Dedicated Followers of Fashion

While 'British Summer Time' is nothing more than a myth nowadays, the Monsoon climate that has engulfed dear old Blighty has done nothing to dampen the Summer wardrobes of the Festival Season devotees or scooter boys and girls making their way to weekenders and all nighters across the British Isles.

However, with the word 'vintage' gradually becoming more a way of conning an extra £30 or £40 out of insufferable 'Gap Yah' types, we decided to heed the advice of a website who specialize in timeless pieces that won't burn a hole in the pocket of your boating blazer.

Atom Retro (http://www.atomretro.com) has cemented it's position as the premiere online destination for Mod, Retro and Indie clothing over the past few years and, as loyal customers with more than a few Madcap shirts taking up our wardrobe, we decided to take the advice of site owner Lindsey Hagston as to what we all should be decking ourselves out in this Summer.

The Soul Kitchen: What are you expecting your biggest selling pieces to be this Summer?


Lindsey Hagston: We always sell some staples all year round but this Summer there has been a lot of interest in some of the limited edition collections such as the Admiral Retro Collection (due to Euro 2012), Lambretta's Trojan collection and the limited edition Olympic inspired styles. The new Realm & Empire collection is also getting a lot of interest as there's so much 'British-ness' around this Summer with all the sporting events and the Jubilee.


TSK: Any collections in particular that you would recommend to someone looking to buy a retro Summer wardrobe?


LH: It depends on what era or style you're looking for. Gabicci Vintage, Original Penguin and Farah Vintage are great for a 60's/70's Mod look. John Smedley always offers timeless and classic retro pieces and Admiral, Bukta and Dunlop Retro are perfect for sporty or indie pieces. On the women's side, Tulle concentrates on vintage looks and styles while Heartbreaker's dresses are all inspired by the 50's and 60's.


TSK: Summer is known as being Festival Season, but it's also rife with Soul and Mod weekenders and all nighters. What attire would you recommend for the Summer dancefloors?


LH: Delicious Junction have developed a bowling shoe style which has a special 'tunit' sole, specifically with Northern Soul dancefloors in mind. The styles are called 'Watts' in black, red, white and blue or 'Italia' which are red, white and green. For the braver ones, there's the 'Tommy' , also with the 'tunit' sole available in red/white/blue Union Jack or brown/cream Union Jack.


TSK: Who are Atom Retro's fashion icons?

LH: From music and culture there are the obvious ones like Steve Marriott, Brian Jones, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan etc and we also love 60's designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Faole and Tuffin, Mary Quant, Mr. Fish, John Symons and Warren Gold of Lord John. But probably who is most inspirational to us is John Stephen who was the founder of Carnaby Street

and at one time owned 15 shops along it. It's really John Stephen who gave us what we would call the 'Sixties look' and made things like flares, floral shirts and fitted Velvet Jackets part of Mod and Sixties fashion. 

TSK: What 'look' would you say is going to be most in this Summer? The Harrison in India? Elvis in Hawaii? Summer of Love revisited?

 

LH: There's a 'heritage UK' trend this Summer, again probably from the Olympics, etc. so anything quintessentially British is hot or anything with Union Jacks, etc on. There is a sort of Retro Seventies shirt trend coming through too, so think big, loud prints and Magnum PI.

TSK: What are your two absolute favourite new items that you're stocking for this Summer (1 men's item, 1 women's)?

 

LH: Mens - The Holy Roller Flares are based on the flares George Harrison wore in all the 'Mad Day Out' pictures. They're something a lot of people have requested in the past so we pretty chuffed to get these in at last. George's were the red and black ones: http://www.atomretro.com/8891 but there's also Grey/Black for a more toned down look: http://www.atomretro.com/8892

Womens - The new Dollierocker dresses are really good. We've made some dresses before but I think we really have it spot on with these new ones. They're a great Saturday Night frock, in Mod Target Print: http://www.atomretro.com/8576 or Navy/Red Mono Target: http://www.atomretro.com/8577. They have a great Sixties Mod feel and fit. 

 * You can 'Like' Atom Retro on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/atomretro  and also follow them on Twitter @AtomRetro https://twitter.com/AtomRetro

Until next time,

Keep on Keepin' on,

Baia

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