Blanket wool tassels make an interesting textural landscape, not a million miles away from the Komondor dog on the cover of the 1996 Beck album Odelay. These belong to a stack of Scottish wool tartan blankets currently in the Showroom, we also have a nice selection in the Earlham St. shop (look under the table!).
Jacket’s, Jungle 1945. This British Army womens WWII jungle shirt is eerily reminiscent of the McLaren Westwood ‘Seditionaries‘ parachute shirt, even down to the rubber buttons. The belt looped through the epaulette, the removable sleeves, and the stamped ‘GAS FLAP’ all add to it’s Punk ‘bondage-like’ appearance. The shirt also features wrist buckles, pleated chest pockets, and reinforced shoulders. Completely mint and unissued it’s a great example of the humble origins of some of Punk’s iconic DNA.
* Vintage Seditionaries / Sex Parachute Shirt with iconic silk Karl Marx patch by Malcolm Mclaren and Vivien Westwood & Only Ararchists Are Pretty – image sources unknown.
Words Simon/ ATP Shirt photos Nic Shonfeld
Formally introducing our new publication SHOWROOM Vol.I. on sale now in the Earlham Street shop and other selected bookstores in London (see list below).
showroom-publication.com
facebook.com/showroompublication
Some accidental patterns have emerged again out of the woodwork, so to speak. Unintentional but still beautiful, strange how these patterns seem to attract each other, whether it’s the pinked leather edged heel of a work boot on the spiky pattern of an Indian runner, or 1930s geometric fair-isles, or even Adidas stripes through wire mesh.
Seek and ye shall find…
When the ‘Home Guard Manual of Camouflage’ by Roland Penrose, a lecturer to the War Office for Instructors to the Home Guard, was first published in October 1941 the prospect of a German invasion on mainland Britain was seen as a very real and probable threat. As a Quaker and staunch pacifist his influence in the development of camouflage techniques during WWII is fascinating, though in his own words “The author makes no claim to their originality, many of them are as old as warfare itself”.
Original 501s hidden rivets all singing all dancing improvised (allegedly) for the runway back in 90s with GUCCI tags and hardware making them either worthless or priceless depending on your point of view!
The title, of course refers to the change of the clocks, British summertime extra daylight and all that. But thinking of Spring, what can be better than a classic Ivy, plaid, trad, preppy windcheater, blouson, golf jacket type affair.
A staple of the Spring wardrobe, perfect with khaki chinos, madras, bucks, university sweats, you get it.
Whether it be a London Fog, McGregor, Campus or Champion, here are some details to look for…
The USAAF World War II-era survival radio transmitters (SCR-578 and the similar post-war AN/CRT-3) carried by aircraft on over-water operations were given the nickname “Gibson Girl” because of their “hourglass” shape.
The ‘Gibson Girl’ was the personification of a feminine ideal as portrayed in the satirical pen-and-ink-illustrated stories created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States.
Customized 1980′s MA1 Bomber from The Vintage Showroom shop archive.
£POA (Merc not included).
Two recent finds that juxtapose so well. This was going to be posted last week but we held back due to the recent trouble. Note the repaired stud marks on the truncheon. They don’t make them like that anymore…’coppers‘ that is.
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A plaited neck hanger, an unusual but discreet yet considered design detail. Simple. Beautiful.
Already on the fashion radar, granted, but this new book of photographs by Karl Heinz Weinberger (Rizzoli 2011) is another chance to look at his innovative work. This unassuming part-time Swiss photographer meticulously documented the delinquent Swiss biker gangs of the early 60s. Swiss cheese this is not! The hard-edged homo-erotic portraits revel in the fetishistic detail of DIY denim and customised leather, the minutiae of a subculture that make these pictures pure fashion. Pre-dating punk and pre-empting the films of Kenneth Anger, the contradiction of the throwback 50s boys style with the 1960′s girls beehives and mohair, make this an essential and fascinating reference.
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