Reflections on ... Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London exhibition

 

/ Portrait of Leigh Bowery at home (note the Star Trek wallpaper) / 

Finally getting around to posting a few shots I snapped from when I visited the Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London exhibition at London’s Fashion and Textiles Museum a few weeks ago. The exhibit documents the wildly vivid, creative and fertile post-punk, post-New Romantic period when edgy nightlife bled into and informed street fashion and youth subcultures (and the emerging style press like i-D magazine) and ultimately high fashion. Outlaws locates the epicentre of this scene as Taboo, the hedonistic and anarchic anything-goes club night organised by freaky and inspired drag terrorist / performance artist Leigh Bowery (1961 - 1994) in London’s Leicester Square from 1985. (Bowery is definitely enjoying a cultural moment: a major retrospective exhibit devoted to him opens on 27 February at Tate Modern). Anyway, some of the names and reference points you’ll encounter at the exhibit include Bad boy of dance Michael Clark. Judy Blame. Princess Julia. Pam Hogg. Boy George. Mark Moore of S’Express. Scarlett Cannon. John Galliano. Neneh Cherry. Sue Tilley. Susanne Bartsch. Lana Pellay. Kinky Gerlinky. Lloyd Johnson. Kensington Market. The show closes on 9 March 2025 so don’t delay!

/ Mannequins representing Scarlett Cannon and Leigh Bowery /

/ Mannequin representing Pete Burns of Dead or Alive /

/ Ensemble by Pam Hogg /

/ Polaroid of adorable young Princess Julia - the queen of my heart! /

/ Can't vouch for everything the mannequin is wearing, but I know that the gold leather fringed biker jacket and matching jeans are definitely by Lloyd Johnson and that Lux Interior of The Cramps wore this outfit in the 1980s /

Dame Zandra Rhodes' Christmas Pop-Up on 28 November 2024

 

Last week, venerable fuchsia-haired doyenne of fashion Dame Zandra Rhodes threw open the doors to her salon to the public for her annual Christmas pop-up – and I attended on Thursday 28 November with my glamourpuss German friend Anne Kathrin! 

For the uninitiated, Rhodes resides in the palatial “Rainbow Penthouse” above the bright orange Fashion and TextileMuseum in Bermondsey. Every time I attend an exhibit there, I wonder, Is Zandra at home? Can I pop up, say Hi and check out the view from her terrace? Well, reader, I finally got up there! Here’s my scene report! (The event was rammed with people but I did manage to snap some photos!). 

/ Life-size cardboard figure of Zandra Rhodes in the corner. /

/ Caftans. Caftans. CAFTANS! Rhodes is of course synonymous with filmy, float-y bedazzled chiffon caftans. /

/ Pop art portrait of Rhodes in hallway to her powder room. /

/ Decor in Zandra Rhodes' corridor. /

/ Diva summit meeting: Anne Kathrin with Dame Zandra Rhodes. By the way, Rhodes is standing in this pic - she is diminutive! Must be about 4'11"! /

/ Me in front of Zandra Rhodes' wall of faux Warhol portraits! /