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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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Ian Harris’s hamburger shirt and the story of Strictly For The Birds

Jan 2nd, 2014

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My recent post about the Mr Freedom designs in the V&A collection sparked some memories from graphic artist Ian Harris, who sends this 1972 photograph of himself in a Mr Freedom hamburger print shirt:

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//Ian Harris with his then-wife Maggie, Brighton, UK, 1972. Ian Harris Collection//

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//Mr Freedom hamburger print shirt in the V&A’s collection. Note appliqué//

In the 1972 photo, the shirt’s hamburger appliqué is obscured; Harris had worked for Mr Freedom partner Tommy Roberts at his 60s boutique Kleptomania, and gave the late Roberts a number of items relating to his career a few years back. Included was the appliqué which Harris had kept for many years.

As Harris points out, his wife Maggie, a model, is sporting an Angie Bowie-influenced look in the photo above. Here she is in another early 70s shot, taken outside John and Lyris Mann’s Kensington boutique Strictly For The Birds:

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//Maggie outside 4 Holland Walk, Kensington, London, 1971. Ian Harris Collection//

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Smiles all round at the Tommy Roberts book launch

Jun 23rd, 2012

//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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