Queers and mods: social and sartorial interaction in London’s Carnaby Street

This chapter looks at the development of Vince Man's Shop and its catalogue as a prime site of gay consumption in the 1950s and early 1960s. This chapter uses an oral history methodology to gather and analyse new reminiscences and memories of Vince's from a group of men who worked at and bought from the shop and its notorious mail order catalogue. This will be complimented by textual and image analysis of the catalogue and publicity images, specifically noting the 'secret' messages that were relayed to the Vince's gay consumers.The second part of this chapter will investigate the previously relatively under explored interaction and further explore how dress operated as a sometimes ambiguous and manipulable indicator of fluid male identities.