Madame Miaow has thrown down the challenge by tagging THE LOOK among seven blogs choosing their current seven favourite songs.
The rules are set by Simon Reynolds: “List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”
Well hey-ho it’s summer now, so here goes - at the end you’ll find the seven sites we are tagging. Click on the song titles to hear samples/buy them.
A really heartfelt and typically unpindownable song from The Spotlight Kid. Take a look at The Captain on the cover; always slightly tilted and the very definition of a man: tough but gentle.
Boy/girl revolutionaries Ben and Lo chose their own adventure via candy and ice cream trucks, limited edition vinyl and collaborations with Kate Moross.
It may be the burgeoning Barney Bubbles beatification (and quite right too), but British music rarely sounds this damn funky. Uncle Ian, meanwhile, never looked two-bob, always pound-note.
With cameos from Nervous Stephen, Ima Doll, Peaches Geldof, Tim Noble & Sue Webster and Will Self. We can’t better Pippa Brooks’ summation of Nick Cave’s current look: “Receding and droopy moustache…..he’s HOT from where I’m sitting, not since his junkie days with black black quiff, white white skin and huge blue eyes has he looked so perfect. Or imperfect.”
These four amazing Wonder Workshop t-shirts - the first designs from our exciting new rock & roll fashion label The Look Presents - are now available in-store and online at Topman.
//Junior in The Look Presents Wonder Workshop Wild Thing tee 08//
To celebrate the forthcoming tour by the Sex Pistols (members Sid Vicious, Steve Jones and Glen Matlock have all sported the infamous Wild Thing shirt) The Look Presents is collaborating with premier fan-site God Save The Sex Pistols on a special COMPETITION with prizes including two Wild Things custom-made for us by Wonder Workshop designers John and Molly Dove.
To win, find the answer to this question somewhere in this post.
THE LOOK: How did Wonder Workshop start?
J&M: We were designing out of Paradise Garage (the legendary shop at 430 Kings Road which these days is Vivienne Westwood’s World’s End) and came up with a rock & roll jacket in black plastic and fake fur with a snarling leopard head on the back.
//Iggy Pop from the Raw Power sleeve by Mick Rock//
One day Iggy Pop wandered in and bought one. He and the Stooges were recording Raw Power in London with David Bowie. Iggy ended up wearing the jacket on the album sleeve. We only made five; there would have been more, but we used the remaining black plastic and green leopard-skin brocade to line the the shop changing room!
//Don’t blink! See Iggy’s jacket at 0.14//
THE LOOK: So where is Iggy Pop’s jacket now?
J&M: It cropped up only last year in the documentary The Treasures Of Long Gone John, about the guy who runs Sympathy For The Record Industry (the label which released the first records by the White Stripes, Courtney Love and Beck). We’re gonna talk to John soon about how he came by it; Iggy lost that jacket years ago in a drug deal!
THE LOOK: How did Wild Thing come about?
J&M: We had always liked the 60s song Wild Thing by The Troggs and made the shirt as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, who totally restyled it when he played the Monterey Pop Festival.
//Marc Bolan: The poster with T.Rex album The Slider //
Soon everyone was wearing Wild Thing: Marc Bolan and The Sweet, even actress Jacqueline Bisset in Francois Truffaut’s movie Day For Night. Sid Vicious was snapped in one when he was a 17-year-old called John Beverley on a photography course at Hackney College of Further Education.
//Sid Vicious (then John Beverley) in Wild Thing//
//Led Zep’s Robert Plant in Wonder Workshop’s Elvis print tee//
THE LOOK: How did the Wonder Workshop label develop?
J&M: We started out with tattoo designs - one of which is part of the new range - and evolved a tough rock & roll aesthetic, adding rhinestones. We were the first people to print on black t-shirts and it all came together with tributes to 50s icons and other designs which were worn by Paul McCartney when he was in Wings, Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin and Mick Jagger on the road with the Stones.
//Macca and Jagger in Wonder Workshop designs. Pic (right) by Neal Preston//
THE LOOK: What’s it been like revisiting these, er, wonderful Wonder Workshop designs?
J&M: Amazing. We have kept the original aesthetic but brought them into the 21st Century. The new shirts have that glam-punk-rock edge which attracted people in the first place; we’re looking forward to seeing them worn by a new generation of rockers and dandies!
Find out more about John and Molly’s adventures in rock and pop fashion here and read all about Wonder Workshop, Wild Thing, Paradise Garage and much much more in THE LOOK.
To buy The Look Presents Wonder Workshop t-shirts go here.
The failure earlier this month of the most recent attempt to breathe fresh life into Biba was not in the least surprising, blighted as it was by a series of poor market judgments but also weighed down by the history of the brand.
Potential customers were deterred by licensee Michael Pearce’s ill-conceived positioning of the original High Street fashion label in the luxury bracket, while the departure of head designer Bella Freud after just three seasons rang alarm bells throughout the industry.
//Freud talks about her Biba launch collection, A/W 06//
Such events, however, were overshadowed by the non-involvement of visionary founder Barbara Hulanicki, who maintained a dignified distance aside from commenting that she found the revival “painful”.
Biba expert Alwyn Turner has pointed out in The First Post that the crash of the original company in 1975 was seen as symptomatic of the general economic malaise in the dog days of Ted Heath’s Government, and that this latest collapse can be viewed in similar terms: “As belts are tightened, it is possibly time to say farewell to Biba. Finally.”
//One of 12 customised windows at Big Biba, 1973 //
Whatever, it’s all a long way from the joie de vivre expressed by the original Biba in all it’s incarnations. As detailed in Chapter 14 of THE LOOK, the boutique and label brought affordable high fashion to the High Street and came to symbolise not only Swinging London in the 60s but also the glam era of the early 70s, serving along the way such customers as Cathy McGowan, Twiggy, Marc Bolan and Roxy Music.
//Invite to early 90s retrospective//
Since then Hulanicki has engaged in all manner of creative endeavours, not least designing boutique hotels in association with Island Records boss Chris Blackwell. The opening shot of Mike Nichols’ movie The Birdcage has a sweeping view of four of them: the Leslie, the Cardozo, the Cavalier and the Netherlands.
//Look out for four Hulanicki-designed hotels in Palm Beach//
Among her many achievements, Hulanicki has also created a bar for Rolling Stone Ron Wood , illustrated a yoga book, and worked with Graham & Brown and Habitat on wallpaper ranges. Last year the eight-foot Great Dane she designed for Big Biba’s pet department even made an appearance in plant form at the Chelsea Flower Show.
//Hulanicki on Biba’s history and her approach to design//
Earlier this year the former fashion illustrator held an exhibition of her work at a London gallery and is currently working on a collection for the V&A. ”I don’t mind that people still want to reinvent Biba,” she said earlier this month. “I just try to grin and bear it.”
“The magic of stars is the work of fans,” wrote cultural commentators Fred and Judy Vermorel in their 1989 visual celebration Fandemonium, the follow-up to the duo’s extraordinary and too-long out-of-print Starlust: The Secret Life Of Fans.
//Pic: Hedi Slimane from Rock Diary//
And, in his photographic project Rock Diary, Hedi Slimane unstintingly captures the atmosphere of live performance, the personalities of some of our most celebrated musicians, and, significantly, the fervour of the fans.
//Pic: Hedi Slimane from Rock Diary//
With an exhibition at Musac in the north-western Spanish city of Leon, the first of the three volumes which make up the companion book is largely dedicated to photos of fans and the audiences at last year’s music festival Benicassim.
//Pic: Hedi Slimane from Rock Diary//
The ways in which fans provide the momentum for pop culture are detailed by contributor Jon Savage - who lines up in the third volume with fellow writers Alex Needham and Vince Aletti - while Slimane’s unwavering gaze and use of monochrome drains the imagery and highlights the drama, fireworks and glamour which occurs as much in the crowd as on-stage.
//Pic: Hedi Slimane from Rock Diary//
In contrast, the portraiture in the second volume provides an insight into the celebratory though sometimes exhausted on-the-road lifestyle of some of our favourite performers and personalities.
//Pic: Hedi Slimane from Rock Diary//
“Celebrity is the religion of our consumer culture,” wrote the Vermorels in 1985. “And fans are the mystical adepts of this religion who dramatize the moods, fantasies and expectations we all share.”
It’s great news that Starlust is apparently being readied for an update. More recently Fred Vermorel scripted and produced The Pornucopia Tapes, an unsettling inquiry into celebrity and fandom in the digital age, for the late Factory major-domo Tony Wilson.
The Rock Diary exhibition is at Musac until September 17 while the book is published by the museum in conjunction with JRP Ringier.
For an exclusive interview with Slimane about his life and career fusing fashion with music, design and photography read Chapter 31 of THE LOOK.
Last night’s event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Contemporary Wardrobe proved a massive success.
//Hayley in Mary Quant and Robbie in Mark Powell sharkskin suit//
With an exhibition of rebel style from down the ages and young models decked out in fantastic items from the 15,000-strong archive, owner Roger K. Burton kept the house agog with his adventures in music and fashion.
//Alice in Woodstock print trouser suit and Ashley in three piece Miss Mouse//
//Neo-Edwardian and Teddy Boy style//
The catwalk show was MC-ed by CW associate Guy Sangster Adams using his mellifluous tones in full BBC announcer mode.
//Watching the show: Liz and Terry De Havilland, Marian Buckley, Gordon Richardson//
If Mick Jagger in Mr Fish represents the Sixties and Madonna in Gaultier the Nineties, then Lovefoxxx in a sequinned catsuit at Glastonbury 2007 is the Noughties’ live rock fashion moment.
As THE LOOK has revealed, the suit was created for the CSS singer by Kansas City designer Peggy Noland, who seems on the verge of spandexing the entire pop world. Today Peggy speaks to THE LOOK about the Peace Corps, her cheeseburger store and working with the Brazilian singer.
//Lovefoxxx at Glastonbury 2007 in that catsuit. Photo Steph Edwards//
Like fellow KC native Jeremy Scott, Peggy Noland’s clothes are all about rainbow colour, crazy patterns and twisted silhouettes. Wearing a Peggy Noland alphabet bodysuit or low-crotch leggings takes considerable chutzpah. Even so her line of clothes is becoming a stage-wear must-have: Lovefoxxx, the VIP Party Boys and long-time friends Tilly and the Wall and Verdera are all fans.
//Peggy Noland leggings at MadeMe//
Despite the fact Noland and Lovefoxx have yet to meet in person, Peggy describes the stagewear she designs for the Brazilian singer and other performers as a collaboration “from them telling me the arms need to be longer or shorter or coming up with things I could never dream of!” The glam sequined catsuit was designed specifically as a stage piece for Lovefoxxx. Many of the pieces Peggy has created for the CSS singer are low-maintenance, “perfect for touring because they are light and pack tight”.
//Ziggurat sequins: 70s glam in a contemporary form//
Peggy grew up in a convent in Kansas and extensive travel left the 24-year-old contemplating a life of religious service. Rejection by the Peace Corps left her doing “funny little things for money - including making weaves for Flavor Flav and Cow Pie Clocks - literally poop clocks!!” Her first collection came about because she was staying on sabbatical with a pattern-maker in India. On her return to KC she took night-courses and eventually opened her own store, Peggy Noland Kansas City, in 2007.
//Peggy Noland Kansas City. Cheeseburger interior by Cody Critcheloe//
The interior of the store is to change periodically, “to intentionally confuse and upset the typical idea of retail”, and it’s first incarnation was painted as a self portrait by Noland’s “boyfriend and cheeseburger”, Ssion mainman Cody Critcheloe.”I asked Cody to paint faux brick with withering vines and a cheeseburger is what I got!!!”
//Ssion at Peggy Noland Kansas City - part of the filming of the band’s new movie//
In the last year Peggy’s infamous catsuit was matched with YSL for the cover of Dazed and Confused, her collaboration with New York-based label MadeMe was a sell-out and her label is now available worldwide via hand-picked stockists in Moscow and Tokyo.
2008 is going to be even busier: a pop-up store in Tokyo, a visit to China and a new look for the KC shop: “Baby clothes for adults - the store will change into a nursery! The cash wrap will be in a crib!! Ha haa!!”
We can’t wait.
//Image from Peggy Noland’s online store// In the meantime we’ll content ourselves with Peggy’s pick of Kansas City music: ‘Big Baby’ Cody Critcheloe’s Ssion. Look out for a cameo from Peggy in the Critcheloe-directed Tilly And The Wall video for the deliciously infectious Beat Control:
Today THE LOOK proudly presents a world exclusive: an excerpt from Roger K. Burton’s new documentary Vive Le Punk, featuring the one and only time Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood ever talked publicly about their 12-year creative collaboration.
//Vive Le Punk: (c) Roger K.Burton 2008. No reproduction without permission//
This fascinating film is being shown as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of Burton’s street-style archive Contemporary Wardrobe. THE LOOK is taking part in a special event on Thursday May 22; Burton will be in conversation with author Paul Gorman and there will be a fashion show and exhibition of rare items from the archive. Entry is free. Book tickets here.
For anyone interested in design, style and the creative process, Vive Le Punk is a must-see. Shot on a hand-held camera with variable lighting and sound which add to the voyeuristic atmosphere, the meeting took place the night before an exhibition of the same name opened back in 1993; Burton had invited McLaren and Westwood along to preview exhibits from their shops Let It Rock, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, SEX and Seditionaries.
By turn uncomfortable, charming and comic, the documentary presents two immensely erudite individuals who are often generous about each other’s respective roles in developing a series of designs which resonate to this day. Yet the tension is palpable. After all, they separated acrimoniously and publicly 10 years previously, and the exchanges sometimes verge on the Pinter-esque, with plenty of verbal sparring, pauses and interruptions.
And there is poignancy. Burton recounts how, when he called Westwood the following day to ask her to attend the opening night of the exhibition, she declined, telling him that the experience had made her finally realise she no longer loved McLaren.At one stage Westwood - looking magnificent, sipping red wine and smoking Gitanes in a long printed sheath dress and tweed jacket from her 1990 Portrait and 1992/3 Always On Camera collections - embarks on a monologue which takes in social responsibility regarding the ecology and the transformative powers of art and literature; here, in just a few minutes, the viewer is granted a snapshot of her current manifesto Active Resistance.
//Distressed Rock n Roll Lives, Too Fast To Live 1973. Pic: only-anarchists.com//
In the clip at the top of this story, they discuss the detourne-d tops created when 430 King’s Road was in its Too Fast To Live manifestation (around 18 months between 1972-74). McLaren explains how t-shirts printed for a rock & roll extravaganza in the summer of 1972 were deliberately distressed and deconstructed before zips and coloured cels of nudie shots were added.
//Lou Reed in distressed Vive Le Rock 1974. Pic: Mick Rock//
“It was a very painterly idea,” says McLaren, who also reveals that the final flourish was to take their son Joe Corre’s toy tractor, dip its wheels into the ink from a John Bull printing set and add skid-marks to give the impression that a motorcycle had run over it, “a bit like an action painting”.
The pair also reveal that they would spend days working on each shirt; a limited number were made and survive. In 1974 Lou Reed was photographed by Mick Rock in a distressed Vive Le Rock acquired from pioneering US McLaren & Westwood stockist Ian’s on St Mark’s Place on the Lower East Side.
For more on McLaren & Westwood’s extraordinarily fruitful design relationship, read chapters 19 to 22 of THE LOOK.
If you’re in London or thereabouts on May 22 please be our guests and come along to THE LOOK’s latest event: author Paul Gorman in conversation with fashion archivist, boutique designer, director and all-round rockin’ and rollin’ Renaissance man Roger K Burton.
Taking place at the wonderful Horse Hospital, kick-off is at 7.30pm, and the event will comprise:
• This month’s Contemporary Wardrobe exhibition featuring an unrivalled selection of original rebel style, including neo-Edwardian, Beatnik and Teddy boy and girl suits from the 50s, hippie, mod and rocker gear from the 60s and the finest collection of original punk clothes from the 70s - as picked out by Roger from his archive of 15,000 individual items.
• A fashion show - featuring real live young people! And be warned: they’ll be wearing some crazy and out-there fashions from down the years!
• A soundtrack of the greatest rebel sounds from down the years. Listen out for My Monster In Black Tights!!
//David Bowie in Contemporary Wardrobe in Jazzin’ For Blue Jean 1984//
• Roger and Paul talking through Roger’s adventures in rock and pop fashion, from Midlands Mod in the 60s, Acme Attractions, SEX, PX and Quadrophenia in the 70s, World’s End, Nostalgia Of Mud, videos and Absolute Beginners in the 80s, high end commercials, fashion shoots with the likes of Kate Moss, and more videos in the 90s, to the present day position of the Horse Hospital as London’s greatest centre for alternative and cutting edge arts.
