// In George Cox creepers: Malcolm McLaren, 430 King’s Road, January 1972. Photo: David Parkinson / Slowthai, Northampton, 2018. Photo: Ewen Spencer for Arena Homme + //

“Those blue suede shoes had a magical association that seemed authentic. They represented an age of desperate romantic revolt to change your life.”

Malcolm McLaren, notes on his life in fashion, 1997

I’m celebrating the 70th anniversary of the introduction of George Cox & Co’s first creeper at the Port Eliot Festival next week with Adam Waterfield, the fourth generation owner of the great independent British brand, and his son Alistair, a Central Saint Martins student and model who is very much involved in the family business.

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Tags: Adam Waterfield, Alistair Waterfield, Andrew Greaves, Arena Homme +, Central Saint Martins, Comme des Garçons, David Parkinson, Ellie Grace Cumming, Ewen Spencer, Fred Perry, George Cox, Glastonbury Festival, Harold The Ted, Jonathan Baron, Le Kilt, Lewis Leathers, Northampton, Olly Alexander, Port Eliot Festival, Sam Rock, Slowthai, Years And Years

In my twin capacities as “biographer” of The Face and curator of last year’s British independent magazine exhibition PRINT!, I’ve been asked publicly and privately for my thoughts on the imminent online relaunch of the title (the plan is that the quarterly physical edition will follow in August, carrying a September dateline).

So here they are:

It’s interesting that the greatest anticipation for the magazine’s return is being generated for and by the fashion community. The PRs, writers, stylists and students who kept the flame alive after the publication’s 2004 demise are now busily banging the drum in response to the relaunch’s oddly one-note Instagram branding exercise, filling their feeds with excited content.

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Tags: 032c, Accent, Apartamento, Aperture, Ashley Heath, Bauer, Beauty Papers, Buffalo Zine, Christopher Wylie, Dan Flower, Delayed Gratification, Electronic Sound, Emap, Facebook, Fantastic Man, Fred Perry, Gal-dem, Gucci, Inez & Vinoodh, Interview, Jason Gonsalves, Jeremy Leslie, Jerry Perkins, Liv Siddall, MacGuffin, Migrant Journal, Mojo, Monocle, Mushpit, Nick Logan, No Man’s Land, Orlando, Paris Vogue, Positive News, Q, Riposte, Shamir Sanni, Sheryl Garratt, Stuart Brumfitt, Suspira, System, The Gentlewoman, The Skirt Chronicles, THIIIRD, Twin, Virgil Abloh, Wasted Talent, Weapons Of Reason

//AC/DC Desk (with plug stool), Get Happy!! lightbulb poster, ‘Kill Time’ Stiff Records clock + Ian Dury Cocktail cabinet//

You wait years for a Barney Bubbles exhibition and then two come along in the space of a month.

On the heels of the mini-show of Barney Bubbles music designs at Fred Perry’s basement space in Covent Garden comes a different take on the work of the late graphics maestro.

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Tags: Billy Bragg, Blockhead logo, Brian Griffin, Conran Design, Fred Perry, Ian Dury, Jake Riviera, Left Book Club, Nick Lowe, Paul Carrack, Rob Tufnell, Squeeze, Suburban Voodoo, Suzanne Spiro

The Barney Bubbles x Fred Perry shirts are available to buy now online; click on the image above to find out more.

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Tags: "Smart" Mart Cole, Alfalpha, Do It Yourself, Elvis Costello And The Attractions, Fred Perry, Hawkwind, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Inbetweenies, Kate Moross, Nick Lowe, Olivier Mahieu, The Muleskinners

I’ve organised a small exhibition of artwork relating to designs used in the forthcoming Barney Bubbles x Fred Perry collaboration; it opens later this week at Fred Perry’s flagship London store.

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Tags: Clementine Zawadzki, Elvis Costello, Fred Perry, Hero, Nick Lowe

//Malcolm McLaren in a previously unpublished shot wearing original 50s George Cox Bingley D-ring brothel creepers to match his detail-perfect Teddy Boy garb. Photo taken inside Let It Rock, 430 King’s Road, January 1972. (c) David Parkinson//

//Left, Saint Laurent point-toed patent brothel creepers, A/W 2014. Right: George Cox Buckle Diano made to the 1950s last//

Last season’s foregrounding by Saint Laurent of the pointed brothel creeper is just one of a run of examples of fashion brands plugging into the purity of this quintessentially British rock & roll style minted in 1949 by the UK independent footwear company George Cox.

Among the first stylistic innovators to take the design out of Teddy Boy revivalism and apply it to contemporary fashion was Malcolm McLaren, who had been selling creepers for a couple of years at Let It Rock, the boutique he operated with Vivienne Westwood, by the time he visited the Cox factory in Northampton in November 1973. Here he ordered samples for six styles, some of which went into production for sale at 430 King’s Road.

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Tags: Adam Waterfield, Commes des Garcons, Fred Perry, Ganryu, George Cox, Jamie Reid, Let It Rock, Ray Stevenson, Saint Laurent, Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, The Bingley, The Diano, Vivienne Westwood