Category Archives: photography

2023 ➤ 80,000 items of Bowie baggage find final resting place in the Olympic Park

Posted on 23 Feb 2023 | Leave a comment

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Into the archive: 1978 self-portrait sketched and signed by Bowie (detail)

❚ AT THE DAVID BOWIE CENTRE for the Study of Performing Arts fans will soon be able to get up-close to Bowie’s creative genius like never before. From 2025 the Victoria & Albert Museum’s East Storehouse in London’s Olympic Park will house more than 80,000 items amassed during the six decades of the performer’s pioneering career. His archive will be made available to the public, from fans to school children and researchers, thanks to the David Bowie Estate and a donation of £10m from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.

The archive features handwritten lyrics, letters, sheet music, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, Bowie’s own instruments, album artwork and awards. It also includes more intimate writings, thought processes and unrealised projects, the majority of which have never been seen in public before.

V&A East Storehouse will be a new type of museum experience taking visitors behind the scenes of the stored collections. The new Centre will also support the ongoing conservation, research and study of the archive.

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Into the archive: notes for Bowie lyrics created by the Burroughs “cut-up” technique

Highlights include stage costumes such as Bowie’s breakthrough Ziggy Stardust ensembles designed by Freddie Burretti (1972), Kansai Yamamoto’s flamboyant creations for the Aladdin Sane tour (1973) and the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the Earthling album cover (1997). The archive also includes handwritten lyrics for songs including Fame (1975), “Heroes” (1977) and Ashes to Ashes (1980), as well as examples of the “cut-up” method of generating lyrics introduced to Bowie by the writer William Burroughs. Additionally, the archive holds a series of intimate notebooks from every era of Bowie’s life up to his death in 2016.

Tilda Swinton, one of David Bowie’s friends and collaborators, said: “In 2013, the V&A’s David Bowie Is… exhibition gave us unquestionable evidence that Bowie is a spectacular example of an artist who not only made unique and phenomenal work, but who has an influence and inspiration far beyond that work itself. Ten years later, the regenerative nature of his spirit grows ever further in popular resonance down through younger generations.”

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Into the archive: stage costumes from every decade of Bowie’s career

➢ Read further detail at the official David Bowie website

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Posted in archive, collecting, London, photography, Pop music, stage costumes, Youth culture

Tagged archive, Blavatnik Family, Bowie, conservation, David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts, diaries, London, lyrics, research, Tilda Swinton, V&A East Storehouse, Video, Warner Music, William Burroughs

➤ Hottest Shapers during 2022

Posted on 31 Dec 2022 | Leave a comment

Andrew Ridgeley , Wham Rap, video, Face magazine, Club Culture,

Click pic to open the Wham Rap! video in another window … “Man or mouse” Andrew Ridgeley establishes his group’s clubbing credentials in the opening shots of the Wham video by reading my cover story on Club Culture first published in The Face in 1983 and in recent years the No 1 read at Shapers of the 80s!

❚ OVER THE PAST 14 YEARS Shapers of the 80s has received 2.2 million views, according to year-ending stats measured by our host, WordPress. Our 850+ published items total half-a-million words, which is several times more than most books, so it pays to explore the various navigation buttons. Here are the half dozen posts which remained among the most popular with readers during 2022…

➢ Photos inside the Blitz Club, exclusive to Shapers of the 80s

➢ 69 Dean Street and the making of UK club culture – evolution of the once-weekly party night (1983)

➢ Why Bowie recruited Blitz Kids for his Ashes to Ashes video in 1980 from the club-night founded by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan

➢ 20 gay kisses in pop videos that made it past the censor

➢ First Blitz invasion of the US —
Spandau Ballet and the Axiom fashion collective take Manhattan by storm (1981)

NYC,Axiom,Melissa Caplan, Sade, Elms, Tony Hadley, Ollie O'Donnell

At the Underground club in NYC 1981: Melissa Caplan rehearses Bob Elms, Mandy d’Wit and Sade Adu for the Axiom runway show. Right, Ollie “the snip” O’Donnell goes to work on singer Tony Hadley’s hair. Photographed by © Shapersofthe80s

➢ Posing with a purpose at the Camden Palace — power play among the new non-working class (1983)

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Posted in Blitz Kids, Clubbing, Fashion, journalism, London, New Romantics, nightlife, photography, Pop music, readership stats, Swinging 80s, zeitgeist

Tagged 69 Dean Street, Andrew Ridgeley, Ashes to Ashes, Axiom fashion, Blitz club, Bob Elms, Camden Palace, David Bowie, gay kisses, Mandy d’Wit, Melissa Caplan, Ollie O'Donnell, Rusty Egan, Sade Adu, Spandau Ballet, Steve Strange, The Face, Tony Hadley, Wham!

