Later this month I will be in conversation with British menswear legend Mark Powell at the V&A’s Sartorial Style day.
“Do you know what? I was a no-hoper. Prison was a possibility, you know, an absolute possibility for me. It was probably 50:50 whether I’d end up there or not.
“I was considered a failure. I left school, no qualifications, at 15. I’d come bottom of the class in several subjects. I’d gone from one job to another. I was seen as a drifter within my family, so now I wasn’t going to screw this up.
“If I was going to do this I was going to really do it, because this was the one thing from very young that I knew I was good at. And I’d kind of gone off the path, I’d tried to be like everyone else, I’d tried doing the things I thought I was supposed to do, that other people wanted me to do, and failed at all of them.
“So this meant everything to me really.
“Probably meant too much, you know?
“There it is.”
Kevin Rowland, 2014.
Centred on Dexys’ 2013 residency at London’s Duke Of York’s Theatre and the group’s One Day I’m Going To Soar album, Nowhere Is Home will premier in May.
This film by Rik and Jane Gadsby of the May 2006 London launch of the second edition of my book The Look has just been posted online; it really evokes the good time that everyone had that night.
Pippa Brooks and her band All About Eve Babitz played and DJs included George O’Dowd.
The party was held at the premises of Raymond Revuebar, which by that time was Two II Much (dunno what it is these days). I was very touched when Kevin R. talked about how important he viewed the book and my work. “This is our culture,” he says in the clip above.
Enjoy.
Hats off to Kevin Rowland and his team for the vinyl release of Dexys’ album One Day I’m Going To Soar.
Here Kevin Rowland answers the Blokes Of Britain questionnaire.
Plus ca change…
Tucked away in the June 1983 edition of The Face was this news story about a brave broadcasting venture, the scabrous and short-lived Breakfast Pirate Radio.
//Proof of front cover of Programme 1 by Station BPR, Utility, 1983. Design: Barney Bubbles.//
//Clockwise from top: With Joe + Duke Brooks; Jimmy Page + Jeff Dexter; Joe, Duke + Pippa Brooks with Tommy Roberts; Caz Facey with...J+D! These photos: Pippa Brooks.//
There were big smiles for Tommy Roberts at the midsummer’s eve party to celebrate the publication of my new book Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero.
//TV crew sets up in the basement.//
Yesterday I was visited by a camera crew for an interview about the behind-the-scenes individuals who have made the difference to British popular music over the years.
The team, from Kobalt Productions in Berlin, are producing the documentary for Franco-German arts channel ARTE. The director is Simon Witter, who has a fine pedigree in journalism and broadcasting.
//12"x10"s from Don't Stand Me Down shoot, 1985.//
NAME: Kevin Rowland
RESIDES: London
OCCUPATION: Dexys
Kevin Rowland is a very dapper gent. This is a truth acknowledged by all right-thinking people.
And Kevin is his own man. How many of us can say that?
He is also something of an artist, one whose connection to his muse is unadulterated by commercial concern or critical pressure. I can’t wait for the new Dexys record, which will be out in 2012.
I covered the stylistic changes Kevin rang through earlier Dexys incarnations – from stevedore to Ivy League – in THE LOOK.
Today Kevin answers the Blokes Of Britain questionnaire, providing an opportunity to present some of his looks – including rare and previously unpublished images – past and present:
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