X Marks – The New Mods

[Lachlan09]

I really like this forum. Apart from the gentlemanliness and good-natured tolerance of the members (putting up with me for a start !), everyone is really “into” the details of kilts, kilt-wearing and accessories to the finest degree. Every purchase or intended purchase of kilt-dress items, great and small, are displayed and discussed online.

You can imagine if the kilts shops were in one street, it would be full of X Marks members, trying and buying, comparing and wearing, friends giving opinions on the fit of a certain jacket or the customer giving a tailor precise instructions for detailing and fit on a bespoke jacket, which sporrans are in and which are out of fashion, how to tie your ghillies properly which shows if you are “in the know” or "out of touch”.

All this reminds me so much of the greatest under-25’s culture Britain (and the World) has ever seen, bar none – the Mods. Instead of kilts and details, Mods had/have three-button mohair suits with 5 inch side vents, sloping pocket flaps, ticket pocket, narrow lapels and 16 inch bottoms, instead of Inverness capes Mods had/have Crombie wool coats, reefer coats, lightweight trench-coats, M-51 olive-green parkas and casual Harrington jackets, instead of ghillie brogues, Mods had/have Italian slip-ons, Oxford brogues, Chelsea boots, boxing boots and Clarks desert boots, instead of Aran jumpers, clan ties etc, Mods had/have Arrow shirts, Ben Sherman shirts, John Smedley shirts, Fred Perry shirts, zippered cycling shirts, roll-neck polo shirts, lambswool jumpers, 1 inch Bri-Nylon knitted ties – the list goes on. For the online shop, the Mods instead had the then-embryonic Carnaby Street shops just opened by John Stephen (Carnaby Street was invented for the Mod culture before the “Swinging Sixties” popularized it generally), where Mods would gather and try and buy, compare and comment on each others’ try-ons, seen and be seen and look to see the latest trend and nuance of “in and out”.

I can already see who are some of the “Faces” and who are the “Numbers” on this site. Gladly, there’s no “Third-class tickets” or “States” (aka greasers or bikers) on this forum, baby.

Everyone’s cool and no-one’s a fool. You dig it ?

So all we need is for X Markers to ride about on customised Lambretta TV-200 and Vespa-GS scooters and the link is complete.

To mis-quote “Quadrophenia”:-

“We are X Marks !
We are X Marks !
We are We are
We are X Marks !!”