2022 ➤ Finally, a blue heritage plaque to honour the Rum Runner

Posted on 20 Dec 2022 | Leave a comment

heritage plaque, Richard Whittingham, DJDick, Birmingham, nightlife, Swinging 80s, Rum Runner,

At the unveiling: Richard Whittingham beside the new plaque. (Photo by Adam Regan)

❚ NOT ONLY WAS A PLAQUE unveiled this month before the Lord Mayor of Birmingham to underline the importance of its key nightclub during the Swinging 80s, namely the Rum Runner. . . But the star of the occasion was clearly its deejay, judging from the immediate stream of affection from fans and friends that is appearing online alongside his bearded photo at the event, now aged 62. They said he’d flown in from Lapland especially.

At the age of 19 Richard Whittingham – aka, DJDick – was one of Britain’s most savvy club deejays, reading the tastes of Britain’s second largest city and trying to broaden them to embrace the new dance music like Duran Duran’s which was rapidly filling the post-punk vacuum. For my Nightlife column in the magazine New Sounds New Styles, Dick told me back then: “I’ve been trying to break the funk here for ages but nobody’s into it. The customers aren’t into it and the owners aren’t into anyone taking over their own night. I’m just buying the funk for the day when I have more freedom.”

Click any pic to enlarge:

Richard Whittingham aka, DJDick: talking to the 2011 Rum Runner One Show (© BBC)

heritage plaque, Maureen Cornish, Paul Berrow, Birmingham, nightlife, Swinging 80s, Rum Runner,

At the unveiling: Maureen Cornish and (we assume) Paul Berrow with Rum Runner plaque. (Photo Neil Drakeford)

heritage plaque, Maureen Cornish, Birmingham, nightlife, Swinging 80s, Rum Runner,

At the Rum Runner plaque unveiling: Lord Mayor Maureen Cornish with guests. (Photo by Debra Warren)

He found all the glamorous dressing up led by Birmingham’s Kahn & Bell boutique crazily entertaining, but he admitted what so many clubbers in the Eighties also did about not feeling safe on the streets. When the BBC’s One Show asked in 2011 what he would have worn at the Rum Runner, he replied: “Zoot suits, the odd frilly shirt, winklepickers of course – I had to hide them, to take them out of the house in a bag, and then put them on, because my mother thought they were trouble shoes.” [See interview in video clip below.] Today Dick describes himself as a carpenter and joiner, though he still deejays for occasional events.

Also at the plaque’s preview for the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Maureen Cornish, and members of the sponsoring charity the Birmingham Civic Society, we see many local characters pictured at Facebook’s website The Rum Runner – Birmingham, which curiously fails to identify anybody by name! We’ve already guessed that the bearded one is DJDick. Another in the green coat caught wielding a mic and parting the curtains has to be Paul Berrow, one of the brothers who owned the Rum Runner, formerly of Wandering Star Pictures and Tritec Music in the Eighties.

The new plaque is attached to a modern building called Rum Runner Works, set back off Broad Street where the entrance once stood, today located between the Solomon Cutler pub and the Walkabout sports bar. In the Eighties the council planned to turn Birmingham into a major conference city with developments including the ICC and Symphony Hall. The Rum Runner was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which opened in summer 1990.

Click any pic to enlarge:

heritage plaque, Birmingham, nightlife, Swinging 80s, Rum Runner,

Rum Runners: naughty party invitation from Glyn Rickards

Rum Running: today’s RR Works set back from Broad Street

Rum Runners: membership card from Paul Woodyatt

Rum Running: original entrance to Birmingham’s legendary nightspot

➢ Visit The Rum Runner – Birmingham website at Facebook

Photos displayed here were taken by Neil Drakeford, Debra Warren and Adam Regan who said: “Lovely to see this legendary Brummie club getting a much-deserved blue plaque. The club launched so many careers but none more relevant to me than this great man” [DJdick].

LISTEN TO DJDICK LIVE AT THE RUM RUNNER:

At Dick Whittingham’s website we can listen to two recordings of him deejaying at the Rum Runner in 1983. These were donated on his 40-something birthday by Mark “Mack” McDonald, an old friend from way back.

VIEW THE BBC ONE SHOW FROM 2011:

➢ Previously at Shapersofthe80s:
1981, Birth of Duran’s Planet Earth

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Posted in audio recording, Birmingham, Clubbing, Heritage award, History, New Romantics, photography, Swinging 80s, Tributes, videos, Youth culture

Tagged Adam Regan, Debra Warren, DJDick, Kahn & Bell, Maureen Cornish, Neil Drakeford, Paul Berrow, Richard Whittingham, Rum Runner

2022 ➤ Spandau seek your help to create a major new showcase

Posted on 10 Jun 2022 | 1 comment

Spandau, New Romantics, pop music, New York City, 1981

Spandau in New York City 1981: were you there and do you have any memorabilia?

■ THE FIRST NEW BAND out of Eighties clubland to score a chart hit are planning a celebration of those early formative years when the world called them the leaders of the New Romantics.

Today Spandau Ballet – all now in their sixties – announced “a major career-defining project” and appealed to fans for help. The band invites everyone who attended any of their performances between 1979 and 1981 to send in memorabilia such as flyers, posters, tickets, video or film footage of Spandau Ballet, onstage and off. For example, these would include their appearances at London’s Blitz Club, Mayhem Studios, Scala Cinema, HMS Belfast, their first Top of the Pops, Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens, Tiger Bay Cardiff, Heaven and the Sundown in London, Exeter Bowl Bournemouth, Le Palace in Paris, the Underground Club in New York, the Ku Club in Ibiza or the Much More in Rome.

Likewise, send them your memories of the pace-setting dance-led clubs during those years, such as Billy’s, the Blitz, Rum Runner, Le Beat Route, Le Kilt, Club for Heroes, Danceteria, the Voodoo Club, or from 1982 the Camden Palace and the Wag club. Again, memorabilia that captures the fashions and the atmosphere is welcomed.

➢ Click to visit Spandau’s special website for
submissions and more information
➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s:
1980, Steve Strange’s call to join the party

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Posted in Clubbing, Concert, dance music, Fashion, London, New Romantics, North America, photography, Pop music, Swinging 80s, Tipping points, Youth culture

Tagged Blitz Kids, early performances, New York City, Spandau Ballet

2021 ➤ New photos to rekindle the spirit of Brummie icons Kahn and Bell

Posted on 23 Jul 2021 | Leave a comment

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Photographed by Gary Lindsay-Moore for his show It’s Not Unusual: Damien models a vintage Kahn and Bell dress

❚ ART PHOTOGRAPHER Gary Lindsay-Moore was a teenager when he caught the bus from Tamworth to Birmingham city centre to search out a boutique he had been hearing rumours about. Heading on to Hurst Street, he stepped into the emporium created by designers Patti Bell and Jane Kahn – and discovered a whole new world.

“I had no money,” he says, “but went in and there was Patti although I didn’t know it was Patti at the time. I just saw this seven-foot Amazon with massive blonde spiked hair, a massive set of heels and leather and chains. And it was ‘Oh, my goodness, this is amazing’. I felt I’d found my cultural home – this was the kind of excitement I was looking for. The significance for me was profound.”

Together, in the late Seventies, Kahn and Bell revolutionised the city’s fashion scene. They were at the vanguard of punk and new romanticism, creating hand-made clothes for a host of pop icons including Birmingham’s own Duran Duran, Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz and music and dance group Shock.

Talked of as Birmingham’s Vivienne Westwood, Kahn and Bell gave people the opportunity to dress to express. And now, 45 years after their shop opened in 1976 in the city’s emerging Gay Quarter, Gary is paying homage to their innovation with a photography exhibition featuring some of their original flamboyant clothing. The exhibition is called It’s Not Unusual as a nod to Patti’s close relationship with music stars of the era including her friendship with singer Tom Jones.

Gary set about capturing the spirit of experimentation and freedom which Kahn and Bell encapsulated in a series of new images of their creations worn by some equally dramatic models. Between July 27–30 the free show runs at Birmingham’s Rag Market, where Patti also ran a stall.

i-D Magazine,Fashion, Swinging 80s, Gary Lindsay-Moore, Kahn & Bell, Birmingham Rag Market,

Kahn and Bell profiled in i-D Magazine No 5, while Shock’s Tik & Tok are seen modelling

One challenge lay in the clothes themselves. “A minor issue was that all these clothes were quite small, like sizes six or eight,” Gary says. “A lot of the photography I do is about body positivity, acceptance and individuality and I didn’t want to just use a skinny model. I wanted people who were modelling them to have the Kahn and Bell spirit.”

Gary tracked down local models with an individual sense of flair including some of the region’s best-known drag artists such as Birmingham’s Twiggy, who had a personal reason for wanting to be involved, having worked for Kahn and Bell in the past.

“I’m not trying to update pictures of Kahn and Bell which already exist,” Gary says. “It’s about putting my spin on the show, so all the models I’ve pictured did their own make-up although we talked about it beforehand to make sure it reflected the make-up of the time. There is lots of make-up, glitter and stick-on gemstones. They all look amazing.”

“I like pictures that work with sub-levels, so I’ve included some references people might spot. Patti and I are both big fans of the film Blade Runner and in one of my favourite scenes in that film there are lots of mannequins so I’ve added mannequins to some of the pictures as a tribute.

“I’m going to be there in the Rag Market and am happy to chat to people, especially those who don’t already know Kahn and Bell who can ask questions and then do a bit of research themselves. We have so much information at our fingertips now but 45 years ago it was all word of mouth.”

Gary has created a book around the project and has already presented Patti with her copy as a recent birthday present.