Iain R Webb – ➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣ (original) (raw)
Tag Archives: Iain R Webb
➤ The makings of Scarlett, a perfect muse for the Eighties
Scarlett Cannon at her preview: flanked by DuoVision curators James Lawler and Martin Green. (Photo © Melanie Smith)
◼ WHICH ICON OF THE EIGHTIES catapulted herself to fame using a single name, sculpted hair and red lips? The clue is in the exhibition title just opened in Liverpool: Scarlett Woman. The Gallery in Stanhope Street is crammed with dozens of instantly recognisable images of her in all media – posters, prints, drawings, photos, videos, holograms, mosaics, sculpture and even painting. Fortunately the savviest interpreter of 80s style is at hand to make sense of the life and times of Scarlett Cannon, since she began fronting a club-night called Cha-Cha in 1981. In a guide to the exhibition, the lynchpin fashion editor Iain R Webb outlines how he promoted her career as model and muse.
He writes with intense concision: “It was a time of transformation and transgression, self-expression and collective empowerment. I was immediately taken by Scarlett’s uniqueness, an individual look being our club-kid rallying cry. With her startling peroxide blond haircut and a profile almost as flat as her reflection in the mirror she was magnificent!”
Scarlett says: “I wanted to look like a black and white photograph.” And Webb was happy to oblige, styling her in fashion spreads for BLITZ magazine. “She was an ideal made real, the perfect muse. We shared a common aim: to present our version of the world that celebrated difference and redefined beauty.” Scarlett, he reports, emerged from London’s demi-monde “artfully constructed from captured moments from yesteryear movies and imagined narratives. We made it up as we went along. . . Scarlett has always lived on the outskirts.” She adds: “It was extreme, we were really not afraid and we lived in a different world then.”
Scarlett with Maude, alongside David Hiscock’s 1985 photograph, scarfed by Hermès. (Liverpool photo by Marc Albert)
Never before has there been such a perfect summary of the ingredients that made the Swinging Eighties unique, though Webb’s consummate book As Seen in Blitz: Fashioning ’80s Style came close in 2013. Coincidentally that was the year that Scarlett was visible across London as the poster girl for the V&A’s brave exhibition Club to Catwalk, a sharp retrospective nailing London fashion in the Eighties.
What’s impressive about the Liverpool retrospective mounted by the DuoVision team James Lawler and Martin Green is the number of artists whose work it embraces. . . Andrew Logan, Derek Jarman, Nick Knight, Robyn Beeche, Monica Curtin, Mark Lebon, Thomas Degen, Donald Urquhart, David Hiscock, Julian Kalinoswki, Sadie Lee, Judy Blame and others – most intriguingly the Polish expressionist painter Feliks Topolski, whose huge Punk Triptych makes a rare outing.
VIDEO TOUR BY MARK JORDAN
➢ Scarlett Woman runs until 15 September at The Gallery Liverpool, 41 Stanhope St, Liverpool, L8 5RE
➢ Gender-bending 1980s muse paints the town Scarlett – review in the Art Newspaper
➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s: Scarlett from i-D cover girl to glamorous gardening mode
➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s: 2013, Webb’s flipside of the 80s fashion revolution
Scarlett Cannon with a slice of history: Feliks Topolski’s enormous Punk Triptych en route to Liverpool
REMEMBERING TOPOLSKI
➢ Feliks Topolski’s reputation reaches back to King George V’s silver jubilee while his monumental postwar mural of people and events called Topolski Century was unveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh and housed in the artist’s studio in the Hungerford Bridge arches beside the Festival Hall, where his legacy at Bar Topolski today is well worth a visit. His caricatures adorned the opening credits of John Freeman’s landmark series of TV interviews, Face to Face.
Posted in art, biography, caricature, Clubbing, exhibitions, Fashion, History, photography, Pop music, Reviews, sculpture, Swinging 80s, videos, Youth culture
Tagged Derek jarman, Duovision, Feliks Topolski, Iain R Webb, James Lawler, Mark Jordan, Martin Green, Nick Knight, Robyn Beeche, Scarlett Cannon, Scarlett Woman, The Gallery Liverpool, Thomas Degen
2019 ➤ Lawrie’s Eleven talk candidly of being young black and gay in ways many of us never knew
Discussion following Beyond at Vogue Fabrics Dalston: around Claire Lawrie wearing white), Andy Polaris, Roy Brown, David Holah, Iain R Webb, Greg Davis. (Photo Shapersofthe80s)
◼ WELL THAT WAS A HILARIOUS BOUT OF GAY BANTER following the first community screening of director Claire Lawrie’s Iris prize-winning short documentary featuring eleven highly individual creatives telling their stories about growing up black and queer in 1970s and 80s Britain. Thursday’s screening at Vogue Fabrics Dalston of Beyond “There’s always a black issue, Dear” was as moving and thoughtful as it was entertaining. Joining Claire in Thursday’s follow-on discussion were some of its stars, Frank Akinsete, Andy Polaris, Roy Brown and Winn Austin, plus David Holah, Iain R Webb, Greg Davis, Shaun Cole and other individualists who made their mark before and during Margaret Thatcher’s regime.
Navigating their gender-fluid youth in this period of cultural and political turbulence saw the protagonists tackling things their own way. London’s alternative nightclub scene provided sanctuary for disco to meet soul and punks to become Blitz Kids. As fierce LGBTQ trailblazers, the cast recount vivid memories which tell of singular determination and of resisting definition, through dance, art, fashion and music and seeing their ideas appropriated by the mainstream. The film acknowledges the importance of family, whether as parents or a group of like-minded friends. “You needed somewhere to go where you felt good about yourself,” and in the post-punk moment that meant Soho nightclubs such as Crackers and Billy’s.
Claire Lawrie with guests outside Vogue Fabrics Dalston: Frank Akinsete, Pippa Brooks, Winn Austin. (Photo Andy Polaris)
In Thursday’s discussion Frank said that race itself wasn’t the issue, simply feeling “weird”. Within black circles the choice was also between reggae or soul, Andy said on today’s Robert Elms show on BBC Radio London: “The power of the film is not just about gay or straight, black or white – we were all rejects from some type of conservatism and we came together in a safe space where we could explore ourselves.”
Also on the Elms show, Claire said the film started with Les Childs being in Lindsay Kemp’s company in the mid-70s (he later worked with Michael Clark and choreographed for the Pet Shop Boys) and goes through to 1991 and the Michael and Gerlinde Costiff club Kinky Gerlinky. Claire added: “London is another star of this film – we all moved to London to be individual.”
There’s another screening tonight (6 July) at the Conduit club in Mayfair as part of BlackOut’s starry Pride programme (tickets via Eventbrite) and again on 23 July at Manchester Pride, with another hopefully in Liverpool.
Andy, Bob and Claire at BBC Radio London
➢ Andy Polaris and Claire Lawrie talk about Beyond on today’s Robert Elms show at BBC Radio London
TRAILER for BEYOND
Posted in black issues, Blitz Kids, Clubbing, Fashion, Film, gay issues, History, interviews, London, Radio, sexuality, Swinging 80s, Youth culture
Tagged Andy Polaris, BBC Radio London, Beyond There’s always a black issue Dear, BlackOut UK, Claire Lawrie, Conduit Club, David Holah, Frank Akinsete, GQ, Greg Davis, Iain R Webb, Iris Prize, Les Childs, Manchester Pride, Michael Costiff, Robert Elms, Roy Brown, Shaun Cole, Vogue Fabrics Dalston, Winn Austin
➤ Fashionista Webb plays Sherlock to shed light on the mysteries of a smart invitation
Webb’s book launch: “It’s all about ego.” (Pic by Hugo von Hugo)
◼ ANOTHER YEAR ANOTHER BOOK LAUNCH. Here’s Iain R Webb doing the honours signing his latest in Mayfair this week – here for Hugo von Hugo, there for Helen David, there again for Carol Morgan, a professional trend tracker who, he swears, leaves a lasting impression on students at Central Saint Martins, something he knows about himself after four decades of journalism and professorialising. “It’s all about ego,” he declares. “That’s the only reason we do it.” A gaggle of respected colleagues are celebrating, from Hilary Alexander down. Let’s not forget Iain himself has edited quite a few smart fashion pages from The Times and Evening Standard to Elle and Harpers & Queen, since his first forays with Blitz.
