A major exhibition was held at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery (April 12th -June 30th 2019) which included ephemera, costumes and art from the Mod scene. The exhibition was curated and designed by social history author Shaun Knapp based around his latest book, Mods: Two City Connection, and Joe Nixon, co-founder of Arch Creative. It included eyewitness accounts and photographs from Leicester and Nottingham Mods, which have never been seen or heard before.
The costumes – as well as original 1960s clothing – were provided by designer Roger K Burton. One of the most established and well-known costume designers in the UK, Roger K Burton has worked in music videos, television, films and commercials since the late 1970s: he has dressed hundreds of influential artists and bands, from David Bowie to The Rolling Stones. With over 50 years’ experience of collecting vintage street fashion, Roger, an author and former Leicester Mod, started out supplying original clothing to cult films such as Quadrophenia and Absolute Beginners, and now hires original street fashion to TV and film.
The exhibition also featured input from Alan Fletcher, the author who wrote Quadrophenia (the novel) and was a story consultant on Quadrophenia (the film). Alan also wrote The Mod Crop Trilogy, a trio of books based on his life as a Mod in Nottinghamshire during the 1960s.
View our short film above featuring exhibition contributors Roger K Burton, Alan Fletcher and Colin Hyde.
See pictures of the exhibition here:
Soft Touch Arts also involved up to 100 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, giving them the opportunity to meet older generation Mods and participate in creating Modified, an ‘inspired by’ Mod culture exhibition at their city centre gallery.
Four different groups each worked around a theme – music, fashion, design and film – to create artefacts for the exhibition. Each group learned about original 60’s Mod Culture and looked at and listened to the music, fashion, design and film of the time.
Quotes from interviews with original Mods also gave them a flavour of the time and been used as inspiration for their own pieces. The exhibition was themed to reflect a 1960’s coffee bar and there were also sixties inspired drinks and cakes available at certain points during the exhibition to encourage visitors to sit down, reflect and talk.
1964 was the year when Mods and Rockers fought on the beaches of southern England and Mod philosophy exploded unapologetically into UK mainstream culture. For many, life would never be the same again.
Mods 19:64 was a black and white photographic exhibition that captured Leicester and Nottingham Mods from that remarkable year as they were in 2019 – 19:64. Hosted in the Spotlight Gallery at the LCB Depot, Rutland Street, Leicester, the photographs were taken by Joe Nixon.
Most of the images were captured outside iconic Mod related buildings in both cities such as the Dungeon nightclub in Nottingham and the Il Rondo in Leicester. The images were accompanied by compelling quotations curated by Shaun Knapp and taken from his latest book Mods: Two City Connection.
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