//Outtakes of the eight women featured in London Belles, published in the December 7 1973 issue of West One magazine. Photography © John Bishop. No reproduction without permission//

Although high fashion may be a thing of the past, what has replaced it is individuality and freedom to express. Women like these now make up their own minds about what they are and what they wear. Perhaps the rest of us should get the message and start being living fashion.
West One, December 7, 1973

I’m really honoured that veteran fashion photographer John Bishop has granted me this exclusive to show previously unpublished outtakes from the landmark London Belles feature he shot for the 1970s British magazine West One.

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Tags: AS Neill, Jane Merer, Janet Street-Porter, John Bishop, Jose Fonseca, Launita, Louise Doktor, Models 1, Pru Walters, Shelley Martin, Summerhill, Suzi Quatro, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, Vivienne Westwood, West One

//Front cover, Elemental, The Earth, Rare Vinyl, 2016. Design: Ian Harris//

Ian Harris is one of those London characters who turns up at various stages in the capital’s post-war pop culture narrative.

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Tags: 39 Gerrard Street, Alan Parsons, Black Sabbath, Coffin Club, Elemntal, Genesis, Ian Harris, Janet Street-Porter, Kleptomania, Pretty Things, Record Collector, Regent Sound Studios, Rolling Stones, Terry Tonik, the Beatles, The Earth, The Who, West One

//Roxy, 25 Kensington Church Street, 1972. Photo: Masayoshi Sukita//

//Inside Roxy, 1972: Shelley Martin in a flamenco dress designed by Dinah Adams. Photo: Masayoshi Sukita//

//Some of the Roxy crowd photographed around the corner from the shop (from left): The late Granny’s co-owner Marty Breslau, whose ensemble includes a Wonder Workshop top; Louise Doktor; Shelley Martin; John Knight. Photo: Masayoshi Sukita//

I’ve been aware of the existence of the Kensington boutique Roxy for some time, particularly since the store name was used as the title of the feature on London street fashion in a 1972 edition of Japanese magazine An An.

But my curiosity was pricked recently while browsing that same issue of An An which appears in Freddie Hornik’s scrapbook (see last post).

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Tags: American John, An An, Anella and Davide, Biba, City Lights Studio, Dave "Che" Shimeld, Derek Harris, Freddie Hornik, Granny Takes A trip, Janet Street-Porter, John Bishop, John Knight, Ken Todd, Kensington Church Street, Let It Rock, Louise Doktor, Marty Breslau, Masayoshi Sukita, Mr Freedom, Roxy, Roxy Music, Shelley Martin, Sheridan Barnett, Trevor myles, West One

//Billy Murphy by Sean Moorman//

“There were many kings of the King’s Road at different periods of time but there was only one Emperor”

Lloyd Johnson

Very sad to note the passing of Billy Murphy, a thoroughly lovely bloke whose contribution to street fashion – particularly in Britain and specifically in and around the King’s Road – is sorely underrated.

I knew all about Billy’s significance in his field decades before I met him; as I wrote here, his shop The Emperor Of Wyoming was “an extremely important staging post not just in the story of British rock and roll fashion but also the development of the vintage scene in this country”.

//Stetson, embroidered shirt and hand-tooled leather belt from The Emperor Of Wyoming. Photo: David Parkinson for Club International, February 1974//

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Tags: Billy Murphy, Club International, Flip, Janet Street-Porter, Karl Stoecker, King's Road, Paradise Garage, Pru Walters, Sean Moorman, The Emperor Of Wyoming, Trevor myles, West One

//Clockwise from top left: Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen, Badlands, 1973; Arnella Goes Rodeo, West One, 1974; Malcolm McLaren, January 1972; clothes from The Emperor Of Wyoming, 1973//

A fashion shoot styled by Pru Walters and photographed by Karl Stoecker for a 1974 issue of Janet Street-Porter’s secretarial magazine West One foregrounds the importance of Westernwear to London street style in the early to mid-70s.

//West One, May 14, 1974, p14: Fringed blouse from Kweens, 109 King's Road; shorts Stirling Cooper; boots + hat The Emperor of Wyoming, 404 King's Road//

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Tags: Anello & Davide, Badlands, Billy Murphy, Caril Fugate, Charles Starkweather, Janet Street-Porter, John Michael Ingram, Johnny Kidd, Karl Stoecker, Kweens, Marco Pirroni, Martin Sheen, Pru Walters, Sissy Spacek, Terrence Malick, The Emperor Of Wyoming, The Westerner, West One

//"Sunglasses Ron" Fahey, top right, leads the applause onstage at the Rainbow, Finsbury Park, London, spring 1977. Photo: Neal Purvis//

The photograph above – taken by a friend, Neal Purvis – captures one of the leading lights of London’s Ted scene at the height of his rabble-rousing powers.

Here is “Sunglasses Ron” Fahey taking to the stage of north London venue The Rainbow during The Sun Sound Show, which ran on the nights of April 30 and May 1 1977 and featured rockabilly giants Charlie Feathers, Buddy Knox, Jack Scott and Warren Smith.

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Tags: Buddy Knox, Charlie Feathers, Danny Baker, jack Scott, Janet Street-Porter, Neal Purvis, Sun Records, Sunglasses Ron Fahey, The Clash, Twentieth Century Box, Ubangi Stomp, Warren Smith