Vogue India June 2019

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Inthelate1970sandearly’80spunk

was at its peak. The iconoclastic

movementwasdestroyingthestatus

quo, making provocative statements

withtorn,distressedlooks.TheNew

Romanticsbecamethepost-punkaes-

thetic response; they channelledthe

decorativeandtheexaggerated—ref-

erencingfilmslikeFellini’sRomaand

CasanovaandMarcelCarné’sLesEn-

fants duParadis. It was theatrical,

artificialand gender-fluid, with boys

in makeup, flamboyantoutfits made

by fashion-school kids from Central

SaintMartinsandMiddlesexUniver-

sity, mixed with vintage pieces and

periodstagecostumesfroma theatre

costumer going out of business.

BoyGeorge,AdamAnt,DuranDuran

andSpandauBalletcameoutofthat.

I was a school boy inLondon then,

and I was completely enthralled!

And it all revolved around these

clubsinLondon.

INTHEBLITZ

My first encounterwith the New Ro-

mantics wasasa teenager ata club

calledTheBlitz.It wasincredible.Ev-

eryone had a different look, which

theywould workall weektocreate.

They’dmakeit intheirfashionclosets

orathomeatnight, andyoufellby

theswordif your lookdidn’tmatch

up. These were mostly people who

didn’thavemuchmoney—theywere

inart schoolongovernmentgrants,

livinginstudentaccommodationand

welfareapartments.Withnexttono

resources, they were wonderfully

creative and imaginative—it was

terriblyinspiring.

Later,I wenttoSaintMartinstodo

my foundation course, and subse-

quently,fashionschool.JohnGallia-

no emerged out of that movement,

andthecollectionhedidatSaintMar-

tinsforhisdegreeshowwasinspired

bytheNewRomanticsandbasedon

the idea of the Incroyables and the

Merveilleuses—the male and female

dandieswhowereborninthewakeof

the FrenchRevolutionand dressedin

thisextremeRepublicanway.Hiscol-

lection had an edge, though; there

wasa bitofpunkmixedin,whichis

whatmadeitexciting.Italsoreflected

thescene—thoughthepeoplelooked

amazing,thoseclubswerea bitrough

andready.

Therewasalso theChaChaClub

and the amazing Scarlett Cannon—

shewasthewomanstationedattheir

door.Shehada littlehandmirrorthat

shewouldholduptoyouif shedidn’t

think your look passed muster, and

would say, “Would you let yourself

intothisclub?”It wasthegreatesthu-

miliation! Bythen,fashionhadmoved

onfromtheNewRomanticstosome-

thing called Hard Times,personified

bythebandDexysMidnightRunners;

it was kind of all denim dungarees

andeveryonelookeda bitDickensian

ragamuffin.Boy Georgeand Culture

Clubcameoutofthatmoment.That

waswhenhedid‘DoYouReallyWant

toHurtMe’andallthosegreatearly

songs.

Andofcourse,youcan’tremember

nights atChaChaClubwithoutthe

phenomenal Leigh Bowery. He was

fromsometinytownintheAustralian

outback, asfarasI couldtell,andhe

cametoLondonwitha dreamof being

somebody.Heeventuallyrana clubof

his own called Taboo, ironically

named, of course, because nothing

was tabooinside. Hewas physically

larger than life—this tall, strapping

Clubbers,includingDJ

PrincessJuliaandBoy

George’sco-designerMike

Nichols,at LeighBowery’s

clubTabooin Londonin 1986