Paul Gorman is…

Inside Fiorucci’s first store in Milan in the early 70s

Aug 5th, 2022

//Interior of the first Fiorucci boutique, Galleria Passerella, Milan, 1972//

I am extremely grateful to artist and designer Paul Walters for his gift of dozens of issues of Design magazine dating to the dawn of the 1970s.

These are being catalogued and added to the collection I already have of the title; some were donated by Paul’s fellow artist and designer Steve Thomas a few years ago.

Design was founded in the mid-60s by the Design Council precursor the Council of Industrial Design, and back issues are a goldmine of visuals and text about most aspects of the design world, from interiors, posters and packaging to product innovation, architecture and popular culture.

//The report on the store opening in Design, December 1972//

I’m going to post a selection of stories that have caught my eye over the coming months, starting with the image at the top of the post: a rarely seen view inside Elio Fiorucci’s first boutique, which he opened in Milan’s Galleria Passerella in late 1972.

Fiorucci was much inspired, to put it politely, by Trevor Myles and Tommy Roberts’ pop-art fashion outlet Mr Freedom – which had gone out of business in the spring of 1972 – and commissioned artist Stan Peskett, who had produced murals for Roberts, to create a space which engaged customers with a similar energy: the yellow and red colour scheme was extended to the exposed piping and venting with insignia of sunrays emanating from fluffy clouds hovering over the clothing racks.  Stan, who I interviewed  a couple of years ago for my Malcolm McLaren biography, has described his interior for Fiorucci as ‘an installation’.

//Advert in Design, December 1972//

//Spread from fashion shoot featuring Mr Freedom designs, Nova October 1971//

Coincidentally, an ad in the same issue of Design featured an image of a model in Mr Freedom clothes which had appeared in Nova magazine the previous year.  The advert was for the architecture and interiors publication Abitare, which continues to this day – see here.

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Goth Shop: The beautiful and the damned in Spitalfields for the next 10 days

Dec 5th, 2019

//Robert, Batcave, London, 1983. Photo: Derek Ridgers//

//Fuck ceramics, Tyler Udall//

Curator and writer Faye Dowling’s latest venture is the intriguing Goth Shop, which enters the physical realm tonight as a pop-up gallery and retail outlet in London’s Spitalfields.

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Bizarre semi-naked woodland Mr Freedom shoot, I was a TV, Edward Bell’s ‘The Queen Of Clapham’… Inside the infamous Curious magazine featuring David Bowie + Freddie Burretti on its cover

Dec 4th, 2019

//Cover, Curious issue 19, 1971. Photography: Brian Ward. No reproduction without permission.This copy: Paul Gorman Archive//

//Opening spread The Queen Of Clapham. Photography: Edward Bell. No reproduction without permission//

//From The Cool Kilt vs The Hot Pant. Photographer not credited. No reproduction without permission//

//Opening spread I Was A TV. Photographer not credited. No reproduction without permission//

The British sex magazine Curious was well-named: for the duration of its near-decade long run from the late 1960s it was indeed a curiosity.
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Rocketman: Mr Freedom, Tommy Roberts and Jim O’Connor’s winged boots

Jun 14th, 2019


//Above Taron Egerton as Elton John and Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin meet “Tommy Roberts” in Rocketman. Stills from Kii Arens promo video for Egerton and John’s new single (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again//

//The pair of Mr Freedom winged boots acquired by Cecil Beaton for the V&A 1971 exhibition: Fashion: An Anthology//

During the production of Elton John biopic Rocketman there were plans for a scene set in London’s groundbreaking pop-art boutique Mr Freedom in the early 70s.

This was to set up the central character’s visual transformation during visits to the store under the influence of its charismatic founder and frontman, the late, lamented Tommy Roberts.

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The Oui connection: Michael J. Pollard, Uschi Obermaier, Granny Takes A Trip + Greasy Truckers Live At Dingwalls Dancehall

Jan 10th, 2018

//Left: detail, outer gatefold illustration by Holly Hollington, Greasy Truckers At Dingwalls Dancehall, Greasy Truckers Records, 1973; right: Uschi Obermaier and Michael J. Pollard, Oui, October 1973. Photo: Chris von Wangenheim//

//Left: Detail, uncredited cover photo, Oui, Oct 1973. Art director: Don Menell; right: detail; Greasy Truckers sleeve//

Recently I obtained a pristine copy of the October 1973 issue of American men’s magazine Oui, which contains a Chris von Wangenheim fashion shoot featuring actors Michael J. Pollard and Uschi Obermaier .

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Refna revival: Elizabeth Hamey’s adventures in art, design + fashion

Aug 9th, 2017

//Jean Shrimpton in Mr Freedom Minnie Mouse top, Hans Feurer, Fancy Dressing, Nova, December 1970, with the original design on tracing paper by Refna. No reproduction without permission//

Exciting news: Elizabeth Hamey, who signs her work ‘Refna’, has granted me access to her amazing archive of work at the cross-hatches of art, design and fashion in the 1960s and 70s.

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The Paradise Garage Mustang pops up in mid-70s early learning book

Feb 13th, 2017

//Outside Paradise Garage, 430 King’s Road, GW Hales, 1971//

As punk expert/collector and design academic Paul Burgess notes, references to 430 King’s Road turn up in the most surprising places.

So thanks to him for notifying me about this photograph of the coolest address in pop culture – and in particular the tiger stripe-flocked Ford Mustang which adorned the street outside during the Paradise Garage phase – in a 1976 light educational book for young children.

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Reissued: The Look Of London – charting fashion x music in the greatest city in the world

Oct 21st, 2016

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I’m delighted to announce that my map The Look Of London – which teases out the intertwining of popular music and street style in our capital over five decades – has been reissued by groovy guide makers Herb Lester Associates.

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Sex signage: Was McLaren inspired by Lubalin’s cladding for the Georg Jensen flagship NY store?

Sep 30th, 2016
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//Detail, clad signage for Georg Jensen, 601 Madison Avenue, late 60s. From Herb Lubalin: Typographer, Unit Editions, 2016//

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//Detail, shop signage designed by Malcolm McLaren, made by Vick Mead, 430 King’s Road, London, 1975. From a photograph by Peter Schlesinger//

Was the late Malcolm McLaren inspired by one of the greats of 20th century graphics in his creation of the astonishing signage for Sex, the fetishistic fashion boutique and incubator of punk rock he operated with Vivienne Westwood at 430 King’s Road in west London between October 1974 and November 1976?

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Sharks: The return of the Sharkmobile and a great shot of the band with Nora Foster in Let It Rock designs

Jul 8th, 2016
LONDON - JANUARY 1973: The Shark Car photographed in West London on 8th January 1973 (Photo by Brian Cooke/Redferns) *** Sharks;The Shark Car ***

//Island Records promo shot of the Sharkmobile outside the long closed Blenheim Arms,  Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, west London, on January 8, 1973. Photo: Brian Cooke//

sharks with nora

//Sharks surround Nora Foster, 1974. From bottom left: keyboard player Nick Judd (in Wonder Workshop jacket); drummer Marty Simon, bassist Busta “Cherry” Jones, frontman Snips and guitarist Chris Spedding in Let It Rock Rock N Roll Lives/Chuck Berry tee. Photo: Dick Polak//

Singer-songwriter  Steve “Snips” Parsons has been in contact; the reunion of early 70s British rock band Sharks (which he fronted) moves apace – with an album out in September, next week they are launching a crowdfunding appeal to bring back the so-called Sharkmobile.

This was guitarist Chris Spedding’s Pontiac Le Mans which – at the behest of their record company boss Chris Blackwell – was decorated with fibreglass shark’s teeth and a fin and appeared on the back cover of the group’s debut LP First Water.

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