Adam Ant wore his onstage. Malcolm McLaren & Vivienne Westwood put a picture of it on a T-Shirt. Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls) owned one in silver leather.
The leather Head Mask is a garment that featured consistently in The London Leatherman ‘Exotica’ mail order catalogues from 1971 through to the 1990s, available predominately in black leather it was also offered in silver and in red leather too.
The new for 2021 LW19 Head Mask
Page from the The London Leatherman ‘Exotica’ Catalogue 1974 featuring the LW11 & LW19 mask with detachable blindfold.
A true underground fetish item that clients would order from Ken (Heddle Magson) discretely, until, like many The London Leatherman designed items it made its way into the public eye, taking on a life of it’s own in the mid-1970s, a life that included being worn on stage by Adam Ant for his first gig at the ICA in May 1977 in London and being featured on T-shirts designed by Malcolm McLaren & Vivienne Westwood that are today held in the V&A and The Met Museum collections (scroll to bottom of page for pictures).
Here we wanted to address the legend that follows The London Leatherman mask, the association to the boutique SEX, the influence it had on Malcolm McLaren & Vivienne Westwood and Alan Selby (who later founded Mr. S Leather) and the implications that a The London Leatherman mask was worn by a convicted criminal in the press- this turned out to be an urban myth and weak journalism. We feel the best way to do this is to share with you the article that featured in the Sunday Mirror in 1975. See the scan below:
The London Leatherman LW11 Head Mask made front page news in May 1975. It was thought at the time that the criminal may have worn a LLM mask, he didn’t.
Adam Ant wearing The London Leatherman LW19 Head Mask and The London Leatherman LB9 Ring Clipper Bikini with Zip, May 1977.
Michael Collins, Manager of the boutique SEX as interviewed for the Sunday Mirror newspaper wearing a version of the T-shirt designed by McLaren & Westwood featuring the LW19 Head Mask. Photographer Homer Sykes
Steve Jones (right) wearing the T-shirt by Maclaren & Westwood featuring image of The London Leatherman Head Mask LW19 in Oslo 1977. Steve is also wearing The London Leatherman jeans. Photographer Henrik Laurvik.
Photo credit: Christie’s. The LW19 Head Mask in silver leather, once owned by Sylvain Sylvain.
Today we produce both the LW11 (zip mouth) and the LW19 (soft lip) Head Masks hand made to the same specifications as the mask offered in 1975 with upgraded detailing for 2023.
The Head Masks are available to order via WWW.THELONDONLEATHERMAN.COM