This film by Rik and Jane Gadsby of the May 2006 London launch of the second edition of my book The Look has just been posted online; it really evokes the good time that everyone had that night.

Pippa Brooks and her band All About Eve Babitz played and DJs included George O’Dowd.

The party was held at the premises of Raymond Revuebar, which by that time was Two II Much (dunno what it is these days). I was very touched when Kevin R. talked about how important he viewed the book and my work. “This is our culture,” he says in the clip above.

Enjoy.

Tags: Boy George, Jane Viva Gadsby, Kevin Rowland, Mark Powell, Pippa Brooks, Raymond Revuebar, Rik Gadsby, Two II Much

//(c) 100% Boy George.//

On April 9 George O’Dowd and I will be in conversation at the V&A; the subject is David Bowie’s visual style.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: David Bowie Is, Freddie Buretti, Kansai Yamamoto, V&A

//Harold Harris with 10ft tall display item designed by Rod Stokes, Mr Freedom, 1971. Photo courtesy Andrew Greaves.//

Something of a legend in 70s British boutique circles, here is Harold The Ted in all his glory accompanying one of the extravagant display items at Mr Freedom in Kensington Church Street: a 10 foot tall cut-out representation of a glowering boy scout made by Electric Colour Company’s Rod Stokes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: David Hockney, Gene Krell, Geoff Edwards, Harold Harris, Harold The Ted, Jill St John, Johnny Moke, Jon Wealleans, Les Coleman, Let It Rock, Mediocre Murals, Rod Stokes, Simon Haynes, Stan Hesketh, Sue Thompson, Trevor myles

//Interior, 430 King's Road, Chelsea, May 1971. Note coconut matting, shack-style dressing room doors, trompe de l'oeil gate painted on stockroom door... and fake tiger. Photography: David Parkinson.//

I first wrote about Electric Colour Company – the design studio formed in the East End by four fine art students in the late 60s – in The Look and then in more detail here.

//Amid the singlets, printed sweatshirts and appliqued denim, a bamboo cage housed birds of paradise, suspended from the matting covered ceiling.//

In my view, ECC deserves much greater recognition for executing some very clever work in the field of retail design and interiors in the period 1969-1973.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Andrew Greaves, Blueberry Hill, City Lights Studio, Electric Colour Company, Let It Rock, Paradise Garage, Seditionaries, SEX, Time Out, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, Trevor myles, Worlds End

Regulars on both sides of various Soho bars having been mourning the familiar figure the vast majority of us knew simply as Pam.

This portrait by photographer Carla Borel captures Pam’s charm, sweetness and light. And she’s in her element, outside The French.

Alastair Choat, landlord of The Coach & Horses, is hosting the wake for Pam after the funeral next Wednesday (January 30) from 3pm.

Read the obituary of Soho Pam here; at the time of writing this had been shared online more than 1,000 times within less than 24 hours of posting.

View Borel’s exemplary portfolio here.

Tags: Alastair Choat, Carla Borel, Coach & Horses, French House

This just in from Joe Stevens, following yesterday’s post about his new website: the story behind the photo with Johnny Rotten above, taken in London in 1978.

We were at his Gunter Grove digs in Fulham. Malcolm (McLaren) had left his grotty leathers in my flat in NYC during the Sid and Nancy murder doings. I had them dry cleaned. Never got the $90 for that one.
He had Glitterbest problems in London. So did Rotten. I was over there to do pictures of Public Image Limited.
He made a nice curry. I crashed there with him and Nora (Forster). Ari (Up, Forster’s daughter) would pop by often.
We watched her and The Slits record Heard It Thru The Grapevine and Chrissie (Hynde) rehearsing with her new Pretenders.
Yeah, he’s holding up his trousers with a strand of white cord.
I was later a witness at the High Court trial involving the band versus Glitterbest.
I tried on Malcolm’s leather trousers. Fell in love. It was a first. Went to London in them. Never took them off. Returned two weeks later to NYC wearing them.
Had them cleaned again. This time they didn’t survive. All I got back was swatches of leather in a bag.

Stevens’ new website is here.

Tags: Ari Up, Chrissie Hynde, Fulham, Glitterbest, Gunter Grove, Joe Stevens, Johnny Rotten, Nancy Spungen, Nora, Public Image Ltd, Sid Vicious, The Pretenders, The Slits

Here’s another gem from Herb Schmitz’s photographic goldmine: model Ika Hindley at west London restaurant Julie’s in an early 70s shoot for Dutch agency Kippa.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: C20 Vintage, City Lights Studio, Deborah Woolf, Dominic Lutyens, Herb Schmitz, Ika Hindley, Kirsty Hislop, Laura Noble, Liz Eggleston, Maudie Adams, Nicky Samuel, Norman Parkinson, Sacha, Vogue

//Laurie Cunningham aged 17, at Brisbane Road, home to Leyton Orient FC, 1973.//

In 1989, footballer Laurie Cunningham’s life was cut short by a car crash on the outskirts of Madrid. He was 33 years old.

By that time Cunningham had notched up a series of sporting firsts which resonated through the wider culture: a teenage signing to east London team Leyton Orient, Cunningham was the first black player to represent England (in 1977 as an under-21, scoring a winning goal against Scotland) and the first Englishman to play for Spanish giants Real Madrid (in 1979).

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1977, Archway, Brian Glanville, Dermot Kavanagh, Fred Astaire, George Petchey, Islington, Laurie Cunningham, Leyton Orient, Real Madrid, Sunday Times Magazine, West Bromwich Albion

//Photo detail (from left): SEX customers Danielle, Alan Jones + Chrissie Hynde; Vivienne Westwood; assistant Jordan.//

As a follow-up to my recent post about the rarely seen 1975 interview with Malcolm McLaren in soft porn mag Gallery International, here is another exclusive: for the first time since publication in June 1976, the full article featuring McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s shop SEX in British sex guide Forum.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1975, 1976, Bryan Derbyshire, Chrissie Hynde, Country Cousins, David Dagley, David May, Earl's Court, Forum, Gallery International, Icognito, IT, Jordan, Len Richmond, Rick Szymanski, SEX, Sex Pistols, Steve Jones, Street Life, Vivienne Westwood, Zipper

//Jeff Dexter (back to camera) with fashion historian Laura Helms + Nigel Waymouth.//

The Lewis Leathers shop in Whitfield Street W1 was the venue of the launch of The Look Of London map collaboration with Herb Lester Associates.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alex Taylor, Ali Rose, Ben Olins, Bruce Marcus, Caz Facey, Cube PR, Dawbell PR, Derek Harris, Ed Rekkers, Eve Ferret, Gieves & Hawkes, Herb lester Associates, Jah Wobble, Jane Smillie, Jeff Dexter, John Frankland, John Gall, Jordan Baseman, JP Gaul, Jules Middlebrook, Kitty Regan, Laura Helms, Lewis Leathers, Mark Wagstaff, Mrs G, Nick Abrahams, Nick ferman, Nicoal Murray, Nigel Waymouth, Patrick Watson, Rachel Caunt, Saint Craft, Sarah Watson, Suze Malyon, Teri Grenert, Tom Sheehan, Will Hodgkinson