Paul Gorman

Exhibitions

Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter – exhibition in the New Year

Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter – the exhibition about one of the greatest contributors to British street fashion and visual culture of recent times – is at London gallery Chelsea Space in the New Year, from January 24 to March 3.

The show will be centred on Johnson’s archive of garments, artwork, fabrics, ephemera and personal effects, augmented by contributions from customers and collectors from Tokyo to Sydney to LA.

For a taster here’s a trio of clips featuring Johnson’s designs:

Tom Waits’ boots (from 2.50):

Iggy’s jacket on The Tube:

George Michael’s jacket + boots:

More info on Lloyd Johnson The Modern Outfitter here.

Fred Astaire in his Johnson & Johnson Fred Astaire jacket

Curatorial work today on the Lloyd Johnson exhibition (coming to London gallery Chelsea Space in the New Year) was a joy.

By honing the exhibits and focusing on a narrative, Jill and Lloyd Johnson and I introduced an exciting new element: a wall selection of dazzling print artwork for garments from the 70s to the 00s.

Maneouevres such as this should make the whole show pop.

Just a few items are still to arrive (fingers crossed for the gold leather suit from Stephen Linard in Australia).

The collected clothes, print material, artwork, personal items and ephemera are taking shape and conveying Lloyd’s journey in design and music from the 60s to the present day.

From time to time I’ll be reporting on progress and dipping into the exhibits.

Today, my favourite is one of the smallest: a snapshot sent to Lloyd in 1973 by Fred Astaire, wearing one of Lloyd’s designs: a Johnson & Johnson jacket with a Top Hat repeat print.

Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter opens late January 2012. Keep checking the Chelsea Space blog for details.

Michael Hochong’s life of flamboyant excess

Michael Ho-chong (right) with friends at a party in London in the late 60s
//Hochong (right) with friends at a party in London, late 60s.//

Title, exhibition of Michael Ho-chong's clothing, Horse Hospital, London.

Every Beautiful Thing… is the title of the forthcoming exhibition of extraordinary garments from the wardrobe of the late Michael Hochong, the French/Hawaiian/Chinese exquisite who, in the 70s, ran the Knightsbridge restaurant Michael’s (opposite the more famous establishment run by another Michael, Mr Chow).

Hochong also lived in some style in Tangier with John Koon (said to have been the instigator of the Chinese takeaway in the west).  It seems the house they shared was an exact replica of Tara, Scarlet O’ Hara’s spiritual home in Gone With The Wind.

Continue reading Michael Hochong’s life of flamboyant excess

Kate Moross’s Barney Bubbles mixology

Pippa Brooks has captured a section of Kate Moross’s video installation at the current Mindful Of Art exhibition.

I commissioned Kate to come up with a visual accompaniment to my DJ set at Glastonbury this summer, and am blown away by her achievement in manipulating and activating artwork by Barney Bubbles.

Read Pippa’s report from the show here.

Mindful Of Art is at the Old Vic Tunnels until Tuesday (September 27). Details here. Catch it if you can

Ideal Home: Biba beans + biscuit tins + wallpaper by David Bowie + Barney Bubbles

Biba tin of baked beans
Can of Biba own-brand baked beans. Packaging design: Whitmore-Thomas Partnership, 1973.

Chelsea Space director Donald Smith has invited me to contribute items from my design collection to his forthcoming show Ideal Home, which features the work of more than 50 artists and designers spanning 1913 to 2011.

Continue reading Ideal Home: Biba beans + biscuit tins + wallpaper by David Bowie + Barney Bubbles

Preview of an exhibition: Postmodernism at the V&A

Grace Jones maternity dress 1979 © Jean-Paul Goude.

Here is a selection of images from the V&A’s forthcoming exhibition Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990. In pursuit of this slippery-to-define movement, curators Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavitt have settled on the defining principles of quotation and bricolage (assemblage from diverse elements).

As a result they have mixed and matched disciplines, categories and scale in their line-up of 250 exhibits, ranging from a reconstruction of Hans Hollein’s 1980 Venice Biennale facade The Presence Of The Past to graphics for record sleeves by Barney Bubbles, Neville Brody and Peter Saville.

Continue reading Preview of an exhibition: Postmodernism at the V&A

Pictures from an exhibition: Snap Crackle & Pop at The Lightbox

Snap Crackle & Pop exhibition, The Lightbox gallery, Woking
Johnson & Johnson jacket and shirt, 1973.

These images are from the private view for The Lightbox gallery’s exhibition Snap Crackle & Pop (about British pop art and it’s influence on culture); I contributed exhibits and advice after being approached by BBC TV’s Katherine Higgins (who sure knows her stuff).

This excellent show was opened on Friday by Peter Blake. Among the attendees were John and Molly Dove, Lloyd Johnson, Mike Ross of Ritva and Paul Weller (the subject of the gallery’s current companion exhibition of photographs by Lawrence Watson).

Continue reading Pictures from an exhibition: Snap Crackle & Pop at The Lightbox

Favourite shoes: My corduroy + crepe-soled Bongos

Bongos - top

These are the only pair of Bongos, a crepe-soled, corduroy sample shoe manufactured by George Cox for Lloyd Johnson in the late 90s.

These unusual elastic-vented slip-ons were intended for Johnson’s Beatnik range, sold through his three London shops, at 406 King’s Road, in Kensington Market and at 293 Portobello Road.

In the event the design didn’t make it into production.

Continue reading Favourite shoes: My corduroy + crepe-soled Bongos