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.
Continue reading Documentaries: Up pops Tommy Roberts in Three Swings On A Pendulum (1967)
Last night saw a preview on a giant outdoor screen in Chelsea’s Duke Of York Square of a couple of the new films celebrating the golden age of London boutique culture.
Continue reading Granny’s in Duke of York Square: Preview of the King’s Road Music + Fashion Trail
I was a consultant to design company Johnson Banks for the Royal Mail’s Great British Fashion first day cover stamps.
Continue reading Consulting: Royal Mail’s Great British Fashion stamps
Filming continued yesterday for this summer’s King’s Road Fashion & Music Trail, which is is being launched to visitors to west London’s historic thoroughfare as part of Kensington & Chelsea’s InTransit festival in July.
We will be covering all the boutique manifestations at 430 King’s Road; for a start I plumped for its incarnation as Paradise Garage in 1971, operated by Trevor Myles with Chris Snow and Diana Crawshaw.
Continue reading Memories of Dandie Fashions + Paradise Garage + a return to Granny’s
Yesterday filming started for this summer’s King’s Road Fashion & Music Trail, which is is being launched to visitors to west London’s historic thoroughfare as part of Kensington & Chelsea’s InTransit festival in July.
The films of sites which have housed important boutiques in the story of rock & roll fashion will be accessible for pedestrians via QR codes and also appear on the RBKC website and on Youtube.
Continue reading Filming: Lloyd Johnson and Nigel Waymouth for the King’s Road Fashion + Music Trail
The evening of my first encounter with Yuki Yoshioka – who performs and records as Control Freak!! – in April 2006 in Tokyo’s Red Bar sparked a cherished friendship but turned out to be more momentous for a member of our party, Meri.
Introduced that night, these days Meri and Yuki are married and live in London with their gorgeous daughter, Marika.
Continue reading Men Of The World: Yuki Yoshioka aka Control Freak!!
MY SPECULATION HERE SPARKED A TRAIL TO THE TRUE SOURCE OF THE MAIN IMAGE: THE ARTIST/PHOTOGRAPHER JIM FRENCH, WHO DREW THE COWBOYS FOR A SERIES CALLED LONGHORNS IN 1969 (SEE LINK AT END OF THIS POST).
The late Malcolm McLaren said he could never remember the origins of one of the most potent designs to emanate from 430 King’s Road in its six-decade history as a fashion emporium: the Cowboys t-shirt.
A couple of weeks back I and writer Teddy Jamieson strolled the length of the King’s Road for his piece on the thoroughfare for the Herald Scotland.
A couple of years back I interviewed Anita Pallenberg – who celebrated her birthday yesterday – for Mojo magazine.
The subject was the scene in and around the King’s Road in 1967. Crisp and funny, Pallenberg was just as buzzed about the present; visiting Karl Lagerfeld in Paris the next day, her interests in gardening and photography, the bargains to be found in charity shops and the notion of a collection based on the MA show from her studies at Saint Martins in the 90s.
A few months later, with her friend Anna Sui, Pallenberg participated in a rock & roll event I organised at the Port Eliot LitFest; after the show it was an honour to give her a vintage Vive Le Rock tee, which, of course, she wore with her trademark élan.
Here’s a refreshed and re-edited chance to appreciate this bewitching figure whose combination of innate style, fashion-savviness and earthy sexuality brought Continental sophistication to Swinging London and turned it on its head:
Gawky gamins and dolly-birds melted into insignificance in the presence of the impressive 21-year-old who arrived in London in 1965 having already studied graphic design in her native Rome, assisted Vogue photographer Gianni Penati and modelled in Paris.