End of the world 30 years ago: The last public appearance together by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, Oct 17, 1983. As they take the applause for their Paris show, a bitter battle for control of the Worlds End label is raging behind the scenes. Photographed © by Shapersofthe80s
First published in the Evening Standard, Nov 4, 1983
Guess who’s still in business today: Vivienne Westwood as triumphant tribal queen in a new portrait posted only this week at Facebook
Posted in Europe, Fashion, London, Youth culture
Tagged 1980s, Fiorucci, i-D magazine, Malcolm McLaren, Paris, Vivienne Westwood, Worlds End
“The black-and-whiteness, the kilt over drop-crotch leggings, suspenders on oversize checked silk trousers, gender neutrality — shades of Bodymap in the eighties?”
◼ These stunning pix show shades of more than Bodymap in the 80s – shades also of Westwood, Linard and Galliano. Just read the sheer depth and breadth of brilliant vision expressed this week by Deborah and Priscilla Royer’s wittily titled Pièce d’anarchive presentation …
Click any pic to launch carousel
“ French art students learn about Jean Pierre Raynaud at school. He was the conceptualist who spent 25 years building his house, only to decide it was too perfect and, in 1993, tear it to bits. Center stage at Deborah and Priscilla Royer’s laser-sharp presentation for Pièce d’anarchive was a major piece by Raynaud: 64 stainless-steel buckets filled with rubble from his demolition job, installed by the artist himself…
“ The Royers remodeled sporty athleticism, one of the big stories for Spring 2014, with their own knitwear expertise. “Fusing French craftsmanship with street influences,” said Deborah, “less archive, more anarchy”. The black-and-whiteness, the kilt over drop-crotch leggings, suspenders on oversize checked silk trousers, gender neutrality — shades of Bodymap in the eighties? OK, grant the girls that flicker of fashion anarchy, but otherwise, the linear precision of the clothes was less about letting go, more about complete control of the body, with pieces in substantial technical yarns that celebrated the fit form…” / Continued at style.com
Tagged Deborah Royer, Paris, Pièce d’anarchive, Priscilla Royer, RTW
Braced for the Piers Morgan grilling: Martin Kemp (right) with Spandau manager Steve Dagger, Steve Norman and Shirlie Kemp. (Cam-tweet by Kemp cam)
❚ ALL THE REAL MARTIN KEMP tweeted last night was “#lifestories What a wonderful evening…. Thanks everyone!” Closely followed by Spandau Ballet pal Steve Norman Real tweeting: “I have arrived at the conclusion that @piersmorgan is actually a gentleman”!!! Closely followed by legendary gossip hack and TV host Piers Morgan tweeting: “Ssshhhh, you’ll ruin my reputation @SteveNormanReal”!!!
Four ropey backstage snaps were also tweeted from their respective camphones, but otherwise the Spandau camp were remaining tightlipped about what was revealed at Elstree Studios yesterday. Spandau bass player and TV star Martin (aka onetime EastEnders bad boy Steve Owen) had been a special guest for the new series of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, and the two-hour recording has yet to be edited down to its final 40 minutes for broadcast very soon.
Morgan is the notorious former editor of Britain’s tabloid Daily Mirror, currently based in the United States, whose Life Stories are famous for wringing tears from at least 11 of his celebrity interviewees in front of live audiences, spiced up with video contributions from friends and family. A sort of This Is Your Life with the gloves off.
Today Martin remained tactful about how moist his grilling became: “It was a close-run thing… But it was so much fun.”
Bestest pals ever: Julie Goodyear comforts a weepy Martin Kemp during Celebrity Big Brother in September 2012 (© Channel 5)
Morgan’s 10th series for ITV starts with Coronation Street’s former termagant Bet Lynch aka Julie Goodyear in the hot seat at 9pm on Sept 20. This firecracker will also feature “revealing interviews with her ex-lovers, former co-stars and close friends” it says, so Julie must be gritting her teeth behind those scarlet lips. (Kempie was Julie’s best pal inside last year’s Celebrity Big Brother house – until almost the end, so we might see whether they’ve kissed and made up since.)
In the new series Julie Goodyear is being followed by Gloria Hunniford, Brian Blessed, Julian Clary, Peter Waterman and Beverley Callard (kidnap victim Liz McDonald in Corrie). So far no date set for Steve Owen!
Moral support at the Elstree studios: the Kemp family, Roman, Harleymoon, Martin and Shirlie. (Cam-tweet by Kemp cam)
➢ BBC News reports: Computer program uses Twitter to ‘map mood of nation’
❏ “BRITISH SCIENTISTS HAVE DEVELOPED a computer program they say can map the mood of the nation using Twitter. Named Emotive, it works by accessing the emotional content of postings on the social networking site. The team, from Loughborough University, say it can scan up to 2,000 tweets a second and rate them for expressions of one of eight human emotions. They claim Emotive could help calm civil unrest and identify early threats to public safety…” / Continued at BBC online
Posted in Culture, Social trends, Technology
Tagged Loughborough University, mood, nations, Twitter
Joyce DiDonato sings at the Proms, while Vivienne Westwood’s puce patriotic cape rules. Picture © BBC
❚ ANOTHER GLORIOUS Last Night of the Proms, conducted for the first time by a woman, Marin Alsop, who said she was amazed to be the first in its history because it is after all 2013 and we’ve had 118 years in which to dare! Stars included violinist Nigel Kennedy who indulged himself in some wild and hilarious improv all the way through Vittorio Monti’s accelerating gypsy piece, Csárdás (you’ll know it when you hear it, most recently in Lady Gaga’s song Alejandro).
But the singing sensation of the evening was the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato who lifted Over the Rainbow way out of the Garland league into a coloratura heaven of her own, wow! Then she led 6,000 voices in the Albert Hall, plus thousands more in public parks across the UK, in Rule Britannia. As is tradition, she swished the wings of her expansive bat-cape to reveal it to be a dreamy puce abstraction of the Union Jack – which we were told was designed for the occasion by Vivienne Westwood. Cool Britannia Rules again.
Joyce DiDonato leads the Prommers in Rule Britannia. Picture © BBC
Tagged Joyce DiDonato, music, Nigel Kennedy, Proms, Vivienne Westwood
✱ Deejay legend Robbie Vincent has returned to JazzFM on Sundays 1-3pm… Catch up on Robbie’s JazzFM August Bank Holiday 2020 session thanks to AhhhhhSoul with four hours of “nothing but essential rhythms of soul, jazz and funk”.
◆ Who was who in Spandau’s break-out year of 1980? The Invisible Hand of Shapersofthe80s draws a selective timeline for The unprecedented rise and rise of Spandau Ballet –– Turn to our inside page
✱ If you thought there was no more to know about the birth of Blitz culture in 1980 then get your hands on a sensational book by an obsessive music fan called David Barrat. It is gripping, original and epic – a spooky tale of coincidence and parallel lives as mind-tingling as a Sherlock Holmes yarn. Titled both New Romantics Who Never Were and The Untold Story of Spandau Ballet! Sample this initial taster here at Shapers of the 80s
✱ Jawing at Soho Radio on the 80s clubland revolution (from 32 mins) and on art (@55 mins) is probably the most influential shaper of the 80s, former Wag-club director Chris Sullivan (pictured) with editor of this website David Johnson
➢ Search for all on Bowie here
at Shapers of the 80s
✱ “I’m not a rock star” Bowie often said – No, David, you were a messiah – Obituaries and key videos about
the godlike one
✱ Prince Rogers Nelson RIP: ‘A funny cat’ and ‘sole authentic genius’ of the 1980s
➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣ 