/From Twen, September 1970//

The recent FT piece about the value of Disney to high-end brands (Fashion Takes The Mickey) caught up with those which have engineered hook-ups with the House Of The Mouse in recent years: Dolce & Gabanna, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Iceberg, Neil Barrett, Manish Arora, Hayden-Harnett, Capellini, Cory Grosser, Chopard, Tommy Hilfiger…

A Disney apparatchik is quoted: “We would never work with a designer that was too edgy or irreverent.”

Once upon a time they weren’t so purse-lipped.

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Tags: 1970, Disney, Financial Times, Mickey Mouse, OZ Schoolkids Issue, Stern, Trevor myles

Grace Jones maternity dress 1979 © Jean-Paul Goude.

Here is a selection of images from the V&A’s forthcoming exhibition Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990. In pursuit of this slippery-to-define movement, curators Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavitt have settled on the defining principles of quotation and bricolage (assemblage from diverse elements).

As a result they have mixed and matched disciplines, categories and scale in their line-up of 250 exhibits, ranging from a reconstruction of Hans Hollein’s 1980 Venice Biennale facade The Presence Of The Past to graphics for record sleeves by Barney Bubbles, Neville Brody and Peter Saville.

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Tags: Andy Warhol, Charles Jencks, Cindy Sherman, Derek Jarman, Glenn Adamson, Grace Jones, Hans Hollein, Helmut Newton, Jane Pavitt, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Laurie Anderson, neville Brody, New Order, Peter Saville, Philip Johnson, Ray Petri, Richard Prince, Robert Rauschenberg, Ron Arad, s David Byrne, Talking Heads, The Face, V&A

NAME: Christophe Loiron

RESIDES: Los Angeles

OCCUPATION: Mister Freedom

Christophe Loiron is the perfect person to kick off the Men Of The World section, the new counterpoint to Blokes Of Britain and a chance for outernationalists of every stripe to talk about their style.

Schooled in Zaire, the Frenchman has long been a resident of Los Angeles, where he opened his label and store Mister Freedom in the early 00s.

Loiron, ID photograph, 1984.

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Tags: Beverly Blvd, Casque d’Or, Christophe Loiron, coutil, Django Reinhardt, Eddie Cochran, Hud, Kinshasa, LA, Marien Nationale, Mister Freedom, Nudie The Rodeo Tailor, paletot, Paul newman, Pépé le Moko, Phantom 309, Salaire de la Peur, Treasure Of Sierra Madre, Zaire

I’m agnostic about Steve Nicks (though I have been to The Night Of 1,0000 Stevies), but this is mesmerising.

Mrs G turned me onto this. It seems Nicks was listening to a backing track of then-new composition Wild Heart as she was being made-up for a Rolling Stone photoshoot.

The title song of her first solo album, it was hit in 1983. Don’t bother with that version – it’s buffed and polished into formulaic AoR.

This is something else; Nicks and a backing singer/friend launch into the chorus again and again like there’s no tomorrow. The make-up artist eventually gives up her job and looks on in awe. As do we decades later.

Tags: Fleetwood Mac, Night Of 1000 Stevies, Rolling Stone, Stevie Nicks, Wild heart

This postcard’s over-amped application of colour (despite the “natural” tag on the back) contrasts deeply with the dowdiness of the buildings and the appearances of the inhabitants of the Swinging London über strasse on a summer’s day in 1966.

The disconnect – between projected lifestyle and everyday reality – sums up the 60s.

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Tags: 1966, Carnaby Street, CE Fudge, David Vaughan, Douglas Binder, Dudley Edwards, Lord John, Warren Gold

Promo News is a favourite site, and not just because it is run by pal o’mine Dave Knight; day-in, day-out he delivers the full span of fresh work in the field of music promos, and occasionally one tickles my fancy.

Like this. Directed by Vidya Sharma & Rajesh Thomas, this animated clip is for Non-Stop Radio, the Cornershop track featuring Celeste.

Cornershop featuring Celeste – Non-Stop Radio from rocketscience on Vimeo.

Read all about it here. And subscribe to Promo’s daily bulletins here.

Tags: Celeste, Cornershop, David Knight, Non-Stop Radio, Promo news, Rajesh Thomas, Vidya Sharma

Johnson & Johnson jacket and shirt, 1973.

These images are from the private view for The Lightbox gallery’s exhibition Snap Crackle & Pop (about British pop art and it’s influence on culture); I contributed exhibits and advice after being approached by BBC TV’s Katherine Higgins (who sure knows her stuff).

This excellent show was opened on Friday by Peter Blake. Among the attendees were John and Molly Dove, Lloyd Johnson, Mike Ross of Ritva and Paul Weller (the subject of the gallery’s current companion exhibition of photographs by Lawrence Watson).

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Tags: 1979, Chelsea Space, Derek Boshier, Hayward Gallery, John and Molly Dove, Katherine Higgins, Keith Wainwright, Lightbox Gallery, Lives, Lloyd Johnson, Michael Regan, Mike Ross, Paul Weller, Peter Blake, Ritva, Woking