“One day, ‘Carnaby Street’ could rank with ‘Bauhaus’ as a descriptive phrase for a design style and design legend.”

Ken and Kate Baynes, Design, August 1966.

Today is the seventh anniversary of Westminster Council’s dedication of a plaque in Carnaby Street to the late fashion retailer John Stephen, the 60s media darling dubbed “The £1m Mod” for his entrepreneurial success and flamboyant lifestyle (houses in Cannes and Milan, a white Alsatian named Prince who dined with him at his regular table at Mirabelle).

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Tags: 1966, Anthony Little, Biba, Bill Franks, Carnaby Street, David Cripps, Design, Ernest Satow, Foale & Tuffin, Henry Grossman, John Stephen, Ken and Kate Baynes, Mary Quant, Maureen Roffey, Michael Wolff, Myles Anthony, Phil May, Terence Spencer, The Pretty Things, Tom Wolsey, Vespa, Westminster Council

On October 17 I’m hosting the opening session of the Pop! Design Study Day at London’s Fashion & Textile Museum.

The event is part of the FTM’s Pop! Design Culture Fashion exhibition and I’ll be kicking off proceedings in conversation with John Dove & Molly White, Antony Price and Tommy Roberts.

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Tags: Andrew Logan, Antony Price, Fashion & Textile Museum, Glenn Adamson, JOhn Dove, Jon Wealleans, Justin de Villenueve, Keith Wainwright, Molly White, Natalie Gibson, Peter York, Priceless, Steve Jones, Sue Timney, V&A

Such was the shadow Tommy Roberts cast over popular music that even Practical Styling, the 80s central London furniture, office and homewares outlet he ran with partner Paul Jones, was cited as an influence by performer Geoff Deane.

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Tags: Birds Of A Feather, City Lights Studio, Covent Garden, Geoff Deane, Kinky Boots, Leyton Buzzards, Memphis, Modern Romance, Paul Jones, Practical Styling, Top Of The Pops, Wendy Dagworthy

This advert for Vince Man’s Shop – the small Soho boutique which sparked the modernisation of menswear design and retailing in the second half of the 20th century – was designed by Gordon Moore for issue 20 of the Royal College Of Art magazine ARK, published in autumn 1957.

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Tags: Alex Seago, Any Day Now, ARK, Bill Green, Burning The Box Of Beautiful Things, David Bowie, David Collins, Design, FReddie Burretti, Gordon Moore, Helen Hanley Centre, Independent Group, John Bratby, Kevin Cann, Oui, Peter Blake, Playboy, Richard Smith, Robyn Denny, Rodney Bennett-England, Roger Coleman, Royal College Of Art, Sean Connery, Soho, Soup Kitchen, Terence Conran, The Sombrero, Toni del Renzio, Vince Man's Shop

Plus ca change…

Tucked away in the June 1983 edition of The Face was this news story about a brave broadcasting venture, the scabrous and short-lived Breakfast Pirate Radio.

//Proof of front cover of Programme 1 by Station BPR, Utility, 1983. Design: Barney Bubbles.//

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Tags: 1983, 2011, Billy Bragg, Boots Sex Dread, Breakfast Pirate Radio, Bully, Channel 4, Daily Mail, Dodi Fayed, Dread Broadcasting Company, Free Kitten, Glen Colson, Jeremy Thorpe, Jerry Arkwright, John Eden, Joly MacFie, Julia Cafritz, Keith Allen, Kevin Rowland, Larry Clark, Lepke, Malcolm McLaren, Mohammed Al-Fayed, Peter jenner, Princess Diana, Rinka, The Face, Utility, Virgin

Kommando Otl Aicher is Alexander Negrelli’s study of the 1972 Olympic Games through the prism of corporate and terrorist visual identities.

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Tags: Alexander Negrelli, Hitler, Jan van Eyck Academie, Kommando Otl Aicher, Max Bill, Michael Burke, Olympics, the Bauhaus, Ulm

The cover story of the new issue of France’s graphics magazine Étapes is based around writer Renaud Faroux’s 10-page feature about my Barney Bubbles book and recent exhibition The Past, The Present & The Possible.

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Tags: Etapes, Renaud Faroux, The Past The Present & The Possible

My book Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Work Of Barney Bubbles receives a special mention from Weareuseful art director Alex Geoffrey in the current issue of London listings magazine Shortlist.

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Tags: Alex Geoffrey, Shortlist, weareuseful.com

This morning I am participating in the V&A’s study day From Biba To Topshop with a presentation on the rise and fall of boutique culture in London’s King’s Road, starting with the opening of Bazaar by Archie Nairn, Alexander Plunket-Green and Mary Quant at 138a in 1955 and closing with the establishment of World’s End at 430 by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood.

More details here.

Tags: Alexander Plunket Green, Archie Nairn, Bazaar, From BIba To Topshop, Malcolm McLaren, Mary Quant, V&A, Vivienne Westwood

//Clockwise from top: With Joe + Duke Brooks; Jimmy Page + Jeff Dexter; Joe, Duke + Pippa Brooks with Tommy Roberts; Caz Facey with...J+D! These photos: Pippa Brooks.//

There were big smiles for Tommy Roberts at the midsummer’s eve party to celebrate the publication of my new book Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero.

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Tags: Adelita, Amber Butchart, Bruce Marcus, Caz Facey, Chris Salewicz, Clive Jennings, Daisy de Villeneuve, Derek Boshier, Eve Ferret, Gerald Tilling, Hamish McAlpine, Ian Bodenham, Ian Johns, Jan de Villeneuve, Jane Roberts, Jeff Dexter, Jenny Ross, Jimmy Page, John Ingham, John Pearse, Johnny Deluxe, Julie Logan, Justin de Villeneuve, Katherine Higgins, Keith Roberts, Kevin Rowland, Kirsty Hislop, Laura Kitty, Leslie Poole, Liz Egglestone, Mandi Martin, Mark Powell, Mark Summerfield, Martin Cole, Natalie Gibson, Nick Abrahams, Nick Logan, Nisha Thirkell, Pamina Caruso Brassey, Paula McGinley, Pete Barrett, Pinkitessa, Pippa Brooks, Robert Ashton, Robert Orbach, Siobhan Fahey, Tapper Zukie, Trevor Mill, Two Columbia Road