If music gives each generation its beat (voice, context), iconic clothes riff off it. That’s the legacy of style as seen through subcultures in the UK throughout the 20th century, all the way from Teddy Boys to The Libertines...
If music gives each generation its beat (voice, context), iconic clothes riff off it. That’s the legacy of style as seen through subcultures in the UK throughout the 20th century, all the way from Teddy Boys to The Libertines.
With stagewear firmly established in the British vocabulary of fashion (both literally and inspiring everyday street/catwalk performance), a number of designers furthered the relationship between music and style by eroding the notion of hierarchy or privilege, dressing not only the protagonists but their fans too – think Malcolm and Vivienne, BOY and the much-overlooked Lloyd Johnson.
Tomorrow night, the latter will get his moment, with an exhibition at Chelsea Space, The Modern Outfitter, curated by author of The Look and pop culture historian, Paul Gorman.
“It's a celebration of one man's career in fashion and music,” Gorman explains to AnOther on the show. “Lloyd Johnson made an important contribution to carving the visual identity of our youth and popular culture. His clothes were everyday costume and wearing them empowered you, made you feel as strong as the more famous people who wore them, from Lux Interior and Tom Waits to Blondie and The Specials.”
Spanning from the mid-60s to 2000, when Johnson’s King’s Road shop closed its doors for good, the show is, on a broader scale, also a celebration of the independent shop as a great cultural institution.
“Napoleon called us a nation of shopkeepers, and he was right,” says Gorman. “I was lucky enough to be around in London when it was filled with fabulous boutiques, markets, record shops, bookshops, little out of the way galleries, clubs and club nights. The current era of fashion retailing is dominated by the mainstream, not the out-of-the-way: Westfield, Mary Portas... Ugh. My disgust at this set of circumstances was a major impulse in staging the show with Lloyd and his wife and partner Jill. Using Lloyd's personal possessions, posters, photographs, original drawings, artwork and clothes from collectors and customers I'm hoping visitors will be able to take a trip back, learn from the past and hopefully apply it to our present.”
"Lloyd Johnson's clothes were everyday costume and wearing them empowered you, made you feel as strong as the more famous people who wore them, from Lux Interior and Tom Waits to Blondie and The Specials."
Lloyd Johnson began selling clothes from Kensington Market in 1967, under the moniker The Heavy Metal Kids, which later became Cockle and Johnson (a dig at Jermyn Street), before finally Johnson & Johnson. His King’s Road outpost, Johnsons The Modern Outfitters, opened in 1978.
“Lloyd went to Hastings Art School so he understands visual impact; the clothes were like mini-collections, beautifully displayed,” Gorman enthuses. “If he did Rocker, there was every part of the apparel – great skull-and-bones t-shirts, jackets, trousers, boots in gold or with silver caps. If he did Mod it was from the original designs in lovely mohairs with Bluebeat hats and suede brogues, checkerboard ties and tab-collared shirts. The staff were glamorous but very friendly – nobody was trying to ‘be cool’ which is, of course the uncoolest thing – and the music being played was always spot-on: rare garage classics, weird voodoo instrumentals... It was like being a member of a club, which is why, I think, lots of disaffected and misfit types like myself were drawn to it.”
An era without stylists, a visit to Johnsons meant you’d be shoulder-to-shoulder with the day’s definitive musicians going through the racks: Elvis Costello, Billy Idol, Chrissie Hynde, Madness. “And then you'd see them wearing the clothes that night on Top Of The Pops or on their record sleeves.”
Part of Lloyd Johnson’s astuteness was the fact he created 12 different lines, each reflecting a different facet of the art of rock dress. La Rocka! was catalysed by rockabilly, Beat-Beat beatnik and Mex-Tex an interpretation of “really extravagant cowboy clothing. Lots of fringes.”
“In the book we've put together for the show, Nick Logan, the founder of The Face and Arena, describes Lloyd as one of the people who made London what it is today, a centre of international style, on a par with Paul Smith and Joseph Ettedgui. I agree – that's the truth,” praises Gorman.
Aiming to be as exciting as one of his shops, the traditional gallery mannerism of silence is usurped at The Modern Outfitter. You’ll hear everything from Television’s Marquee Moon to Night Of The Vampire by Screaming Lord Sutch.
Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter, curated by Paul Gorman runs until March 3 at Chelsea Space, Chelsea College of Art and Design, 16 John Islip Street, London SW1P.
Text by by Dean Mayo Davies