//Westwood and McLaren (centre): In Burton’s must-see Vive Le Punk//
• We’ll also be discussing this month’s screening of Roger’s startling new movie Vive le Punk which features the only filmed interview with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood about their respective roles in one of the key creative partnerships of the 20th Century.
It’s being shown repeatedly throughout May; we urge you to catch it while you can.Do come along on the 22 - it’s gonna be fun.
Already we know of many faces and movers and shakers from rock and pop fashion who are going to rock up, so, as Kenneth Williams might say, stop messing about and book now at: popculture@thehorsehospital.com or drop us a line here.
Today THE LOOK teases out the French roots of Kylie Minogue’s forthcoming KylieX2008 live extravaganza.
//Behind the scenes of the new tour//
The Australian star’s new tour fittingly opens in Paris on May 6, and will build on the Gallic sensibilities which have crept into her work, as pointed up by the sampling of the “woo-hoo-ha-hoo” hook from Serge Gainsbourg’s sublime Bonnie & Clyde on album track Sensitized.
//Serge and La BB as Bonnie & Clyde 1967//
Recently Minogue’s creative collaborator William Baker revealed that not only is Jean-Paul Gaultier responsible for the costumes for the forthcoming tour, but Pierre et Gilles are the stylists.
//Gaultier’s single How To Do That 1989//
Both appointments reflect Minogue and Baker’s abiding interest in fashion and music which broke ground in the 80s. As detailed in THE LOOK, Gaultier started his career as an 18-year-old assistant to Pierre Cardin in 1970 and later worked at Jacques Esterel and Jean Patou before debuting his own collection in 1976 with a range of dresses made from found objects.
//Gaultier tour costumes, Blonde Ambition, 1990//
Inspired by flea-markets - in particular London’s Portobello - and punk, Gaultier’s Dadaist show of 1983 marked the emergence of a startling talent, underpinned by funding from Far East manufacturer Kashiyama.Gaultier’s designs have been sported by many a pop star, including Grace Jones, Neneh Cherry and, of course, Madonna for her groundbreaking Blonde Ambition tour. He scored a minor hit in his own right in the late 80s and went on to firm up his musical associations by presenting the MTV Awards in Paris in 1995.
//Iggy Pop by Pierre et Gilles for Facade, 1977//
Meanwhile Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard - who have also worked with Madonna and styled and photographed Gaultier’s parfumery campaigns - developed their hyper-kitsch aesthetic after meeting at a party in Paris thrown by Kenzo in 1976.
//Marc Almond’s A Lover Spurned, directed by Pierre et Gilles//
The French pair created treated photographic portraits of Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop and Yves Saint Laurent for Alain Benoiste’s now defunct Facade before moving into record cover design with their sleeve for 1979 Euro-disco classic Diamonds For Breakfast by the amazing Amanda Lear.
//Amanda Lear performs Diamonds For Breakfast//
By the 80s they were collaborating with performers such as Etienne Daho and the singer/actress Lio. In 1985 they directed and styled their first video, Naufrage d’hiver, a single by Mikado.
//Pierre et Gilles’ first video clip 1985//
Since then the duo have exhibited all over the world and photographed everybody from Boy George to Nina Hagen and porn star Jeff Stryker.
//Kylie Minogue (c) Pierre et Gilles//
Kylie has worked with them before; a few years back they portrayed her as a nun on a rocking horse, with three kangaroos on her lap and the Southern Cross in the sky as nods to her nationality.
//Double Je: 1976-2007//
A monograph, Double Je: 1976-2007, was published last year and this spring Pierre et Gilles were awarded the Prix de Créateurs Sans Frontières.
KYLIEX2008 kicks off at Bercy Omnibus Stadium in Paris on May 8. William Baker has launched his own male underwear label, BBoy.
The work of artist Peter Saville has long lingered at the crossroads where art and design meet music and fashion.
