No other coat in history, as managed to reach such cult status as the fishtail parka adopted by the Mod youth sub-culture movement. We will look into the possible reasons as to why this war coat has reached such iconic status and why it was adopted by early Mods.
It is clear that the Mods wished to protect their expensive Italian mohair suits whilst riding around on their Italian scooters. The length of the parka coat meant that it could cover a suit in almost its entirety. Scooters are known for their unreliability and bearing this in mind, oil and dirty mess had to be prevented from marking extremely expensive hand-tailored mohair suits. Consideration must also be given to the fact that Britain is a cold and wet country. The fishtail parka was designed for extreme cold Arctic weather conditions and was produced using wind resistant materials. Perfect whilst riding a scooter. Furthermore, the warmth lies within a fishtail parka's liner which could either be worn or not. A coat therefore perfect for all weather conditions. The famous fishtail cut on the back of each parka allows a wearer to look stylish and to stand out from the crowd. This is what Mod is really all about. A Mod likes to look smart, stylish and stand out from the norm. The fishtail parka helped achieve this aim more than any other coat on the market. Finally, the U.S. Military is second to none when it comes to producing military army clothing. Other countries simply don't use the quality materials and go to the same expense. The fishtail parka was producing using such materials as mohair, silk and wolf fur. Top quality and expensive materials. Accompany that with the high end military specification hoods (wool lined), brass sturdy zips which rarely break and you can easily see why Mods adopted the fishtail parka and the reasons why it has become a must have fashion accessory.
There are 3 types of
Mod Parka:
M48 Mod Parka - Initial parka produced for the Korean War. Only in production for one year due to the high production costs. Worn by early Mods and simply the best parka ever produced. The M48 Mod Parka is extremely rare and sought after so prepare to pay a large amount of money if you wish to own one of these collector pieces. See
Its A Mod Thing for further information regarding M48 Mod Parka's.
M51 Mod Parka - Was produced in far greater numbers compared to the M48 Mod Parka. Now itself extremely rare and hard to find. Produced using quality mohair / silk liners and real wolf fur hoods. An absolutely stunning Mod parka of the highest quality. This is the parka worn throughout the famous Mod film Quadrophenia. You can choose whether or not to button on the wolf fur hood attachment.
M65 Mod Parka - No longer produced by the U.S. Military and therefore stock is running out like the M51 Mod Parka. All authentic U.S. Military parka's were produced in very large sizes as they were intended to be worn over full military kit. Therefore, small and especially X Small sizes are virtually impossible to source. The M65 Mod Parka has been famously worn by celebrities and models the world over. Two notable celebrities who are constantly seen wearing an M65 Mod Parka are Kate Moss and Liam Gallagher. The Mod scene has expanded into the Scandinavian countries and we sell an awful lot of M65 Mod Parka's to those countries. The climate in Scandinavian countries is perfectly suited for the extreme cold weather Mod parka's. See
Its A Mod Thing for further information and product specification details for the M65 Mod Parka.
