//Window display for Impresario at the New Museum, Sept 16 – Nov 20, 1988. Image from the New Museum Digital Archive//

//Introduction to the show. Image from the New Museum Digital Archive//

My biography of the late Malcolm McLaren will now be published in April 2020, exactly 10 years after his premature death at the age of 64.

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Tags: Adam Ant, Art & Text, Catherine McGann, Impresario: Malcolm McLaren & The British New Wave, Keith Haring, Marcia Tucker, New Museum Of Contemporary Art, Paul Taylor, Vivienne Westwood, William Olander, Witches

In my twin capacities as “biographer” of The Face and curator of last year’s British independent magazine exhibition PRINT!, I’ve been asked publicly and privately for my thoughts on the imminent online relaunch of the title (the plan is that the quarterly physical edition will follow in August, carrying a September dateline).

So here they are:

It’s interesting that the greatest anticipation for the magazine’s return is being generated for and by the fashion community. The PRs, writers, stylists and students who kept the flame alive after the publication’s 2004 demise are now busily banging the drum in response to the relaunch’s oddly one-note Instagram branding exercise, filling their feeds with excited content.

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Tags: 032c, Accent, Apartamento, Aperture, Ashley Heath, Bauer, Beauty Papers, Buffalo Zine, Christopher Wylie, Dan Flower, Delayed Gratification, Electronic Sound, Emap, Facebook, Fantastic Man, Fred Perry, Gal-dem, Gucci, Inez & Vinoodh, Interview, Jason Gonsalves, Jeremy Leslie, Jerry Perkins, Liv Siddall, MacGuffin, Migrant Journal, Mojo, Monocle, Mushpit, Nick Logan, No Man’s Land, Orlando, Paris Vogue, Positive News, Q, Riposte, Shamir Sanni, Sheryl Garratt, Stuart Brumfitt, Suspira, System, The Gentlewoman, The Skirt Chronicles, THIIIRD, Twin, Virgil Abloh, Wasted Talent, Weapons Of Reason

Two decades apart, the editors of the American and British editions of Condé Nast’s Vogue began their respective careers with modest contributions to prominent independent youth culture publications of their day.

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Tags: Anna Winter, Anna Wintour, Beth Summers, Condé Nast, Edward Enninful, Edward Enninfuo, Harper's Bazaar, i-D, James Wedge, Richard Branson, Simon Foxton, Stephen Bobroff, Vogue

This blog has inspired the creation of yet another t-shirt series.

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Tags: Bad Seed, Billy Miller, Miriam Linna, Peel + Lift, Rock Roll Repeat

Arriving in a kinky sealed purple polythene envelope, If I Was Your Girlfriend: A Jam is the new publication which has been issued as a companion piece to last spring’s exhibition at London’s leading edge art space Belmacz.

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Tags: Belmacz, Craig Sinnoman, If I Was Your Girlfriend: A Jam, Jarvis Cocker, Joel Tomlin, Julia Muggenburg, Magdalena Drwiega, Michael Bracewell, Paul Housely, Paul Kindersley, Prince, Rebecca Arnold

I’m grateful to Peter Stanfield, media and arts professor at the University of Kent, for alerting me to these great images of members of Shakin’ Stevens’ backing band The Sunsets sporting T-shirts designed by the late Malcolm McLaren for sale in his shop Let It Rock at 430 King’s Road in the early 70s.

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Tags: 430 King's Road, Ace Skudder, Alasdair McLellan, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Let It Rock, London Rock 'N' Roll Festival, Malcolm McLaren, Man About Town, Olivier Rizzo, Peter Stanfield, Robert "Rockin' Louie" Lewellyn, Rock Rock Rock!, the 101'ers, Tony Britnall, University of Kent, Vive le Rock!

On February 5 I’ll be taking part in a conversation about the significance of the late art dealer Robert Fraser at Gazelli Art House, the London gallery currently hosting Robert Fraser’s Groovy Arts Club Band, the exhibition of works by 13 of the cutting edge artists he represented between the 1960s and 1980s.

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Tags: David Stephenson, Harriet Vyner, Josh Stapleton, Richard Hamilton, Robert Fraser, Robert Fraser's Groovy Arts Club Band, Swingeing London, Yuki Shima

What Men Wear is the self-explanatory title of a slim volume from the Fantastic Man gang which punches well above its weight.

Containing questionnaires with 50 men on their favourite garments, the book also presents long-form interviews with three of the fashion world’s leading figures: Italian designer Stefano Pilati, British designer Charles Jeffrey and retailer Paul Smith.

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Tags: Brown's, Caterine Milinaire, Charles Jeffrey, Charlie MacLean, Cheap Chic, Devendra Banhart, Fantastic Man, Fennica, Irvin Pascal, Orslow, Paul Smith, Stefano Pilati, What Men Wear

I’m indebted to reader Dave Shaw, who has sent me the photograph above left of himself wearing a very rare rock fashion garment: one of the canvas and leather jackets made famous by Rod Stewart, who sported his on the sleeve of 1970 solo album Gasoline Alley.

The cream jackets with heraldic-style brown trim were made by the maverick British tailor and leatherworker Colin Bennett and co-designed with Lloyd Johnson for sale in Kensington Market in the early 70s.

“When I bought it the guy told me it was the last of three; the others had gone to Rod Stewart and Allan Clarke of The Hollies,” says Shaw. In fact, as Johnson reveals in the comment below, Bennett made around 20 (and Stewart’s has survived in a collector’s archive).

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Tags: Allan Clarke, Bona Clouts, Colin Bennett, Cream, Dave Shaw, Gasoline Alley, Granny Takes A trip, Hampstead, Lloyd Johnson, Rod Stewart

British fashion designer John Alexander Skelton’s preview of his latest collection at the ancient Fleet Street watering hole Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was a sensually overloaded and eerie delight.

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Tags: Alsatia, Clive Jennings, Dolmen Music, Hobo-Punkature, John Alexander Skelton, Oscar Foster-Kane, Stephen Jones, The House Of Beauty & Culture, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese