#blitzkids

Photo by Virginia Turbett, 1981

In the early 80s, I briefly stayed with Judith Frankland @judithfrankland in London, a fantastic designer who made outfits for Steve Strange and appeared in David Bowie’s “Ashes To Ashes” video alongside Bowie himself with other “Blitz Kids” and fashion luminaries, Steve Strange, Darla Jane Gilroy and Elise Brazier. She told me tales of the Blitz Club and of her days of designing for Steve Strange and using him as her model. The Blitz Club was in Covent Garden, London from 1979 - 80 and was home to the “Blitz Kids” who were nightclubbers there on Tuesday nights. The club was located between two art colleges (St. Martins and Central School). As a result of its proximity to the art colleges, it attracted many students who were aspiring fashion designers there. The hosts were Steve Strange and Rusty Egan @rustyegan of Visage and the club was responsible for launching the New Romantic movement in London. Many notable fashionistas and dandies who later became big stars, were regulars there. A dress code of the “the weird and wonderful” was strictly enforced at the door, a policy that was put in place by Steve Strange. This was not an elitist system like Studio 54 in NYC, but rather for the protection of the nightclubbing guests against homophobic thugs. The hosts had previously done “Roxy Music and David Bowie nights” on Tuesdays at Billy’s club in Soho and later took over at the Blitz wine bar which gained much better success as an iconic club. David Bowie, gender-bending, cutting edge fashion and a desire to express it with rebellious fervor, were the common themes and passions of the Blitz Kids and the New Romantics. Some other noteworthy attendees aside from the aforementioned included Boy George, Marilyn, Siobhan Fahey, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Midge Ure, Philip Sallon, Stephen Linard, Stephen Jones, Princess Julia, Martin Degville, Scarlet Cannon, i-D magazine co-editor Perry Haines, and many others. Derek Ridgers @derekridgers, Andrew Holligan and Terry Smith were responsible for most of the photos… 📷 1/10: Sheila Rock @sheila_rock_photographer 👨🏻‍🎤⚡️🖤⚜️👩🏻‍🎤 🔲 🔳 🔲 #BlitzClub #BlitzKids #NewRomantic #NewRomantics #SteveStrange #RustyEgan #PostPunk (at Covent Garden) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoEZGFgukl5/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

(DJ Bejay Rose)

Blitzkids - $128

Blitzkids

Visage, Midge Ure not really making an effort. #visage #newromantics #futurists #synthpop #blitzkids #postpunk #magazineband #ultravox #barryadamson #daveformula #rustyegan #billycurrie #johnmcgeoch #midgeure #stevestrange #fokker #fokkermusic #harryhaller2 https://www.instagram.com/p/CLPP9A_nXNl/?igshid=43ztacf0bjg1

Trannie Paul of Blitz Club /New Romantic scene, London ( with Philip Sallon and Boy George) #blitzclub #blitzkids https://www.instagram.com/p/CAay9k5B1hL/?igshid=1tqxihge20cvq

📕 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓝𝓸 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 🤐 This international treasure never leaves my home! The Book with No Name was originally published in 1982 and contains priceless glamour shots from London's New Romantics, the Blitz Kids... Featuring the familiar faces of Boy George, Adam Ant, Duran Duran, Siouxsie Sioux, Bow Wow Wow and many more. 👘 . "𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙯 𝙆𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙠'𝙨 𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩, 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙥𝙞𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚. 𝙋𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩-𝙬𝙖𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙎𝙤 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙋𝙓 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙚 --- 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙥, 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘." 💃🏻 . There's a great story somewhere about the night Bowie went into the Blitz and found the extras for his Ashes to Ashes video.🤡 . I'll post pages my stories of this majestic time capsule. Enjoy the aesthetic feast, darlings! 💎 . #thebookwithnoname #newromantics #blitzkids #newwave #dandystyle #dandies #newwavemusic #peacockpunk #80saesthetic #androgynousfashion #80sfashion #thecultwithnoname #clubkids #lookbook #aesthetic #inspiration #80slondon #londonclubscene #fafafafafashionbeepbeep #ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ (at London, England, U.K.) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_OVO27l3rb/?igshid=1omjky1myr0jv