//Alkasura staff inside 304 King’s Road. Photographer: Unknown. Paul Gorman Archive. No reproduction without permission//

This is the first time these photographs – taken inside London’s legendary glam boutique Alkasura – have been published since they appeared in a Japanese fashion magazine in 1970.

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Tags: Alkasura, An An, Andy Warhol's Pork, Chelita Secunda, John Lloyd, Marc Bolan, Masayoshi Sukita, Ossie Clark, Paul Cook, Paul Reeves, Rod Stewart, Sex Pistols, Suzy Menkes, The Universal Witness, Todd Rundgren, Trevor myles, Vivienne Westwood

//Hornik featured in the Telegraph magazine in 1969 and GTAT paperwork dating from 1972. The livery was taken from a design by Granny’s founder Nigel Waymouth//

//Hornik maintained his scrapbook from the 60s to his death in 2009//

I have just filed a piece for GQ about Granny Takes A Trip and the branches of the King’s Road boutique which opened in the 70s in Manhattan and Hollywood under the stewardship of the late Freddie Hornik.

The feature also scrutinises the scrapbook Hornik maintained from the mid-60s, when he worked at the rival Dandie Fashions at 161 King’s Road, through his acquisition of Granny’s at 488 King’s Road in 1969 from founders Sheila Cohen, John Pearse and Nigel Waymouth.

It charts in snapshots, magazine clippings, company paperwork and notes Hornik’s ambitious expansion plan which resulted in partners being brought on board at the Chelsea shop – in the form of co-owners Marty Breslau and Gene Krell – and for the launch of the New York outlet at 304 E.62nd Street, which was owned by John LiDonni and Richie Onigbene.

This strategy proved successful, and was capped by Hornik’s launch with Jenny Dugan-Chapman of an LA branch, first on Doheny in Beverly Hills and then on Sunset Strip.

By this time the Granny’s international operation had hit the moment when rock turned to glam. Existing customers such as Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were joined by the new raft of dandy peacock performers making the moves in the early-to-mid 70s, including Marc Bolan, Alice Cooper, Bryan Ferry, Elton John, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood.

Hornik’s scrapbook – which was updated for him for a time by LA store manager Roger Klein – makes for a pop culture treasure trove, one which offers rare insights into this exciting era of rock and roll fashion.

Having returned to the UK to live a quiet life in the late 70s, it is poignant to note that Hornik, who died in 2009, kept an eagle eye out for any mention of his outlets and his associates, adding to the scrapbook as the revival of interest in the clothes and characters of the period really started to roll.

I’ll keep you informed as to when the piece is due to appear. Access to the scrapbook courtesy Alex Jarrett.

Tags: Alex Jarrett, Alice Cooper, Bryan Ferry, Dandie Fashions, Dinah Adams, Elton John, Freddie Hornik, Gene Krell, Granny Takes A trip, Jenny Dugan-Chapman, John LiDonni, John Pearse, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Nigel Waymouth, Richie Onigbene, Rod Stewart, Roger Klein, Ronnie Wood, Sheila Cohen, Todd Rundgren

The exclusion of designer James Tormey  – and in particular his early 70s covers for a series of Raymond Chandler books – from Phil Baines’ history Penguin By Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005 has long rankled with me.

I was expecting to find out more about the man whose remixes of Hollywood classic stills led me to Chandler in my early teens. But there is no mention of Tormey or these covers, which hummed at the time with the revival of interest in 40s cinema, and film noir in particular.

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Tags: 1973, Brian De Palma, Dennis Quaid, Elliot Gould, Fictional Film Club, Germano Facetti, Howard Hawks, James Tormey, Los Angeles, National Film Theatre, Philip Marlowe, Playback, Raymond Chandler, Robert Altman, Terry Lennox, The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, Todd Rundgren