Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London exhibition centres around the legendary nightclub Taboo, opened by designer and performance artist Leigh Bowery in 1985.
Imposing ‘dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother’ as the dress code, the Taboo circle – which included fashion designers BodyMap, Rachel Auburn, John Crancher and Pam Hogg, dancer Michael Clark and pop star Boy George – sparked a scene that used the language of hedonistic excess to create fashion, art and popular culture.
Displaying original garments and accessories from Leigh Bowery and over thirty designers, including custom-made pieces from private collections and rare pieces from designers such as John Galliano, John Flett, Stephen Linard and Dean Bright amongst others, plus photography, film and artworks, the exhibition focuses on this vibrant alternative arena where the anarchic energy of the night spilt over into experimental creativity by day.
Image credit: © Brendan Beirne/Shutterstock – Leigh Bowery and Boy George in ‘Blitz’ Designer Collection Fashion Show at the Albery Theatre. London, 1986.
Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London is on at the Fashion and Textile museum until 9th March 2025. The Museum is open Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11.00 – 18.00 (last entry 17.15). The Museum will also be open for the final Sunday of the exhibition, Sunday 9th March 2025 from 11.00 – 17.00 (last entry 16.15).
About the curators
The exhibition is curated by Martin Green, Duovision Arts, and NJ Stevenson. Artistic Director David Cabaret. Creative Consultant James Lawler, Duovision Arts.
Martin Green and James Lawler are together Duovision Arts and have curated over 40 exhibitions including solo shows by Jarvis Cocker, Marc Almond, Holly Johnson, Sheila Rock, Pam Hogg and Andrew Logan. Martin Green was a regular on the 1980s club circuit and went on to run the legendary nightclub Smashing in the early 90s. Green has compiled 30 albums and has a show on Soho Radio. He has co-ordinated fashion show music for Katherine Hamnett, Pringle and Pucci and has DJ’d at events for Pulp, Prada and Paul McCartney.
NJ Stevenson is a fashion curator, author, and lecturer at London College of Fashion. She is curator of the current display, ‘Do a Ruby Keeler – The Boy Friend: Period film and retro fashion in 1971,’ at the Fashion and Textile Museum. NJ Stevenson also curated Billy: Bill Gibb’s Moment in Time at the Fashion and Textile Museum in 2008. Recent publications include, ‘A Continuous Connection’ in Kaffe Fassett: The Artist’s Eye, (Yale University Press 2022) and ‘Shirley Russell and the Role of The Boy Friend in 1970s Retro’ in ReFocus: The Films of Ken Russell (Edinburgh University Press 2023).