Audacious early 70s Hipgnosis fashion shoots for Club International
When innovatory British men’s magazine Club International was launched in 1972, editor Tony Power and art director Steve Ridgeway assembled a diverse pool of contributors, including jazzer, art critic and cultural commentator George Melly, the Stately Homo Quentin Crisp, Rocky Horror Show founder Richard O’Brien, former White Panther Mick Farren, photographers David Parkinson, Mick Rock and Karl Stoecker, illustrators Bush Hollyhead and Brian Grimwood and the design studio Hipgnosis.
//Casual trousers £9.50 from Mr Freedom; satin waistcoat £12 from Chris at Hidegrade; Bobbysoxer Boots £12.75 by Daisy Roots from Way In. From Club International Vol 1 No 3, 1972//
//Prince of Wales Oxford bags £4.95 from Take 6; Hollywood Funsters £12.25 by Daisy Roots from Way In. From Club International Vol 1 No 3, 1972//
Best known for its heavyweight music designs, Hipgnosis, led by Aubrey “Po” Powell and the late Storm Thorgesen, was tasked by Ridgeway with providing a series of audacious fashion stories over the course of the first run of issues.
//Overcoat £16.80 from Take 6; shirt £3.95 from Quincy; pullover £7.97 and bags £7.25 from The Squire Shop; shoes £6.50 from Elliott; cap, tie and scarf all from Herbert Johnson. Styling by Gwenda Saar. From Club International Vol 2 No 4, 1973//
//Tweed cap £4.75 from Herbert Johnson; wool suit £38 from Daniel Hechter; bowtie and hankie Herbert Johnson; shoes £16.95 from Elliott. Her top and pantaloons from Essences, Antiquarius.Styling by Gwenda Saar. From Club International Vol 2 No 4, 1973//
//Jacket £17.75, shirt £6.75, Oxford bags £7 all from The Village Gate; pullover £4.75 from Quincy; shoes £16.95 from Elliott. Her nightie £22 from Essences, Antiquarius. Styling by Gwenda Saar. From Club International Vol 2 No 4, 1973//
Because I have featured a couple of images from the Hipgnosis shoots here as part of my research into Club International’s fashion editor David Parkinson, I was recently contacted by Stian Brekke of hipgnosiscovers.com, and talked him through the CI issues in which the studio’s work appeared.
//White Safari raincoat £12.95 from Take 6. From Club International, Vol 1 No 1, 1972//
//Black gabardine raincoat £13.95 from Take 6. From Club International, Vol 1 No 1, 1972//
//Note lower left panel from the Hipgnosis design for Pink Floyd’s 1973 reissue set A Nice Pair//
//Shorts £2.25 by Sabre; Slipover £2.75 by McCauls; Tank top £1.50 by Sabre, all from Birdcage, Nottingham. From Club International Vol 1 No 2, 1972//
//Shorts £2.75 and slipover £4.75, both by Sabre from Birdcage, Nottingham; jacket by Bop & Rebop £9.95 from Take 6. From Club International Vol 1 No 2, 1972//
//Portraits from Hipgnosis’s sleeve of Somethin’s Happening, Peter Frampton, 1974//
Brekke has scanned and posted the Hipgnosis fashion shoots here. In a couple of instances there are also pointers to where art direction ideas were later used in designs for musical projects.
Enjoy.