//Saville: Iconic designer//
Not only responsible for some of the strongest artwork and most iconic graphics in popular music from his days as Factory Records in-house designer for Joy Division and New Order to working with the likes of Pulp and Suede, Saville has a fashion CV which includes launching SHOWstudio with Nick Knight, collaborating with Yohji Yamamoto in the 80s and also John Galliano at Dior in the 90s (where he was tipped to become creative director before famously falling out with LVMH’s Bernard Arnault).
In conversation with THE LOOK, Saville reveals how the juxtapositions presented by now-largely forgotten London clothing store Crolla were a key inspiration for one of his most famous sleeves.
//Power Corruption and Lies 1983//
Saville says of New Order’s Power, Corruption and Lies - which incorporates the 1890 still-life A Basket Of Roses by Henri Fantin-Latour with high-tech colour coding and a label based on a Diatronic typesetting disc: ”I was given the confidence to put that together by what Scott Crolla and Georgina Godley were doing with their store at 35 Dover Street.”
//The album included an insert of the National Gallery postcard which inspired the cover//
Then husband and wife, Crolla and Godley opened their shop in London’s Mayfair in 1981, selling luxurious and colourful prints ands fabrics such as tapestries, brocades and damasks for waistcoats, pyjamas, dressing gowns, slippers and Nehru-jacketed suits.
//Crolla in The Face December 1982. Photo: Davies/Starr//
“The Crolla interior contrasted and juxtaposed Sanderson fabric with things like a shelving unit by Le Corbusier,” recalls Saville. “When I came across the Fantin-Latour on a postcard at the National Gallery I knew it was OK to like it, because Scott and Georgina’s use of reference points had taught me not to feel embarrassed by my appreciation of such art. In a way it was a contemporary means of understanding flower power.”
Saville describes Crolla as “a laboratory of post-modernist ideas, truly the first post-modern clothing shop. They weren’t presenting English eccentricism in an irritating or twee way. I read Crolla as a juxtaposition of opulence of imagery up against the Corb shelving unit or steel and glass fittings. The shop seemed to me to embody the post-modern principle: that there is the past, the present and the possible.”
//Georgina Godley white 80s dress//
By the mid-80s Godley had formed her own label and was pursuing her line in structured, contour-revealing womenswear while Crolla kept the shop until 1991 before moving on to Italian knitwear company Callaghan and collaborating with Vivienne Tam, most recently on her New York outlet in Soho’s Mercer Street.
Godley has acted as a consultant to Missoni, Paul Smith and Jasper Conran (she is the partner of his brother, Sebastian, who designed t-shirts for The Clash in their early days) and latterly developed her interest in ceramics as head of home accessories and style director at Habitat and creative director at Wedgwood.
In June Zune is producing a limited edition digital media player featuring his design for Unknown Pleasures to commemorate the release of Joy Division The Documentary, which will be pre-loaded onto the custom player.
In May THE LOOK is taking part in Be Reasonable Demand The Impossible! - Contemporary Wardrobe’s 30th anniversary celebration of events which includes the world premiere of the only known footage of designers Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood discussing their ground-breaking work together.
//The Horse Hospital: “Shaking up pop culture”//
Based at the Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury, London, the Contemporary Wardrobe Collection consists of more than 15,000 pieces featuring some of the most important and rarest clothing items since the 40s.
//Roger K. Burton and Jack English, 1978. Pic: Roger K. Burton//
Contemporary Wardrobe mainman Roger K.Burton will be interviewed on May 22 by THE LOOK author Paul Gorman as part of a special night at the Horse Hospital - the event is a must for all fans of style and pop culture as well as fashion, art and design students.
As detailed in THE LOOK, Roger is a significant figure in post-war fashion: he started at the cutting edge of the Midlands mod scene in the 60s and pioneered collecting and dealing in the early 70s to the likes of Acme Attractions and SEX.
It was Roger, for example, who discovered the cache of Wemblex shirts which became the canvas onto which McLaren & Westwood created their notorious Anarchy shirts.
//1976: Simon Barker in Anarchy shirt with Marco Pirroni and Sue Catwoman. Pic: Sheila Rock//
He and his partner Rick Rogers teamed with BOY’s Steph Raynor and Helen Robinson in autumn 1978 to open PX in James Street, Covent Garden, the shop which set the agenda for military and futuristic style among the New Romantic movement: those who worked there include Steve Strange, Jay Strongman and Princess Julia.