This evening is what somebody calls a proper fashion event. Not only is Iain signing his latest book, Invitation Strictly Personal, at a launch party hosted by the Duke Street Emporium, the W1 outpost of Jigsaw, but he has also curated an in-store installation inspired by the book’s theme of whimsical, controversial and artistic promotional wheezes. Webb’s own art works are on sale alongside London Fashion Week T-shirts and totebags he has designed. On top of which is a modest display of his fashion ephemera over at Somerset House, while minor gems left out of the book also form the longest Tumblr on the Showstudio website you’ve ever tried to scroll infinitely.
The guests: Click any pic below to launch slideshow
In her foreword to the book, New York-based designer Anna Sui says the trick of a good invitation to a runway show is to allude to the themes of the collection, without giving away too much. Iain says the quandary faced by designers is to create a buzz while ensuring they get the right bums on front-row seats. His big hardback tome poses as a pick-and-dip coffee-table book of seemingly random moments hinting at one man’s dash through a world of smart bric-a-brac. It is more Sherlockian than that, and proves to be an erudite deconstruction of 300 totemic invitations to prestigious fashion events, plus images of promotional treats, none of which the public ever sees. They form a dotty archive while Iain’s insight wrings observation and surprise out of scores of renowned designers from Kenzo, Hamnett, Gaultier, Miyake, Capellino, Dior to any number of former Blitz Kids. Cent magazine calls it all “beyond fascinating”.
The joy of the champagne book-launch is Hils Alexander working the room garlanded in her infamous string of sacred Roman amulets she claims have power over male fertility. Oo-er. Helen David of English Eccentrics notes that Wendy Dagworthy is wearing Marni shoes (is this comfort envy, one-up-manship or simple irony?). Tony Glenville says the event is “like a live Facebook” though Sam McKnight admits afterwards: “I didn’t get any photos, I was too high on nostalgia!”
Also present are Mouchette Bell, Alison Hargreaves, Paul Curtin, Franceska Luther King, Marcelo Anciano, Louise Constad, Fiona Dealey, John Galliano (or his spooky lookalike), Carol Morgan, Jacques Azagury, Lucinda Alford, John Prew, Robert Leach, Sarah Dallas, Tony Bannister, Colin McDowell, Greg Davis, Eve Ferret, Terence Nolder, Tony Glenville, Fifi Russell, Nick Coleman.
OF THE BOOK, GUESTS SAY:
Russell Marsh It’s a great read
Jo Phillips Of course it is divine.
Franceska Luther King Wonderfully put together
Martin Vintner-Jackson Prolific, consummate and complete
Karl Plewka Absolutely FIERCE!
Robert Ogilvie The book just gets better the more I dig into it.
The exhibits: Click any pic below to launch slideshow
➢ 40 Years of Fashion Invitations by Iain R Webb featured at Cent magazine – “A gem to be treasured for ever. This stunning book looks at an outstanding collection of more than 300 contemporary fashion-show invitations, and illustrates how the spectacle of the show is not limited to the runway”
➢ Invitation Strictly Personal, Goodman Books, £30
➤ Nowt so Strange as Stephen John Harrington
Steve Strange: Precocious club host and the face of synth band Visage, he changed British nightlife for ever
RIP Steve Strange
28 May 1959–12 Feb 2015
King of the Posers, Leader of the Blitz Kids,
co-founder of the Blitz Club,
PIED PIPER FOR THE NEW ROMANTICS,
catalyst for London’s fashion and pop
explosion in the 1980s
“ I chose to become famous and I work very hard at promoting myself. For me going out at night is work ” – Steve Strange, speaking to the Evening Standard in 1983
Iain R Webb, original Blitz Kid, later fashion editor of The Times and other publications, pays tribute to Steve Strange, who died in Egypt earlier today:
“ Steve gave us somewhere to go and beyond the crazy costumes and caked on make-up (maybe because of the…) made us each believe we had someone to be. He burned bright and we followed that light like moths to a flame – Billy’s to Blitz to Hell to Club For Heroes to Camden Palace… Oh, how we danced. His maverick spirit will never fade ”
Kim Bowen, stylist and former Queen of the Blitz Club, says:
“ You did create the stage on which we all appeared ”
