That’ll Be The Day: How Ringo ended up in a Teddy Girl’s drape jacket from Let It Rock
//Starr on location in Let It Rock drape. Note bust darts. From the front page of Disc & Music Echo, December 16, 1972. Photo: Uncredited//
In the autumn of 1972 the small King’s Road boutique Let It Rock, which had been open for less than a year, received a fillip when the owners Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood were asked to contribute costumes to the production of 50s Britrock movie That’ll Be The Day.
The pair’s understanding of the detail of period clothing had been recognised by such fashion media players as Marit Allen, who had showcased new talent in the powerful magazine’s Young Idea section and was also a clever costume designer for film.
Not that connection to the fashion magazine held much sway with McLaren, whose stance was determinedly against the fashion establishment. “Vogue journalists were thrown out of the shop,” he later said. “Anything in Vogue was a disease we didn’t want to catch.”
But Allen was also the wife of Sandy Lieberson, co-producer of That’ll Be The Day with David (now Lord) Puttnam. And when approaches were made ahead of filming in October 1972, McLaren saw a way of circumventing the fashion press and presenting Let It Rock clothing in as unmediated a way as possible.
//Location shot from That’ll Be The Day, October 1972//
McLaren and Westwood worked with the film’s costume consultant Ruth Myers and wardrobe supervisor Ray Beck, and invited the lead actors to visit their premises at 430 King’s Road for fittings.
In the wake of the London Rock ‘N’ Roll Festival at Wembley Stadium, Let It Rock had become a major draw for groups of mean-looking Teddy Boys. “They acted like they owned the shop, congregated outside and created their own scene on the pavement,” said McLaren, who claimed that complaints from neighbouring shopkeepers about the obstructive and belligerent behaviour of the Teds resulted in him being beaten up in local pub The Roebuck.
//Teds congregate outside Let It Rock with assistant Addie Isman and designer Vivienne Westwood, July 1972. Photo: Masayoshi Sukita for An An magazine//
This atmosphere proved off-putting for Ringo Starr, who played lead support in That’ll Be The Day. One day, just as the film was about to go into production, McLaren was visited by a staff member at Ricci Burns’ hair salon further down the King’s Road asking for a size 36 drape jacket for Starr, who was unwilling to risk the phalanx of Teds.
“Poor old Ringo was hanging about at the other end of the King’s Road waiting for his jacket,” wrote McLaren. “So this guy, who was the same size, tried on a few until he came across a blue woman’s drape with pink velvet collar.
“‘This will do fine,’ he said.
“‘But it’s got bust darts,’ I told him.
“‘Don’t worry. He’ll like this.'”
// Still From That’ll Be The Day. Starr with the film lead David Essex//
For the scene in the movie in which he wears the drape, Starr wore a period high collared light blue shirt with darker blue trimmings, ice blue Lybro jeans and white quilt-topped brothel creepers, all from Let It Rock.
That’ll Be The Day and its follow-up Stardust are great British movies. Buy the double bill here.
Read the obituary for Marit Allen here