//PX interior, 1978. Pic: Roger K. Burton//
That same year Burton and Jack English formed Contemporary Wardrobe by retaining the giant collection of clothing they had supplied to The Who’s movie Quadrophenia.
//Quadrophenia: “We are the mods!”//
In 1980 Burton designed McLaren & Westwood’s shop World’s End, which retains his work to this day, and a couple of years later realised the duo’s “primitive, paganistic” brief for the deliciously deranged Nostalgia Of Mud, which opened in premises in St Christopher’s Place, just off Oxford Street, in March 1982. This closed the following year after complaints over the scaffolding, tarpaulin and bubbling “lava” pit (as well as the behaviour of the staff).
//Nostalgia Of Mud exterior 1982. Pic: Roger K. Burton//
Under Burton - who also operated vintage menswear outlet Dobbs & Partners in South Molton Street - Contemporary Wardrobe supplied and styled such movies as Chariots Of Fire, Absolute Beginners and Sid & Nancy.
//Bowie et al in Contemporary Wardrobe, Absolute Beginners 1985//
And it’s been non-stop ever since, with Contemporary Wardrobe fashions from such stores as Mr Freedom, Biba and Seditionaries and lines from Yves Saint Laurent, Dior and Givenchy featuring in videos by the likes of Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and Kanye West.
//Poster from the 1993 exhibition//
The opening at the Horse Hospital in 1993 was inaugurated by the exhibition Vive Le Punk with unbelievably rare items from the design partnership of McLaren & Westwood, who both turned up for the opening night.This, their first meeting in 10 years, was caught on film and will be screened in May as part of a fascinating and previously unseen documentary also called Vive Le Punk.
//Westwood & McLaren 1971. Pic: David Parkinson//
“To the best of our knowledge this is the only time that they have been filmed together discussing their legacy,” says Roger.
Roger will be in conversation with Paul Gorman from 7.30pm on Thursday May 22 as part of THE LOOK’s night which includes music, rare footage, images and original clothing from the CW archive.
Incredibly it is 25 years this month since Come On Eileen hit the number one spot in the US for Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
//The promo clip which broadcast the look around the world//
The song - and the album that spawned it Too-Rye-Aye - had taken the UK and Europe by storm the previous summer, as had the Caledonia soul be-denimed look concocted by Dexy’s leader Kevin Rowland, one of the great visual avatars in rock and pop fashion.
//Dexy’s in 1982//
The image - ear-rings, straggly curls and stubble, pinafore dresses, used dungarees and gypsy scarves, sandals and pumps, coalman’s jerkins and berets with pheasant feathers - is the one most associated with Dexy’s. Yet the band sported the clothes for less than a year and the irony is that by the time of the Stateside success, the group’s restless frontman was already moving on stylistically, looking to both Main Street USA and back to his youth as a “peanut” in north-west London in the late 60s for inspiration.
Here, with previously unpublished quotes, we reveal exactly how Rowland rapidly rang a series of changes over a few short years in search of “the great lost look”.By the time the first line-up of Dexys splintered in late 1980, Rowland had already come up with a fresh image to replace the “New York stevedore” style of Dexy’s debut album Searching For The Young Soul Rebels and first Number One Geno.
//The so-called “athletic monk” look of 1981//
Matching the lifestyle of the new group, which was dedicated to an almost monastic regime of purity of body and soul, the elements foreshadowed the 80s fitness fad: boxer boots, wrist- and head-bands, singlets, simple white t-shirts and designer sweatpants.
//Projected Passion tour t-shirt//
These were combined with tiny ponytails taken from sketches of 18th century sailors and custom-made hooded jackets based on those worn by Liverpudlian casuals, and showcased during the incendiary shows on the choreographed Projected Passion tour of theatres of 1981.
//Dexy’s by the water 1981//
However, lack of record company interest undermined Rowland’s confidence in the concept, and when Dexy’s music swayed into a more pastoral direction the following year, the group’s look once more evolved; by the spring of 1982 the “athletic monk” phase was over.
“It was good because it flew in the face of what was happening,” says Rowland. “Little did I know that it would be the look Dexy’s is most associated with, but in reality, we had it for less a year.”
