//Interior, 430 King’s Road, west London, designed by Patrick Casey and Malcolm McLaren for the retail outlet Let It Rock and photographed by David Parkinson in January 1972. No reproduction without permission//

I have elected the above image for inclusion in the exhibition 111 Inspirational Interiors, which opens tomorrow in the Windows Gallery 1 at Central Saint Martins in Kings Cross, north London.

The show is curated by designer Ben Kelly in his role as chair of interior and spatial design at University of the Arts London as part of his project Popular Culture And The Interior; the 1972 David Parkinson photograph stems from my participation in Kelly’s ICA symposium last year, Dead Or Alive – Interior Design.

For the exhibition, Kelly invited 111 people to contribute “an image of an interior that has been important and influential in their creative and intellectual development”. The image I chose was taken on the completion of the refurbishment of the ground floor of 430 King’s Road  from the premises of boutique Paradise Garage into Teddy Boy culture emporium Let It Rock in late 1971 by the late Malcolm McLaren and his fellow former Harrow Art School student Patrick Casey.

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Tags: 111 Inspirational Interiors, Alice Rawsthorn, Ben Kelly, Catherine Ince, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College Of Art, David Toop, Dinah Casson, Gavin Turk, Harrow Art School, Jeremy Till, John Cooper Clarke, John hegarty, Lucy McKenzie, Million Dollar Quartet, Patrick Casey, Peter Saville, Peter York, Screaming Lord Sutch, Sun Records, University Of The ARts London

//Four of the five 60in x 40in posters designed by Bubbles for the 1977 UK tour by Stiff Records’ artists//

//Jacket sported by Jake Riviera in the late 70s decorated with badges, adorned with a ‘Jesus Of Cool’ promotional tie produced for Nick Lowe and accompanied by a Roberta Bayley photograph of Riviera in the jacket in 1977//

Music fan and pop ephemera collector Mike Hobday is realising a long-held ambition this weekend with a show of designs by the late graphic artist Barney Bubbles at The White Room Gallery in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

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Tags: 1977, Clive Langer & The Boxes, Jake Riviera, Leamington Spa, Live Stiffs, MIke Hobday, Roberta Bayley, Stiff Records, The White Room Gallery

//Details of Judy Blame jewellery with Helen Bullock bag//

//Bullock’s window for The Conformist at Belmacz, 45 Davies Street, London W1//

//Curator Paul Kindersely with wall of David Parkinson photographs 1970-75//

“So great to see an eclectic range of images and objects that challenge norms and play with moral codes”
The Courtauld’s Documenting Fashion blog

The Conformist – artist Paul Kindersley’s celebration of great British non-conformity of expression – is now entering its final few days.

If you have the opportunity, I recommend a visit to this fascinating exhibition (at Mayfair’s art/jewellery space Belmacz) which joins the dots between Emma, Lady Hamilton and Punk Rock, via Judy Blame, Leigh Bowery, Helen Bullock, Jennifer Campbell, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Paul Housley, Malcolm McLaren & Vivienne Westwood, Julie Verhoeven, Rose Wylie and many other glittering and creative creatures.

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Tags: Belmacz, Hellen Bullock, Jean Condé, Jennifer Campbell, Judy Blame, Julie Verhoeven, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Paul Housley, Paul Kindersley, Rose Wylie, Stephen Jones

//T-shirt purchased by Malcolm McLaren at The Pleasure Chest, Los Angeles in January 1978. Private collection/Malcolm McLaren Estate. Photo: Paul Gorman Archive. No reproduction without permission//

//Prick Up Your Ears, t-shirt design, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood for Seditionaries, 1979. Courtesy: Hiroshi Fujiwara Collection//

The trickster’s function is to add disorder to order, and so make a whole; within the fixed bounds of what’s permitted, an experience of what is not permitted.

Karl Kerenyi quoted in Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography Of Joe Orton, John Lahr, 1978

In January 1978, after the break-up of the Sex Pistols in San Francisco on the last date of the group’s ill-fated US tour, their manager Malcolm McLaren shifted base to Los Angeles for a few weeks to work out his next move.

Discussing options with record companies and holding meetings with movie companies to drum up business for biopic The Great Rock N Roll Swindle, the late McLaren had a ball, staying at the legendary rock’n’roll hang-out The Tropicana Motel on Santa Monica Boulevard, hard by Duke’s Coffee Shop and a few blocks west of the sex shop The Pleasure Chest.

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Tags: Alasdair McLellan, Ben Reardon, Cowboys, Dances Of The World's Peoples, Duke's Coffee Shop, Folkways, Joe Orton, John Lahr, Karl Kerenyi, Man About Town, Olivier Rizzo, Pop Porn, Prick Up Your Ears, Pussycat Theater, The Pleasure Chest, The Warriors, Tropicana Motel, Vive le Rock!, Walter Hill

As it’s Mother’s Day we’d like to dedicate this to all the absent mothers of the young boys here tonight. I’m sure if they were here tonight they’d wonder if it was worth all the money they’re paying.

