A scooter adorned with multiple mirrors, lights, and air horns

© stocknshares/Getty Image

Mod gear

This Lambretta scooter, decked out with extra mirrors, lights, and horns, is an iconic symbol of the mod subculture. Attendees at Purple Weekend, a mod-revival festival held every year in León, Spain, will see many Lambretta and Vespa scooters. The popular event held this weekend gathers fans of mod music, fashion, and culture. The mod movement began in England in the late 1950s, as modern jazz and rhythm & blues records imported from the U.S. sparked the clean-cut, modernist fashion and lifestyle aesthetic that appealed to a new middle class of young people in postwar Britain. The fashion, scooters, and music choices caught on outside the U.K. during the 1960s and inspired future generations to embrace the style. Now, mod revival festivals like Spain’s Purple Weekend happen in many countries around the world.