“Within the slippery divides between disciplines and media – fashion, art, music, interiors, commerce – one finds Malcolm McLaren, roaming and creating.”
Lou Stoppard in her essay in The Life & Times Of Malcolm McLaren

Disruption to the publication of a book is extremely small beer at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has set the world in disarray, so I’m sanguine about the postponement of several events and signings which were due to occur around the publication of my biography The Life & Times Of Malcolm McLaren.

//The back of the book jacket features this 1976 portrait by photographer Joe Stevens//

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Tags: CBS Theatrical Films, Fashion Beast, Joe Stevens, Lou Stoppard, Malcolm McLaren, Peter McLaren, Tracey Winwood

// In George Cox creepers: Malcolm McLaren, 430 King’s Road, January 1972. Photo: David Parkinson / Slowthai, Northampton, 2018. Photo: Ewen Spencer for Arena Homme + //

“Those blue suede shoes had a magical association that seemed authentic. They represented an age of desperate romantic revolt to change your life.”

Malcolm McLaren, notes on his life in fashion, 1997

I’m celebrating the 70th anniversary of the introduction of George Cox & Co’s first creeper at the Port Eliot Festival next week with Adam Waterfield, the fourth generation owner of the great independent British brand, and his son Alistair, a Central Saint Martins student and model who is very much involved in the family business.

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Tags: Adam Waterfield, Alistair Waterfield, Andrew Greaves, Arena Homme +, Central Saint Martins, Comme des Garçons, David Parkinson, Ellie Grace Cumming, Ewen Spencer, Fred Perry, George Cox, Glastonbury Festival, Harold The Ted, Jonathan Baron, Le Kilt, Lewis Leathers, Northampton, Olly Alexander, Port Eliot Festival, Sam Rock, Slowthai, Years And Years

//My essay on Malcolm For Mayor with stickers by Scott King and Matthew Worley//

“The sticker may be the most efficient art form ever invented”

Jeffrey Deitch, 2019

I have an essay in DB Burkeman’s just-published follow-up to his 2010 survey of the use of audacious and eye-catching stickers in art, design, fashion, music and social activism.

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Tags: Anthony Lister, DB Burkeman, Fiorucci, Hysteric Glamour, Invader, Jeffrey Deitch, Jenny Holzer, Marilyn Minter, Mark Mothersbaugh, Matthew Worley, Maurizio Cattelan, Rizzoli, Scott King, Shepard Farey, Stickers Vol 2: More Stuck-Up Crap, Stretch Armstrong

In my twin capacities as “biographer” of The Face and curator of last year’s British independent magazine exhibition PRINT!, I’ve been asked publicly and privately for my thoughts on the imminent online relaunch of the title (the plan is that the quarterly physical edition will follow in August, carrying a September dateline).

So here they are:

It’s interesting that the greatest anticipation for the magazine’s return is being generated for and by the fashion community. The PRs, writers, stylists and students who kept the flame alive after the publication’s 2004 demise are now busily banging the drum in response to the relaunch’s oddly one-note Instagram branding exercise, filling their feeds with excited content.

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Tags: 032c, Accent, Apartamento, Aperture, Ashley Heath, Bauer, Beauty Papers, Buffalo Zine, Christopher Wylie, Dan Flower, Delayed Gratification, Electronic Sound, Emap, Facebook, Fantastic Man, Fred Perry, Gal-dem, Gucci, Inez & Vinoodh, Interview, Jason Gonsalves, Jeremy Leslie, Jerry Perkins, Liv Siddall, MacGuffin, Migrant Journal, Mojo, Monocle, Mushpit, Nick Logan, No Man’s Land, Orlando, Paris Vogue, Positive News, Q, Riposte, Shamir Sanni, Sheryl Garratt, Stuart Brumfitt, Suspira, System, The Gentlewoman, The Skirt Chronicles, THIIIRD, Twin, Virgil Abloh, Wasted Talent, Weapons Of Reason

//The first vitrine contains original copies of Blast 2 (1915), Crash! 1 (1997) and gal-dem 2 (2017). Photo: @hellenelleliang//

//Enjoying browsing the magazines on the PRINT! newsstand. Photo: @jasonthien//

//Contributor Alpa Depani talking about her zine Romp with members of the New Architecture Writers group. Photo: @paul_g0rm4n//

PRINT! Tearing It Up, the exhibition about the resurgence and history of independent progressive British magazines, has entered its final week at central London’s Somerset House.
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Tags: Alpa Depani, Black Dwarf, Black Echoes, Blitz, Claire Catterall, Crash!, Cyclops, Freakbeat, Gal-dem, i-D, Iain R. Webb, John May, Liv Siddall, Oz, P.i.X, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Rough Trade, Sandie Shaw, Somerset House, Terry Jones, THIIIRD, Trench

British law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, which supports the exhibitions at Somerset House’s Terrace Rooms, has produced a short film about PRINT! Tearing It Up, the show which I have organised at the gallery with SH senior curator Claire Catterall.
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Tags: Anarchy In The UK, Charles Russell Speechlys, Claire Catterall, Mushpit, Peace News, Somerset House, Suzanne Marriott, Viz

//The PRINT! Mind Map currently in the Terrace Rooms of Somerset House. Photo: Doug Peters/PA Wire//

//First rough draft, February 2018//

One of the most popular elements of PRINT! Tearing It Up – the celebration of independent magazines currently at Somerset House – is the giant mind map of British publishing which occupies an entire wall in the Terrace Rooms gallery.

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Tags: Architectural Review, BLast, British Journal Of Photography, Claire Catterall, Doug Peters, Omni Colour, Rhys Atkinson, Scott King, Somerset House, The Spectator

Two short films representing the voices of independence in the Somerset House show PRINT! Tearing Up are available online and for visitors to the exhibition.

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Tags: Alpa Depani, Eleanor Scott, Eye, John L. Walters, Marsha Rowe, Nick Logan, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Spare Rib, THIIIRD, Time Out, Tony Elliott

As well as the Newsstand (see last post), PRINT! Tearing It Up features three listening booths where visitors to the exhibition can hear podcasts featuring some of the greats of British independent magazine publishing.

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Tags: Alpa Depani, Elisabeth Krohn, Marsha Rowe, Nick Logan, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Sabat, Suspira, THIIIRD, Time Out, Tony Elliott

This summer I am staging PRINT! Tearing It Up, an exhibition at central London’s Somerset House which investigates and celebrates the power of independently produced British magazines and journals.

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Tags: Claire Catterall, Gal-dem, Gay News, Homesick, Hotdog, i-D, Mushpit, Orlando, Peace News, Print! Tearing It Up, Sleazenation, Somerset House, Spare Rib, The Gentlewoman, THIIIRD