The new issue of British GQ Style features an essay by me about the late Freddie Hornik, the man responsible for exporting Britain’s dandy peacock look around the world in the 70s.
Hornik was a trained tailor who had worked at London rock hangout The Speakeasy before managing Dandie Fashions in Chelsea. When he acquired the boutique Granny Takes A Trip from founders Sheila Cohen and Nigel Waymouth in 1969, Hornik engineered the installation of Americans Marty Breslau and Gene Krell at 488 King’s Road and forged ahead with partner branches in New York and Los Angeles which attracted the international glitterati.
A lot of detail and background info for the piece came from talent agent Roger Klein, who managed the LA outlets as a young man and has become Hornik’s champion since his death in February 2009.
Klein also took many of the photographs in the scrapbook Hornik maintained for 40-odd years. Thanks are also due to Hornik’s cousin Alex Jarrett, who entrusted the scrapbook to my care a couple of years back.
Buy GQ Style S/S 16 here.
