//Starr on location in Let It Rock drape. Note bust darts.  From the front page of Disc & Music Echo, December 16, 1972. Photo: Uncredited//

In the autumn of 1972 the small King’s Road boutique Let It Rock, which had been open for less than a year, received a fillip when the owners Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood were asked to contribute costumes to the production of 50s Britrock movie That’ll Be The Day.

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Tags: Addie Isman, An An, David Essex, David Puttnam, Disc & Music Echo, Let It Rock, Marit Allen, Masayoshi Sukita, Ray Beck, Ringo Starr, Ruth Myers, Sandy Lieberson, Stardust, That'll Be The Day, The Roebuck, UK Vogue, Vivienne Westwood

//Ben Kelly underneath the Sex sign, 1975. Photo courtesy Ben Kelly//

I’m featuring this image of designer Ben Kelly in his persona of The Photo Kid in my presentation about the design history of 430 at the symposium Dead Or Alive: Popular Culture & The Interior, which takes place today at London’s ICA.

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Tags: Alice Rawsthorne, Andrew Wilson, Bridget Smith, David Toop, EDward Barber, Fred Deakin, Jana Scholze, Jay Osgerby, Lucy McKenzie, Michael Bracewell, Peter Saville, Peter York

//The four pairs of boots are classic examples of early 70s rock n roll style//

These rare and unusual boots are thought to have once belonged to Elton John; the current owner was told this when he acquired them.

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Tags: Annie Liebowitz, Caribou, Cecil Beaton, Elton John, Fashion An Anthology, Freddie Hornik, Gohil, Granny Takes A trip, Jim, Jim O'Connor, Joe Cocker, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Mr Freedom, Rolling Stone, V&A, Woodstock

//Detail from 1965 showcard: Derek Boshier and 1965 works. Photo: Annette Green//

//Card for Boshier’s show at the Fraser Gallery, March 30 – May 1, 1965. Design: David Cripps. Courtesy: Pace London//

Thanks to Pace London for providing scans of the showcard for Derek Boshier’s spring 1965 exhibition at Robert Fraser Gallery in Mayfair’s Duke Street.

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Tags: Annette Green, Brian Clarke, Colin Self, David Cripps, David Hockney, Duke Street, Plaza, Robert Fraser, Thames & Hudson, Whitford Art Gallery

/Left: Andrew Greaves of Electric Colour Company in the back of Paradise Garage, May 1971. Right: Vivienne Westwood in the back of Let It Rock, January 1972. Photos: David Parkinson//

Preparation for my paper at Ben Kelly’s interior design symposium Dead Or Alive has coincided with the refurbishment of the Worlds End shop at 430 King’s Road in Chelsea.

The address is the subject of my talk; I’ll be detailing the history of 430 and how and why it was an important social and cultural locus over a number of decades.

//Back wall of 430 King’s Road on the opening of Mr Freedom, September 1969. Interior: Electric Colour Company. Photo: David Parkinson//

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Tags: Andrew Greaves, Ben Kelly, Croydon Art School, Electric Colour Company, Frederick Freed, GQ Style, ICA, Let It Rock, Mr Freedom, Paradise Garage, Screaming Lord Sutch, Vivienne Westwood

//Poster 59 x 42cm. Garden Service, Apolonija Šušteršič with Meike Schalk, 2007//

This handsome fold-out poster is for the exhibition Potential Architecture, which opens at London’s Ambika P3 on March 11.

//Clockwise from top right: Pavilion For Vodka Drinking Ceremonies, Alexander Brodsky, 2004; It Was All A Dream, Joar Nango, 2013; Garden Service, Apolonija Šušteršič (co-author Meike Schalk), 2007; Levitation, Sean Griffiths, 2015//

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Tags: Alexander Brodsky, Ambika P3, Apolonija Šušteršič, David Thorp, Joar Nango, Sean Griffiths, University of Westminster

//Pussy Riot on the set of the promo video for I Can’t Breathe. Photo: Denis Sinyakov//

I received a message from Richard Hell: “Check out this wildness.”

So I did.

It’s I Can’t Breathe, Pussy Riot’s first English-language release, about the furore surrounding the death last year of Eric Garner.  Hell recites Garner’s final words on the track.

“It felt weird to speak the words of a black man killed by the police, when I’m this privileged white guy,” Hell told Pitchfork. “At the same time, I believe in Pussy Riot. I have faith in them. I think they’re for real.”

Read all about the recording of I Can’t Breathe here.

Tags: Andrew Wyatt, Eric Garner, I Can't Breathe, Jack Wood, Nick Zinner, Pitchfork, Pussy Riot, Richard hell, Scofferlane, Shahzad Ismaily, The Ceramic Dog

//A US vintage company is unwittingly featuring this forgery as an original t-shirt from Seditionaries on its Instagram feed. The unpleasant item is an example of the accelerating trade in McLaren/Westwood fakes, where previously non-existent designs – often with repellent overtones – are touted as ultra-rare one-offs//

//Banal content: More examples of previously non-existent designs marketed as McLaren/Westwood originals – complete with Seditionaries-style labels – from a Chinese retailer’s site last year. Note the design at bottom left has a fake label whereas the one at the top of this post does not//

//Above: A selection of more of the crude new designs touted as original garments on Japanese auction site Seditionaries Shop, which claimed more than 300 sales at prices averaging £150//

Since Malcolm McLaren’s death nearly five years ago there has been a palpable rise in the plundering of the designs – in particular the graphics produced for t-shirts – he created with Vivienne Westwood in the 1970s.

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Tags: Addicted To Chaos, Beijing, fullbreach77, Seditionaries, Vivienne Westwood

//Roxy, 25 Kensington Church Street, 1972. Photo: Masayoshi Sukita//

//Inside Roxy, 1972: Shelley Martin in a flamenco dress designed by Dinah Adams. Photo: Masayoshi Sukita//

//Some of the Roxy crowd photographed around the corner from the shop (from left): The late Granny’s co-owner Marty Breslau, whose ensemble includes a Wonder Workshop top; Louise Doktor; Shelley Martin; John Knight. Photo: Masayoshi Sukita//

I’ve been aware of the existence of the Kensington boutique Roxy for some time, particularly since the store name was used as the title of the feature on London street fashion in a 1972 edition of Japanese magazine An An.

But my curiosity was pricked recently while browsing that same issue of An An which appears in Freddie Hornik’s scrapbook (see last post).

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Tags: American John, An An, Anella and Davide, Biba, City Lights Studio, Dave "Che" Shimeld, Derek Harris, Freddie Hornik, Granny Takes A trip, Janet Street-Porter, John Bishop, John Knight, Ken Todd, Kensington Church Street, Let It Rock, Louise Doktor, Marty Breslau, Masayoshi Sukita, Mr Freedom, Roxy, Roxy Music, Shelley Martin, Sheridan Barnett, Trevor myles, West One

//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