I remember the night this photo was taken vividly as it was the opening of Stephen Jones, who was my roommate, very first shop which was in the basement of PX. Stephen insisted that I wear a hat expecting me to turn up sporting one of his fabulous creations. I instead arrived wearing my splendid ‘Leather Queen’ cap which I had bought that day from a shop in Soho. Stephen was furious as he wanted me to wear a grey taffeta beret that he had made me. Anyway few months later he took my leather cap unpicked it and remade it into something fabulous that he sold to Steve Strange!

Words by Fiona Dealey and image taken by Graham Smith - http://www.grahamsmithdesign.co.uk

I took this picture in ‘92, ‘93 when I was in college at Thames Valley uni. It’s Mark Anthony, Isaac/Alistair, Sodeye, Tom and someone’s older brother. We used to go to bars on the Kings Rd and then head to crazy Larry’s near Chelsea, Subterrania, The Wag and Slow Motion at Mazimus. The boys didn’t always get into the clubs, and never in a group, so we girls used to pair up (whether we were pairs or not) to get everyone in. We wore old Levis, leather flight jackets and secretly listened to the Smiths and New Model Army, but it was more fun to dance to soul and funk.

This may have been in the toilets of Subterrania, exact memories may have been compromised. We also went to canal Brasserie on Kensal Rd, Woody’s in Wood Field Rd and the Cobden.

In a club somewhere in Harlesden in the 90′s.

On my way to Raw at YMCA, I had arrived in London from Germany in the early 90′s to study Design and Media Management and found the London club scene invigorating and intoxicating, free uninhibited and unhinged, full of interesting people and love! Best years of my life!

Myself and Patrick, the mid 90’s were the best! Big hat from High St Ken market, hot pant catsuits from Hyper Hyper, platform boots from Buffalo and Woolford tights that did not run when someone’s cigarette burnt a hole in it. We went to Raw at the YMCA Tottenham Court Road, Ben and Andy and Seb Fontaine were DJing. We also went to Jceni in Mayfair and in the second half of the 90′s to Bar Rumba on a Monday Turmoil’s, Bagley’s and many other places I cannot remember. Babes in Toyland was my favourite, though I remember that sinking feeling when it got to 3am and the night was going to end…

Text and Images Gunilla Karlson

Five friends in Silver Place, Soho in January 1981, stopping to have a quick pose in mainly 1960’s revival gear, Sta- press trousers and bandmans jackets, while on a Soho shopping trip.

After thirty five years you would expect change. Silver place encapsulates the changing face of Soho, then its was grubby with its cobblers and sandwich shops, now its all bunting and flower baskets with hair and beauty salons. 

Image and Text courtesy of Mark Charnock

My 23rd birthday, in Ghetto, Falconberg Court 1998. A club so sweaty, it dripped down the walls and off the ceiling. First birthday spent with my partner, who I’m still with now.

Images and text courtesy Nick Paget

We spent a lot of time in Bar Italia, you didn’t have all those coffee bars that you have now, there was a lot more pubs. You’d meet at pubs and then there were very expensive restaurants. You did not go to Soho House in that day and age.

When I was sort of 17, I started getting into a sort of 1950’s vibe. I used to do this big quiff with my hair, I would section off a piece on the top of my head, back comb it and roll it over and the sides were pulled up very tight with an enormous amount of Elnett hair spray was involved in it and it had to be very perfect and just so, and I would do a perfect Channel base and red lipstick and a black flick - lots of black eyeliner.  I had quite strong eyebrows anyway so those stayed anyway.

Sometimes I would do a scarf and tie that as a hair band kind of thing - and then if I wasn’t going to do the quiff my other look was to scrap my hair back very very tight with big gold earrings which looking at the photos now is vaguely Latino but at the time I think it was a very hip hop look. I think it was more of a Mary J Blige kind of thing.

Images and text courtesy of Emily Fitch Miller

Everyone would go to Scala Cinema. This is me in front of the Jukebox. It wasn’t late night London in those days, so you’d come out of the club, I think the clubs would shut at 1 or 2, and you’d couldn’t get the train home - if you were lucky you’d get the night bus but you couldn’t get the train home so you had to wait until 6/7 in the morning unless you went to Scala cinema which did all nighters. So everyone went to the Scala cinema and watched John Waters movies and David Cronenberg films and listen to the jukebox which had Joy Division, Magazine, The Slits…

Soho: As a teenager I’d hang out and then when it turned to nighttime the Soho streets got really interesting cos all the weirdos and business men perverts would come out. You’d wander through the red light district and just look at all these amazing window displays of naked bodies which you couldn’t see normally.I had this friend called Bowie Teresa and she looked exactly like David Bowie and she was amazing. I met her at a party. And then she goes ‘meet me in Soho at midnight and I’m gonna take you to this place where all the weirdos and all the freaks go’ and I’m like ‘yeah alright’ and I just thought ‘I wonder what she’s doing around Soho late every night?’… anyway she took me to Billy’s and it was fantastic. They were playing Kraftwerk and Gina X and it was brilliant and there were all these people dressed up like David Bowie and people who you’d recognise from later on like Boy George and Marylin. So that was my first taste of proper night clubbing. 

