//Above Taron Egerton as Elton John and Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin meet “Tommy Roberts” in Rocketman. Stills from Kii Arens promo video for Egerton and John’s new single (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again//

//The pair of Mr Freedom winged boots acquired by Cecil Beaton for the V&A 1971 exhibition: Fashion: An Anthology//

During the production of Elton John biopic Rocketman there were plans for a scene set in London’s groundbreaking pop-art boutique Mr Freedom in the early 70s.

This was to set up the central character’s visual transformation during visits to the store under the influence of its charismatic founder and frontman, the late, lamented Tommy Roberts.

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Tags: (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again, Annie Liebowitz, Bernie Taupin, Cecil Beaton, Electric Colour Company, Elton John, Fashion An Anthology, Jamie Bell, Jim O'Connor, Jon Wealleans, Kii Arens, Pamla Motown, Rocketman, Rolling Stone, Taron Egerton, V&A

“Anyone who has wondered how the Britain of utility furniture and wartime rationing managed to evolve into Cool Britannia will find this a remarkable book.”

Elizabeth Guffey, State University of New York at Purchase

My case study Tommy Roberts: From Kleptomania To Two Columbia Road forms a chapter in new book British Design: Tradition And Modernity After 1948, which is published by Bloomsbury Academic tomorrow (October 22).

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Tags: Bernat Klein, British Design: Tradition And Modernity After 1948, Cheryl Buckley, City Lights Studio, Fiona Andersen, Henry Rothschild, Janine Barker, Jon Wealleans, Kleptomania, Mr Freedom, Owen Hatherley, Practical Styling, Primavera, Thomas Heatherwick, TomTom, Two Columbia Road

//Tommy Roberts, 1987. Photo: Christopher Clunn//

Sad to note the anniversary today of the death of Tommy Roberts, flamboyant design entrepreneur and subject of my book Mr Freedom.

//Dedication (right) with (left on cover-flap) list of abiding interests (courtesy Eve Ferret + Mark Summerfield) and Brian Aris portrait//

//Roberts opened Kleptomania with Charlie Simpson in Kingly Street, central London, in 1966//

//Neon arch sales counter display designed by Jeffrey Pine for Mr Freedom, opened with partner Trevor Myles at 430 King’s Road in September 1969//

Here – with a selection of images from Mr Freedom – is an extract from an essay I have written about Roberts’ role in the development of design in Britain for Chris Breward and Ghislaine Wood’s book British Design: Tradition & Modernity, which will be published by Bloomsbury next year.

It is arguable that wider recognition for Tommy Roberts’ audacious innovations in the promotion of street style, furniture, gastronomy, home-wares, interiors and collectables was undercut by his refusal to observe the sensitivities of England’s post-war design world.

Roberts adopted an ebullient public persona to match his stout physique and broad Cockney accent. “I’m the most vulgar man in fashion, darlin’!” Roberts proclaimed to the no-less outrageous Sunday Times fashion editor Molly Parkin in the heyday of his Pop Art fashion and objects emporium Mr Freedom.

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Tags: Chris Breward, City Lights Studio, Eve Ferret, Ghislaine Wood, Jeffrey Pine, Keith Roberts, Kilburn & The High Roads, Mark Summerfield, Molly Parkin, Mr Feed'Em, Paul Conroy, Practical Styling, Sunday Times, TomTom, Two Columbia Road

Proud to have known you Tommy. Writing the Mr Freedom book was an honour,  the most pleasurable experience of my career.

All photos: Brian Aris, 1986.

Tags: Brian Aris

On October 17 I’m hosting the opening session of the Pop! Design Study Day at London’s Fashion & Textile Museum.

The event is part of the FTM’s Pop! Design Culture Fashion exhibition and I’ll be kicking off proceedings in conversation with John Dove & Molly White, Antony Price and Tommy Roberts.

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Tags: Andrew Logan, Antony Price, Fashion & Textile Museum, Glenn Adamson, JOhn Dove, Jon Wealleans, Justin de Villenueve, Keith Wainwright, Molly White, Natalie Gibson, Peter York, Priceless, Steve Jones, Sue Timney, V&A

The September 2012 issue of GQ features this David Parkinson photograph of the interior of Tommy Roberts and Trevor Myles’ Mr Freedom at 430 King’s Road.

One of a number of previously-unpublished photographs in Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero, this shot captures the extraordinary fit-out Myles and Roberts’ commissioned from pioneering East End design team Electric Colour Company.

Read my post about ECC’s achievements  – with interviews and many illustrations, still the only piece to be published anywhere about this important but sorely neglected group of British artist/designers – here.

Tags: 1969, David Parkinson, Electric Colour Company, GQ, Trevor myles

//Roberts, right, tries on a military greatcoat at I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet//

Look out for an appearance by Tommy Roberts – subject of my new book – in the 1967 documentary Three Swings On A Pendulum, currently available for viewing (in the UK at least) on BBC iPlayer.

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Tags: Arnold Wesker, BBC, Ben Olins, Biba, Carnaby Street, Charlie Simpson, Gear, Geraldine Chaplin, Granny Takes A trip, I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet, John Paul, John Pearse, King's Road, Lewis Nkosi, Male W1, Olivier Todd, Oz, Portobello Road, Robert Hughes, Three Swings On A Pendulum

Thanks to photographer David Reed for this portrait of Tommy Roberts and John  Paul in much satin finery in the office hallway above their Mr Freedom boutique at 20 Kensington Church Street in 1971.

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Tags: 1971, David Reed, John Paul, Kensington Church Street, Mr Freedom, Nova, Radio Times, Sunday Times Magazine

//Pages 108-111, The Word, August 2012.//

Out later this week, the final issue of The Word marks a significant staging post in the story of magazine publishing in the digital age.

Champions of the written word and intelligent discourse about popular culture, the editorial team headed by veteran double-act Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have assembled a fine last edition in which I’m stoked to be included, with an extract from Mr Freedom about Tommy Roberts’ involvement in the mid-70s British music scene (including never-previously revealed details of Roberts’ loaning of rehearsal space to the nascent Sex Pistols, the burglary of his shop City Lights Studio by members of the group and Malcolm McLaren’s interest in managing Ian Dury).

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Tags: David Hepworth, Ian Dury, Mark Ellen, Rough KIds, Sex Pistols, The Word

//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.

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Tags: Adelita, Amber Butchart, Bruce Marcus, Caz Facey, Chris Salewicz, Clive Jennings, Daisy de Villeneuve, Derek Boshier, Eve Ferret, Gerald Tilling, Hamish McAlpine, Ian Bodenham, Ian Johns, Jan de Villeneuve, Jane Roberts, Jeff Dexter, Jenny Ross, Jimmy Page, John Ingham, John Pearse, Johnny Deluxe, Julie Logan, Justin de Villeneuve, Katherine Higgins, Keith Roberts, Kevin Rowland, Kirsty Hislop, Laura Kitty, Leslie Poole, Liz Egglestone, Mandi Martin, Mark Powell, Mark Summerfield, Martin Cole, Natalie Gibson, Nick Abrahams, Nick Logan, Nisha Thirkell, Pamina Caruso Brassey, Paula McGinley, Pete Barrett, Pinkitessa, Pippa Brooks, Robert Ashton, Robert Orbach, Siobhan Fahey, Tapper Zukie, Trevor Mill, Two Columbia Road