The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain exhibition opens at Somerset House (London) October 27th.

In the lead up to the exhibition opening co-curators Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard are releasing details about the show in an alphabetical order, here are their words for the letter ‘L’.

L is for LEATHER
’Try thinking of leather jackets without thinking of Marlon Brando in ‘The Wild One’, or The Ramones in their Schott biker jackets. The leather jacket has always been a symbol of rebellion. When they became associated with punk, creative teens were quick to embellish theirs with paint, patches and studs.
For Sue Webster’s ‘Full Leather Jackets’ project she regressed to her teenage self and began painting Siouxsie & The Banshees imagery onto old biker jackets. We’re excited to be presenting one of these in The Horror Show!
It wasn’t just the jackets that punks embraced. When the Sex Pistols formed Malcolm McLaren marched them to The London Leatherman to be fitted for leather jeans. The London Leatherman, aka Ken, was a self-taught, specialised craftsman, supplying the fashion elite and the underground fetish market. McLaren and Westwood stocked his bondage gear in their Kings Road boutique. The smart punks knew to go direct to Ken.
In 2019 @thelondonleatherman was brilliantly revived by Dave Carroll. His mum had worked for Ken, and as a young punk Dave acquired many pieces direct from him. The heritage label still produces iconic pieces from the archive, reimagined for the current day. Some will be available from The Horror Shop! curated by @gothshop.art
We have the LW19 full leather head mask in the show. Adam Ant wore one for his first gig. Sylvain Sylvain from the New York Dolls had one. @dave_carroll_london still makes them using the techniques Ken devised. A similar mask was worn by the notorious Cambridge Rapist, leading to Ken’s shop and the SEX boutique being raided by the police. Capitalising on the myth, Malcom and Vivienne created their Cambridge Rapist t-shirt.
Vivienne & Malcolm sold plenty of less controversial items too. The Horror Show! will include red leather boots bought from Seditionaries by Lance McCormack, and a black sandal bought by Eve Ferret from SEX. The other shoe was lost at a party, long ago.’

The Horror Show!: A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain opens at Somerset House on 27 October and will be on show until 19 February, 2023. Tickets are available here: The Horror Show! | Somerset House

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