He explains how it was created: “Debbie Baxter, a costume-maker working at the Mermaid Theatre in London (who later married original Dixons bassist Pete Williams), had been helping us with clothes since late 81. She gave that look a tougher edge, but, by the end of that year, we wanted to move on. It was a dilemma and for the first few months of 82 we were flummoxed.
“We started to look a little Dickensian, with little caps, but saw that Animal Nightlife were wearing those.
//Animal Nightlife early 1982//
“We were into the idea of being scruffy, but of course only in exactly the right kind of way. Everybody and his brother was now dressing up, to the point where it meant nothing. Sometimes you have to try lots of ideas that don’t quite work or hit the note, untill you find one that does.
//Single cover summer 1982//
“Debbie would show us drawings she had done, some of which we’d like, and some of which we didn’t. I can’t remember the exact sequence of events, but one day Debbie suggested denim dungarees. She made some up for us. We boiled them in my kitchen in effort to get them them to fade, but they still didn’t look right . Then we heard that Flip (the used/dead-stock store with branches in the King’s Road and Covent Garden) had some in, so a couple of us went down there and bought a load.
//Flip in The Face 1981//
“I remember during the Too-Rye-Ay sessions opening a big refuse sack and passing them round to the guys. Some of them had already left the band and were only recording the album on a session basis, and basically the band was in tatters, so some weren’t as reserved about their feelings as they might have been a few months earlier. There were guffaws from one or two, but eventually it all came together.
“It’s a bit like music: to get something that looks right and effortless, you have to go through periods when things are anything but effortless. You’re experimenting and maybe getting it wrong, and then finally it comes together. I love it.”
//Dexy’s cover Slade as the look progresses, December 1982//
Appearances onstage and in videos also made a style icon out of Dexy’s violinist Helen O’Hara, whose image was imitated nationwide. “Debbie made me the pinafore dress I wore, which actually I really hated,” confides O’Hara. “I wanted to be one of the lads and wear the dungarees but Kevin was against that. Then I found some old skirts in Oxfam shops and improved upon the way I looked.”
//Erin O’Connor evokes the “Eileen” look, 2007. Pic: Wireimage//
By the time Come On Eileen hit number one in America in April 1983, Rowland was “messing with the Celtic look, making subtle changes”, says Dexy’s graphic designer Pete Barrett. “Kevin started to wear his trousers inside out, which reflected what else was going on in fashion at the time. Vivienne Westwood was doing similar trousers with pockets on the outside at Nostalgia Of Mud“.
//Staff inside Nostalgia Of Mud, 1983. Pic: Roger Burton//
Not that Rowland was even aware of what was being designed at Westwood’s extraordinary London shop. One day that spring, near the record company HQ on Broadway, New York, he experienced a style epiphany. ”I spotted a guy with an Ivy League haircut, short and brushed over to the side like Roy Scheider in Jaws. He was wearing a check shirt, parallel trousers like Sta-Prest and a pair of GIs or plain cap shoes,” he recalls.
//Dexy’s on Madison Avenue, 1985//
“The guy was drunk, staggering around the streets, but the clothes intrigued me because that look had disappeared by then. At least, you would never see it in England. It was the Ivy League look that had been fashionable in the London suburbs of my youth.
//Billy Adams, Kevin Rowland and Helen O’Hara, 1985//
“Then, in January 1983 I was walking down Madison Avenue Too-Rye-Ay’d up, dressed in a heavy overcoat with my beret with a feather sticking out of it. I stopped outside Brooks Brothers and saw the clothes we had worn years ago: raised edging on the seams, hook or off-centre vents in the jackets, patch pockets. The jackets were so subtle it was untrue, because at first glance they looked very square.
//Extract from This Is What She’s Like 1985//
“I kept on looking at the clothes people were wearing as we toured the States that year. In Texas outside a restaurant I saw these two guys. They had parallel pleated trousers on, with plain cap shoes and button-down shirts, short Ivy League haircuts and were standing with their hands in their pockets, which gave their look a shape that made them exactly resemble a couple of well-dressed hard-nuts from Harrow in 1969.
//Billy & Kevin from shoot for Don’t Stand Me Down, 1985//
“I loved the fact that this ultra-conservative look was still going strong in America, and was worn only by squares or people
//Image from Peggy Noland’s 