Genesis P. Orridge introducing the TG set at Oundle, March 16, 1980.

On a Sunday in 1980, Throbbing Gristle gave an hour-long performance before 70-or-so teenage boys and a few teachers at Oundle School in Northamptonshire.

Chris Carter, the late Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, Genesis P. Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti were booked by 17-year-old pupil Nigel Jacklin, who had previously corresponded with P. Orridge. As head of the boarding school’s “Rock Soc”, Jacklin was entitled to choose one band a year to play a concert there and apparently hoodwinked teachers by telling them that TG’s music was akin to that of minimalist composer John Cage.

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Tags: Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Genesis P.Orridge, Nick Vivian, Nigel Jacklin, Oundle School, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Throbbing Gristle

Part artwork, part footwear, entirely authentic

Heritage Boot, Austin TX

A recent visit to Texas provided many joys and pleasures, among them a taste of the heyday of the King’s Road boutique boom courtesy of Jerry and Patti Ryan’s Heritage Boot on Austin’s hip South Congress.

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Tags: Architectural Association, Austin, Billy Murphy, Body Shop, Common Market, Forbes, Heritage Boot, Jerry Ryan, Kenny macDonald, Marx, Patti Ryan, SoCo, Texas, The Emperor Of Wyoming, Trevor myles

My essay on David Bowie’s style changes 1972-76 is now on Oooh Fashion!, SHOWStudio’s current celebration of the late performer which also includes rare footage of Nick Knight’s photo-shoots for the 1993 album Black Tie White Noise and the 2003 British Vogue session of Kate Moss in Bowie stagewear.

//Still from film of Nick Knight’s December 2002 London Black Tie White Noise shoot on SHOWStudio’s David Bowie: Oooh Fashion!//

//Kate Moss in the Life On Mars Freddie Burretti suit from the film of the 2003 British Vogue shoot, also on David Bowie: Oooh Fashion!//

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Tags: Angie Bowie, Black Tie White Noise, Boy George, British Vogue, Daniella Parmar, David Live, Dylan Jones, FReddie Burretti, GQ UK, Hedi Slimane, Jeff Pine, Kansai Yamamoto, Kate Moss, Nick Knight, Ola Hudson, Saint Laurent, Showstudio, Station To Station, Thin White Duke, Tim Blanks, Victoria Broackes, Young Americans, Ziggy Stardust

//”Old clothes are a short cut to style”, Freddie Hornik quoted by Drusila Beyfus and photographed by John Patrick for Finding Your Style: Male, published in The Daily Telegraph Magazine, June 13, 1969//

The new issue of British GQ Style features an essay by me about the late Freddie Hornik, the man responsible for exporting Britain’s dandy peacock look around the world in the 70s.

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Tags: Alex Jarrett, Drusilla Beyfus, Elton John, Freddie Hornik, Gene Krell, John LiDonni, John Patrick, Marty Breslau, Miles Davis, Nigel Waymouth, Richie Onigbene, Rod Stewart, Rolling Stone, Sheila Cohen, The Daily Telegraph Magazine

“It was a spectacular coup de théâtre – Kansai’s models came on moving. They leapt, ran, whirled like dervishes, danced, flung out their arms so that the brilliant colours meshed and merged into a kaleidoscopic cartoon of colour. Kansai himself, black-clothed and masked, moved across the stage like a Samurai warrior, tearing off layers and layers of clothes, stripping down the beautiful, pyramidal outer garments, right down to the vests and body paint. Kansai’s clothes épatent les couturiers.”

Harpers & Queen, July 1971

As fuzzy as they are, the two precious video clips at the end of this post convey the game-changing nature of  Kansai Yamamoto’s theatrical introduction of avant-garde Japanese fashion design to these shores at the dawn of the 70s.

They also reveal the extent to which the late David Bowie subsequently drew on Yamamoto’s flamboyance and daring when presenting Ziggy Stardust on stage.

Several of the designs were worn by Bowie in performance during live promotion, in particular of the Aladdin Sane album, and he also adopted the sleight-of-hand layered costume reveals, the emphatic postures of the models and even the flame-red hair colouring as seen on the huge wig worn in the first excerpt below.

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Tags: Aladdin Sane, Boston 151, British Vogue, Chris Snow, Diana Crawshaw, Joe Strummer, John Paul, Kansai Yamamoto, Kate Moss, Michael Chow, Mr Freedom, Nick Knight, Oooh Fashion!, Paradise Garage, Sex Pistols, Showstudio, Terence Donovan, The Great Gear Trading Company, The Strand, Tom Salter, Tommy Roberts, Trevor myles, Ziggy Stardust

//Kavanagh’s piece on Cunningham in Style today//

I’m really pleased for writer/photography editor Dermot Kavanagh. His tireless championing of the late soulboy footballer Laurie Cunningham is paying off with a major piece in today’s Sunday Times’ Style magazine and news that there is to be a blue plaque marking the sportsman’s North London birthplace.

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Tags: Dermot Kavanagh, Laurie Cunningham, Style, Sunday Times, Unbound