Fred Perry Polo Shirts

You know who Fred Perry was, right? The British tennis sensation from the thirties shook up the establishment by being working-class, dating Hollywood starlets, and playing aggressive, exciting tennis that won him three Wimbledon championships. But he may be most famous for the athletic Fred Perry polo shirts clothing line he started in 1952 that has inspired a cultlike obsession in every rebellious London youth movement since its creation--from mod to skinhead to punk to rave to the modern hipster. 

Big Selection of Fred Perry Polo Shirts

Pete Townshend, Paul Weller, Damon Albarn of Blur, Badly Drawn Boy, and Fatboy Slim are all partial to Fred Perry clothes, with their laurel-leaf emblem and their heritage as a uniform for underground English cool.

The Mod scene here is now in its third or fourth incarnation, depending on who's keeping track, and can be found in all-night clubs such as Club Au-Go-Go or The 45 Club, where Mod kids show up every weekend and "discover" the original Northern Soul, ska and R&B riffs sampled by contemporary dance DJs. For the record, there's no such thing as "Mod music," and the clubs spin a range of styles, mostly with Jamaican and Motown sensibilities, as well as the occasional classic rock anthem, such as The Who's "My Generation."

And where the music is, you'll find the clothes. Once hard to come by, staples such as Fred Perry polo shirts, pointy flats, shrunken blazers, skinny ties and anything emblazoned with a Union Jack can all be bought at the mall these days. Even finding a stylist who can execute the sharply sheared bobs or precise feather cuts has become easier.

Fred Perry polo shirts, the sportswear line named after the Fifties tennis star, has leveraged its history among Mods and punk rockers in its advertisements as it has pushed into a wider global market in recent years. "Fred Perry has maintained its position as a true British brand in terms of fit and classic tailoring," says Shannon Hayward, president of the Avalon Group, which owns and distributes the line in North America. "And that's what those British-inspired scenes are looking for."

Fred Perry Polo Shirts : Punk Leather Jackets

While grunge fans will likely never let Marc Jacobs off the hook for his 1991 collection for Perry Ellis, his flirtation with Mod a year ago didn't fluster this scene's veterans. They've seen mainstream fashion's odes before, and recent nods by everyone from Guess and Gap to Ferragamo and Comme des Garcons/Peggy Moffitt just work to legitimize their closet of vintage finds, which are usually culled from boutiques such as Meow in Long Beach and Camden Lock on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. See also punk leather jackets | more