The MUD club (opened January 1983) that was Philip Salon’s second Club - he was an original punk rocker and new romantic and part of the Bromley Contingent who were the punk rock cognoscenti - fans of the Sex Pistols like Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Idol - they all went on to do stuff - Philip was one of those but he was out and gay. The Mud club was the place to go in the early 80s. When it opened it was about 200 people and then it ended up being at Busby’s which was about a thousand people and then it went to Bagleys which was about 2000 people but that was much later, that was in the late 80s. But in the early days, 1983/84, it went from about 200 to 1000 quite quickly. You had to dress up to get in, and sometimes Phillip would make people take their clothes off and put their trousers wrapped around their head if they wanted to come in. In the punk and post-punk days you’d save up for a leather jacket, it would take ages to save up for that, or you’d get one for your birthday if you were lucky. I could never afford designer stuff and no one young wore it anyway (Sex/Seditionaries/Worlds End being an exception) so you got clothes mainly from charity shops. We were lucky to be given stuff now and then. A lot of people went to The Army Surplus Store on Warren Street and obviously people would customise stuff and make their own things - like Tracey’s made her t-shirt here ‘taramasalata party’ god knows what that means [laughing]. Oh! It was actually named after the wild Taramasalta parties we had at our shared flat after the Mud closed [more laughing].

At Planet’s in 1981 or 82 Philip Salon’s first club: Annabella Lwin from Bow Wow - maybe a year or two after the Blitz Kids thing so you can see its moved over to the Vivienne Westwood pirate look and also there’s a bit of Rockabilly coming in. People liked to progress - obviously some people like to just stay the same - but you know people were always looking for the next thing. I remember when the pirate look came out - one I couldn’t afford it, two I remember thinking ‘aw…everyone’s wearing it now and I don’t wanna be a sheep’ so I never wore it. I regret not having some now.

But there was a little bit of a herd mentality for some people, there was a core of the same people, but it was always increasing. Every year was like a new generation, and everyone would look down at the new ones and go ‘who are these kids?’ - and those kids would grow up to be fabulous as well.
At Busby’s - where the MUD Club used to be - it was a venue that wasn’t really on our radar until Phillip Salon did the MUD Club there and suddenly everyone wanted to do things at Busby’s and bands would wanna play there. This was actually taken at a Monochrome set gig at Busby’s (which was in Charing Cross Rd) - the Monochrome set - they had ex members from Adam and the Ants when Adam and the Ants were still an underground punk band before they went ‘pop’ and got all the hits. So it’s quite a cliquey crowd of post punkers at this time, who grew up with Bowie, listening to Bowie when they were kids at school, and still listening to him at this time.

This was just me picking up the camera and taking snapshots, The picture of Jane, was taken in  Virgin Megastore where she worked, which is now Primark, at a Kate Bush signing. I got some photos of Kate Bush there who I love but probably took more of Jane. I wonder where she is now?

Images and text courtesy of Mark Moore

This was 1987 and I am outside 34 Wardour Street. I am wearing leather shorts, letter gloves a big bomber jacket and very rare Stephen Sprouse tights with winkle pickers from Hyper Hyper. I was living in London for the summer.

I remember this outfit because of the response that J. G. Ballard had to it later on. I was invited to the suburbs of Shepperton by another friend. I got drunk with some middle aged people at their dinner party and they mentioned JG Ballard , whom I was a huge fan of, and they insisted on drunkenly driving me over to his house and deposited me on his doorstep, and then sped off. I then had to make conversation with Mr. Ballard who was really nice.

We talked a little about Crash, and High Rise, (I was drunk) but he was confused as to why I was there talking to him. So was I. He was wondering if I was a punk and why my stockings had graffiti on them, he found that disturbing.  After a while he suggested I come back with a book sometime for him to sign. Very pleasant and odd encounter on his front steps.

Images and text courtesy of Susan Supercharged