I’ve been enjoying researching materials relating to the late photographer David Parkinson for a feature for GQ magazine, so thought I’d share some of the images I dug out of the Parkinson archive concerning the 70s King’s Road retro clothing store Acme Attractions.
Parkinson’s position as fashion editor of Paul Raymond’s sophisticated soft-porn magazine Club International enabled him to style and present Acme clothing for a wide readership, on occasion using the shop team as models.
Acme was opened by Parkinson’s friend Stephan Raynor (they’d known each other since they were part of a gang of style-obsessed teenagers in Leicester in the early 60s) with John Krivine, previously a Brixton-based jukebox dealer, in 1974.
I remember Acme well and had a few pieces from there; as I wrote in The Look, first from a stall on the ground level and subsequently in the basement of the King’s Road’s antiques market Antiquarius, Acme Attractions offered an inclusive counterpoint to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s SEX, cherry-picking the best of what would be now termed vintage from the 40s to the 60s.
The walls of the basement shop were lined with Parkinson’s selection of photographs, including a portrait of Princess Margaret and her photographer husband Lord Snowdon (who Parkinson had assisted after leaving college) jumping in mid-air and a collection of zoot-suit clad stylers. A frame from the Club International shoot appeared on a promotional poster.
In the outlet, an original 60s scooter, provided by customer Jay Strongman, was a focal display piece, and managers Jeanette Lee and Don Letts pumped out the very latest releases from what was in hindsight the heyday of dub reggae.
Like the manifestations at 430 King’s Road (which Parkinson’s work also showcased), Acme Attractions was both a delight and an education. It was also an important building block in the visual identity of both punk and post-punk, particularly New Romantic.
In 1977 Raynor and Krivine went all out and gave up Acme in favour of a new outlet selling new, Seditionaries-influenced designs at 135 King’s Road: BOY.
Enjoy these images and look out for the Parkinson feature in GQ, which will include previously unpublished photographs of McLaren and Westwood, some inside Let It Rock when it first opened, and clothes from that incarnation of 430 King’s Road as well as Paradise Garage, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die and SEX. It is scheduled to appear in a few months.
Martin Richards
May 14, 2014 at 4:59 pmI was glad and sad to see your article in GQ about Dave Parkinson as I remember him well from a nine month stay in The Regent Street Poly hall of residence in Bolsover Street, W1. He was certainly a stylish dresser especially compared to my long-haired scruffy self. I particularly remember his waistcoats with inlaid mirror glass! He used to disappear to the Speakeasy in Margaret Street late in the evening and report sightings of celebrities the next day. I also remember going with him to see the Family, friends of his from Leicester, at the Marquee club and Woburn Festival where they were supporting Jimi Hendrix, They blew Jimi away – but we were slightly biased!
I flunked my course and lost touch after the summer of 1968 – I don’t think he graduated that year as you state, but I might be wrong. All the rest I didn’t know about. Such a shame. Martin
Paul Gorman Author
May 14, 2014 at 5:03 pmDear Martin
Thanks for your comment; very interesting. When do you reckon he graduated?
Andrew Wakeford
July 18, 2014 at 10:04 amHi Paul, I was in the same college year as Dave, and we began studying in 1967. I left in 1969, whereas Dave stayed on and finished with distinction in 1970. I think something like 5 people passed after an original intake of 36. We both lived in a house in Finsbury Park with another couple of mates and I started working for Derek Coutts (at Julian Seddon studios in Nottingham Place) in late 1970 and stayed with Derek until the end of February 1971. Dave took over my job assisting Derek and when I returned from my travels, I started working at East Ham Tech until the summer holidays. On hearing I was leaving that job too, he applied and got it. (Making a much better job of it than I had, I’d like to add.) By this time I had moved to Germany, but we still kept in touch and I visited him in London from time to time. I really appreciate the article you wrote, although I have to say it’s the first time I’ve seen his death officially described as a suicide. Maybe it’s just something we didn’t want to face up to, although in some ways, it was staring us in the face. Cheers, Andrew
Andrew Wakeford
July 18, 2014 at 1:38 pmWe both lived in a house in Finsbury Park with another couple of mates and I started working for Derek Coutts (at Julian Seddon studios in Nottingham Place) in late 1969 and stayed with Derek until the end of February 1971.
(I’ve corrected the year to 1969, rather than 1970.)
Paul Gorman Author
July 22, 2014 at 7:47 amThank you for your comments Andrew; they have helped bring chronology and facts about David’s life into focus.
Hag
September 27, 2016 at 5:27 amDear Paul,
I have not seen your article on David Parkinson but am very interested to read the comments above.
I began studying photography in 1968 at the Poly and I can confirm the comments of Andrew’s above to be correct. I remember Dave well. He certainly had a flamboyance of style, even for those days coupled with a calm confidence. I recall his inlaid leather jacket and black and silver Cuban healed boots.
Shortly after he left college in June 1971 he exhibited in the 2nd show of the newly opened Photographers’ Gallery, then in Great Newport Street, London. The first in the UK dedicated to photography. Such was the quality of his work.
He showed his final year work which were stunning studio still lives of surreal, deeply colour saturated prints with stark white backgrounds. I recal a fish standing vertically out of a stemmed glass filled with ice cream and strawberries. Another, which another ex student in the year above Dave made a die transfer print for him of a champagne glass filled with strawberries and raw sausages.
These were way ahead of there time in his use of colour and the manner they subverted commercial photography into a fine art photography style. I cannot find any examples of these works.
Thank you for your information.
Best Wishes
Hag
Helen Robinson
October 26, 2018 at 8:30 amHi . I remember Dave .I too was from Leicester .I was Steph Rayners girlfriend at the time Dave killed himself .I used to go to London and sit round at Daves flat near Regents Park which he shared with his girlfriend Val .Dave and Steph would sit for hours tie grading , Sounds weird but thats what they were like kind of obsessive .I left Leicester a month after Dave died to live in London with Steph and went on to design for Acme which later became Boy .And then Steoh and I opened PX in James street .I noticed in your book that I was described as A girlfriend from Leicester by Steph .No credit for anything else .Ouch !
Im so pleased to have known David Parkinson .He was a real Gentleman which was rare those days .It s very sad that he decided to take his own life .What the real reasons were we will never know , but I was told at the time it happened that he had got into drugs in a big way which was something he never did .Do you know if this is true ?
Helen Robinson