Peacock Revolution by Daniel Delis Hill

Author:Daniel Delis Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781350056459
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2018-02-13T05:00:00+00:00

The Peacock Revolution in America

As noted previously, men’s mod fashions came to America with the British Invasion of pop music in 1964. Press reports and teen magazines noted that the mod styles worn by the English bands often were from London’s Carnaby Street designers and merchants. As the popularity of the Invasion spread across American pop culture, the term “Mod” and “Carnaby Street” became synonymous to American menswear makers, retailers, and ultimately consumers. In 1966, GQ reported on Carnaby Street with a profile of John Stephen, his boutiques, and the Mods who were “firm followers of … John Stephen’s own highly original, constantly innovating designs.”42 John Stephen’s licensed in-store boutiques of men’s mod fashions were named “John Stephen of Carnaby Street” and promoted in the ads of large US department stores such as Stern’s of New York, Abraham & Straus in Brooklyn, Carson Pirie Scott of Chicago, and Dayton’s of Minneapolis. Other apparel invaders from Carnaby Street included Lord John,43 whose men’s fashions were advertised with slangy copy by Macy’s as a “kinky collection of imports, supah starring mighty mod florals, psyched-up stripes and free-wheeling solids.”44 Even Sears opened men’s mod shops in selected stores.

American ready-to-wear manufacturers, likewise, jumped on the Carnaby Street mod trend. Life magazine reported in 1966, that “the rakish, thin-shanked, high-heel booted, broad-belted, narrow-hipped and epauleted variations of attire that constitute a brash change in clothes … is invading the fashion habits of the U.S. male.” And “forming up behind them are U.S. manufacturers and merchants with their sights on millions of adult men.”45 Similarly, Esquire’s fashion spread of “Mod in America” in June 1966 featured the American rock band The Lovin’ Spoonful modeling “mod gear … not from London’s Carnaby Street but New York’s Seventh Avenue.”46 Mainstream American ready-to-wear makers, too, responded quickly to the youthquake demand for mod inspired fashions. In 1966, traditionalist dress shirt maker Van Heusen launched its London Gear collection of “ ‘in’ bell-bottoms … real English Granny shirts … wide-wale corduroys and rugged turtlenecks … just like they’re made in Jolly Old England.”47 One ready-to-wear-maker even adapted the mod name to the label of their young men’s sportswear line, claiming in an ad, “Maybe we made a mistake in 1776. We gave up plenty when we broke off with the land of [007 James] Bond and Beatles. We even had to create our own mod look and give it our own name: ‘Modnicks.’ ”48

Suddenly, mod was an integral part of American pop culture of the mid-1960s. Imported British mod movies included A Hard Day’s Night (1964) starring the Beatles; Blow-Up (1966) about a fashion photographer in Swinging London; and Georgy Girl (1966) with Lynn Redgrave as a mod swinger. From American TV, increasingly broadcast in “living color,”49 came the Mod Squad (1968–73), featuring three youthquake rebels who became undercover police officers: a long-haired white boy cast out of his upper middleclass home after his arrest for stealing a car; an African American youth from a poor family of thirteen children

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