Andy Polaris, original Blitz Kid, and vocalist in Animal Nightlife, says:
“ It’s always a shock when you hear news that snatches away part of your youth. Steve Strange was not only a colourful character who had always left an impression on my teenage years. He was also a pivotal player in transforming London nightlife, along with deejay Rusty Egan. Their Tuesday nights at Billy’s club gave birth to the Blitz Club that influenced a generation of designers, musicians and artists. It’s remarkable the amount of creative talent that emerged from these clubs. It’s important to acknowledge that without Steve’s input a lot of these creative synergies might have never happened ”
Midge Ure, synth pioneer with Ultravox and Visage and driving force behind Band Aid, said:
“Steve and Rusty created a movement in London. The Blitz and the subsequent Blitz Kids grew into a massive movement in the UK associated with fashion and image and photography. You could stand in the Blitz Club and look around you and there’d be future journalists and film-makers and writers and musicians, and a young Boy George taking coats at the coat check. There was something really vibrant about that, and they were responsible”
Above: Steve Strange and three other Blitz Kids handpicked by David Bowie star in his 1980 video for Ashes to Ashes
Steve Strange in 1980: wearing Willy Brown’s Modern Classics, photographed by Derek Ridgers
Posted in Clubbing, Fashion, London, Pop music, Youth culture
Tagged Andy Polaris, Ashes to Ashes, Blitz Kids, dead, Iain R Webb, Kim Bowen, Midge Ure, New Romantics, Stephen Harrington, Steve Strange, Swinging 80s, Tributes, Video, Visage
➤ After Anna’s drenching, Gaultier leads the world’s fashionistas for more ice-bucket madness
There goes her bob: editor Anna Wintour gets dowsed. Click pic to view video at Vogue
◼ WHO WOULD HAVE PREDICTED the stern-faced Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour would have played ball with the #icebucketchallenge sweeping America to raise funds for the ALS charity? Well, having been dared to get freezing-wet by her daughter Bee Shaffer, here’s the proof that Anna and her immaculately coiffed bob are good sports. The big question: Will the wet look make it to the September issue?
➢ Click to see Anna Wintour accept the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Following the rules of the challenge, La Wintour obligingly nominated Roger Federer, tennis champion, and Dominic West, star of the TV drama series The Wire, to get themselves dowsed within 24 hours.
However, before either of them could muster enough supermarket ice-cubes, zat crazee Froggy, Jean Paul Gaultier, led the charge for the international brigade of couturiers. (So far fashion had been represented only by models such as Cara Delevingne and Suki Waterhouse.) Here is JP being given the big freeze by some handpicked hunk in speedos…
MEANWHILE BACK ON THE FASHION RUNWAY
❏ Fabulous fashion footnote: You have until Monday 25 August to catch the extraordinary and witty retrospective of JPG’s madcap couture creations in The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier at London’s Barbican Art Gallery: 165 cutting-edge garments that boggle the imagination, up close and theatrically displayed in a touring exhibition from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s: Gaultier celebration trumps all else in London this summer
No, not JPG himself sporting a mink Marinière, and greeting us in English and French. This is one of many custom-made mannequins at London’s Barbican exhibition, brought flirtatiously to audio-visual life by the UBU/Compagnie de création of Montreal and Jolicoeur International of Quebec. Photographed by Shapersofthe80s
➢ Jean Paul Gaultier’s take on Sade’s style
Fan and hero: Iain R Webb and JP Gaultier
➢ British fashion guru Iain R Webb recently gave a guided tour of the Gaultier show in London – To prepare for the talk, he constructed a scrapbook of his friendship with JP Gaultier preferring to call it a fanzine. You can view it at his blog Hopeandglitter.
Posted in Culture, Europe, Fashion, London, Technology
Tagged ALS, Anna Wintour, Art, Barbican, charity, Dominic West, exhibition, Iain R Webb, Ice Bucket Challenge, Jean Paul Gaultier, Montreal Museum, Roger Federer, Sade, Video, Vogue