Chelsea boots are close-fitting, ankle-high boots with elastic side panels. They often have a loop or tab of fabric on the back of the boot, enabling the boot to be pulled on. The boot dates back to the Victorian era, when it was worn by both men and women.
Chelsea boots in black calf leather
Chelsea boots in brown suede
The Beatles, seen here in 1963, helped to popularise Chelsea boots.
Australian work boots are a variation of the Chelsea boot.
Mod, from the word modernist, is a subculture that began in 1950s London and spread throughout Great Britain, eventually influencing fashions and trends in other countries. It continues today on a smaller scale. Focused on music and fashion, the subculture has its roots in a small group of stylish London-based young men and women in the late 1950s who were termed modernists because they listened to modern jazz. Elements of the mod subculture include fashion ; music and motor scooters. In the mid-1960s, the subculture listened to rock groups such as the Who and Small Faces. The original mod scene was associated with amphetamine-fuelled all-night jazz dancing at clubs.
Two mid-1960s mods on a customised Lambretta scooter
Quadrophenia exhibit at the Cotswold Motor Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water in 2007
Small Faces in 1965
Carnaby Street in "Swinging London" circa 1966
