1977-1982 was arguably the most fertile period in British music history. I was at school then and almost everyone was into at least one of a complete soundclash of music genres – including punk, new wave, disco, soul, funk, heavy rock, mod, two-tone, early rap, hip hop, electronica, and the new romantic bands. Many of these genres peaked in that five-year period. There were few ways to self-identify back then other than a tribal fashion allegiance to your favorite kind of music.
After a while, initially very individualistic fashion looks started to seem quite restrictive. Clone punks and mods etc almost looked mainstream and creative thinkers around the UK moved on style-wise. Director Kevin Hegge’s excellent feature-length documentary debut documents a group of creative people in London who, post-punk, had each developed their own unique fashion style and slowly got to know each other through legendary London nightclubs such as the Blitz, Cha Chas, Taboo, the Camden Palace and Kinky Gerlinky. They also met through working on iconic filmmaker Derek Jarman’s sets or via Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss World competitions. London’s art and fashion colleges were also very instrumental in bringing this predominantly queer group of people together.
London was somewhat of a backwater to New York during this period. New York had Studio 54, plus a great downtown club scene including Area, Paradise Garage, and Save the Robots, as well as emerging graffiti artists and fantastic queer nightlife. London had none of this. London rents were, however, very cheap and the profusion of empty properties made squatting an easy option. This, combined with the availability of student grants, unemployment benefits and housing benefits meant that it was possible to live in London without working, allowing creative people time to develop their craft.
Hegge interviews about 20 people from back then, including, amongst others, stylist Judy Blame, filmmaker John Maybury, artist Dougie Fields, DJ Princess Julia, filmmaker/DJ Jeffery Hinton, model Scarlett Cannon, club promoter Philip Sallon, the Bodymap designers Stevie Stewart and David Holah, musician Mark Moore, promoter Michael Costiff, dancer Les Child, Roxy Club promoters Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington and photographer/film-maker Mark Lebon. Together they paint a picture of a life of creative cross-pollination amid London’s nightclubs, squats, studios and film sets. There were no limits to the hedonism or avant-garde fashion looks, or to their collaborations across music, fashion, dance, video, and film-making. The DIY fashion culture of punk and new wave remained but the homemade outfits were more likely to be inspired by Bowie, Roxy Music, pirates, robots or 19th Century aristocracy – anything glamorous to forget about the bleak real world of recession and Thatcherism. This group of people (of which of course only a few are interviewed) helped shaped British youth culture for a decade or more.
Hegge combines the current interviews with amazing, rarely seen archive footage, interviews and stills from the period and together with a great soundtrack, paints a picture of a very influential period in London’s creative past.
All good things come to an end and we hear about how many people in and around this scene were affected by heroin addiction as well as the AIDS crisis, which began around 1981/82 and took a huge toll. Derek Jarman, Leigh Bowery, John Crancher, Vaughn Toulouse and Ray Petri, amongst so many more, all died of AIDS-related illnesses. I often wonder how the world’s creative map would look if AIDS hadn’t happened.
40 years later London is prohibitively expensive to live in, and a lot more corporate, so lives like these are hard to afford now. I doubt, however, if many people would swap living now for living in a Thatcher-era that was far more homophobic, sexist, and racist and without HIV treatment. Notwithstanding that, this is an amazing documentary full of grand personalities, nostalgia, great anecdotes, and funny asides. Highly recommended.
Review: Ris Fatah Queerguru Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
