May 1958) is a British musician and singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam (1976–82), Weller went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council (1983–89). In 1991 he established himself as a successful solo artist,^[1] and remains a respected singer, lyricist and guitarist.

The Jam

Although The Jam emerged at the same time as punk rock bands such as The Clash, The Damned, and Sex Pistols, The Jam better fitted the mould of the New Wave bands who came later. Also, being from just outside London rather than in it, they were never really part of the tightly-knit punk clique. Nonetheless, The Clash emerged as one of the leading early advocates of the band and were sufficiently impressed by The Jam to take them along as the support act on their White Riot tour of 1977. The Jam's first single "In the City" took them into the UK Top 40 for the first time, in May 1977. Although every subsequent single had a placing within the Top 40, it would not be until the band released "The Eton Rifles", with Weller's very political lyrics, that they broke into the Top 10, hitting the No. 3 spot in November 1979.

THE LOOK

(GQ)

Thankfully his new clothing line is inspired by the late Sixties and early Seventies and includes well-cut three-piece suits which can be worn both in and out of an office. "I wouldn't want to be involved in anything that I wouldn't wear myself," says Weller. "It's been a dream really - I brought reference pictures, graphics, sketches, vintage things I've collected over the years and stuff from my own wardrobe." Here he talks to GQ.com about satin jackets, Ben Sherman shirts vs Brutus ones and highly questionable "mutant quiffs" 

The first thing I bought that was really stylish was in 1969 when I was eleven. I saved up for a black, grey and white tie-dye grandad vest. It was too big - they weren't catering for kids my age - and hung off me but I loved it. It was from a boutique in Woking called Flacks which was amazing. It had a lot of post-hippie clothing but also a lot of stuff that skinheads were buying as well. It wasn't King's Road hippies and trendies - it was for people who had been mods in the Sixties and were now doing their own thing.

The Jam went through a phase of wearing satin jackets. But that was pre-getting signed and making it, when we were still playing the pubs and clubs - around '75. Shocking, really - what would you call them apart from "horrible"? We'd wear these white zip-up bomber jackets with black kind of loon pants and black and white shoes. That was our stage outfit. Shocking.

Miles Kane

Miles (Peter) Kane was born, 17 march 1986, is and English Musician. Miles is best known as the co-frontman of The Last Shadow Puppets and former frontman of The Rascals, before the band announced their break-up in August 2009.
He is currently pursuing a solo career, and continues to be a part of The Last Shadow Puppets. His debut solo album, Colour of the Trap, was released on 9 May 2011 and the follow-up, Don't Forget Who You Are was released on 3 June 2013.

Whilst touring with Arctic Monkeys, Kane developed a strong friendship with front man Alex Turner. They shared a love of the same musical influences, such as Nick Cave. The pair began to play together backstage, and soon began writing new tracks. They realised that there was a future in their songwriting partnership, and The Last Shadow Puppets were born. The duo decided to travel to the West Coast of France with producer James Ford where they recorded their debut album The Age of the Understatement in just two weeks. Their album went straight to number 1 in the UK Album Charts with the single of the same name reaching number 1 in the Indie Single Charts, and subsequent singles also reaching high spots. They first played together live in the UK, doing a secret set at Glastonbury with a special guest appearance from Jack White, whom Kane lent his iPod to so White could learn the solo. The band's album narrowly missed out on the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize, but thus far they have won the Mojo Breakthrough Award, and have also been nominated for various other accolades.

THE LOOK

with his friend and collaborator Mr Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys - 2011 has been all about scorching his own path.

May saw the release of his debut solo album, Colour of the Trap: "I think there was a lot to prove," Mr Kane admits, nursing a deep bowl of rich black coffee. "With Puppets, I think a lot of people just thought I was Alex's mate. I know a lot of people thought that my band The Rascals [disbanded in 2009] had gone wrong so Al was just giving me a leg up - people were suspicious. But nothing could be further from the truth. I felt there was a lot to prove both to myself and those people that didn't believe."

Judging by the reception his latest efforts have received, Mr Kane can consider the tide truly turned. Having started airing riotous, feet-stamping tracks such as the brilliant "Inhaler" (yes, actually about the singer's asthma inhaler) and "Come Closer" in 100-seater dives last winter - testing out the pace and the groove of the new material - soon the young guitarist had graduated to support slots with the likes of The Courteeners and Mr Liam Gallagher's band Beady Eye. Come October 2011 and Mr Kane will embark.

(GQ)

Fashion-forward singer and style icon Miles Kane slinks back into the limelight with a stomping new solo album and a sharp line in mod-inspired suits.

There are musicians who only dress well on stage, on the red carpet or on the witness stand. And then there are those, like Miles Kane, who turn up to a west London studio wearing a close-fitting combination of Alexander McQueen, Spencer Hart and The Kooples. "I got these boss Jimmy Choo shoes the other week - they're black slip-ons but sparkly," he chirps, a thick Liverpudlian accent apparently entirely impervious to his extended visits to the capital. Kane is wholly committed to pursuing his own sense of style. "I live and breathe it - do you know what I mean?" he says, drawing deep on a Camel Light. "I'll never come out in a hoodie - I don't even wear one in the house!" In terms of others whose taste he admires, those who he has toured with tend to come out on top. "I really like Serge Pizzorno from Kasabian. There's a fine line with that glammy rock'n'roll thing without it looking like a joke. Serge can pull it off." Kane himself is extraordinarily precise about his own clothing: he adores the skinnier fit of Parisian label Sandro, credits designer Adrien Sauvage with persuading him to wear more colour and finds the concept of wearing trainers with suits simply beyond comprehension.

Such fastidiousness has seen the fashion world start to pay attention - for the first London Collections: Men, Kane performed a set at Burberry's Knightsbridge store after a personal request from Christopher Bailey. "We just did a little show in his shop," says Kane matter-of-factly. "I only did that because I love that brand, I wear the clobber and that Christopher's a nice guy. Their leather jackets fit really well." He also ended up modelling for John Varvatos in New York with fellow mod clotheshorse Paul Weller. "We weren't working really, we were just wearing clothes and having a buzz. That was fun, that."