//Swathe with repeat print of American footballers, Jane Wealleans for Mr Freedom, 1970.//

//Jane Wealleans print on brown crepe.//

Here’s a sneak iPhone peak from yesterday’s photoshoot for my forthcoming book about Tommy Roberts.

Tommy’s son and accomplished photographer/cameraman Keith set up a studio in a room at his furniture emporium Two Columbia Road and shot around 50-plus garments and artefacts to go with the 300-odd images already planned for the book.

I snapped these on my phone in downtime; forgive the quality – hopefully they convey the flavour of the exercise.

Keith photographed a cornucopia of goodies, including two pairs of Mr Freedom’s famous winged boots, a carrier bag for Tommy’s 80s shop Practical Styling, a suit from his 70s boutique City Lights Studio (lent to us by another design hero Lloyd Johnson) and much more besides.

//Carrier bag designed by Tommy Roberts, 1980s.//

//Carrier bag under the lights.//

//Tommy Roberts own pair of winged boots, designed by Jim O'Connor for Mr Freedom, 1970.//

//Winged boots.//

With back up and styling advice from Keith’s wife Becky, we had fun with the six-metre swathe of brown crepe printed with an American football print by Jane Wealleans (now Jane Wentworth). This dated from 1970, and was used for Mr Freedom blouses and shirts from its stores at 430 King’s Road and 20 Kensington Church Street.

Keith suggested we use the mannequin to support it. While unraveling the fabric I discovered a pin by pricking my finger on it. This proved useful; that one pin when carefully applied allowed the material to fall gracefully and display the print to maximum effect.

//Blue gaberdine suit for City Lights Studio, designed by Derek Morton, 1973.//

Visit Keith’s fabulous shop Two Columbia Road here.

MR FREEDOM – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero is published next spring by Adelita.

Tags: Adelita, City Lights Studio, Derek Morton, Jane Wealleans, Keith Roberts, Lloyd Johnson, Mr Freedom, Practical Styling, Tommy Roberts, Two Columbia Road