SEX (boutique)

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SEX was a boutique run by Malcolm McLaren & Vivienne Westwood at 430 King's Road, London.

In October 1971 Malcolm McLaren and his art-school friend Patrick Casey opened a small stall selling original rock & roll vinyl, magazines, clothing and memorabilia from the 1950s in the back room of a shop called Paradise Garage at 430 King's Road in London's Chelsea district. When the owners of Paradise Garage were evicted, McLaren and Casey took over and renamed it Let It Rock, augmenting the stock with repaired and freshly made Teddy Boy clothes designed by McLaren's school-teacher girlfriend Vivienne Westwood. The store had a green bamboo sign that said the store's name "LET IT ROCK" and the interior was covered in Odeon logo wallpaper. It was one of the only neo-Teddy Boy clothing shops and was partly responsible for a revival of Teddy Boy culture. The store sold tailor made jackets called drapes, skintight trousers and thick soled shoes called brothel creepers. It was featured in several magazines.

In 1972 the outlet was renamed Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die and restocked with clothing evoking early 60s "rocker" culture. However, the infamous Teddy Boys and rockers constantly were thieving and shoplifting from the store and threatening McLaren and Westwood. So in 1974, the shop was closed down and renamed SEX.

SEX sold fetish and bondage gear as well as original fashion styles that would become Punk. The shop was painted black with barred windows and said SEX in 4 foot high foam rubber letters. The interior was covered with graffiti from the SCUM Manifesto and chickenwire. Rubber curtains covered the walls and red carpet was put in. Famously, the Sex Pistols auditioned Johnny Rotten in the shop.[1] At this time SEX was the only boutique of its kind in the world. By 1977 when British punk rock developed a mass following, there were imitators including BOY (also in the King's Road). SEX customers included Adam Ant, The Sex Pistols, the Bromley Contingent while store workers included Glen Matlock, Sid Vicious, Chrissie Hynde and Jordan. This store's notorious designs included T-shirts bearing images of the Cambridge Rapist, semi-naked cowboys, bare breasts, pornographic text by Alexander Trocchi and other provocative graphics. This is also when the first version of the famous Anarchy shirt came to light. They were bleached and dyed shirts with karl marx patches and anarchist slogan patches sewn on. The base shirt used was a Wemblex shirt. Mclaren found a warehouse full of these old stock shirts and used these for the first version. Vivienne made the first one but she hid it from Mclaren thinking he would mock her for making it, it turned out he loved it and she was told to make more for the shop.

In December 1976 430 King's Road was renamed Seditionaries which reflected the growing popularity of the Sex Pistols by introducing a number of new designs, including a new version of the Anarchy shirt (dyed and bleached button-up shirts with patches and stenciling, which changed from the SEX version) because they ran out of the wemblex shirts which the first Anarchy shirt was made from so they used what ever old shirts they could get, most coming from Marks and Spencer's, the letter stencil changed to a bigger version and the slogan patches started to bare the sex pistols song lyrics on them. Phil strongman and Mark Gray even made some of these shirts for seditionaries. Also came Bondage suits, parachute tops and a range of footwear. They also started to use Tartan and PVC, pinstriped corduroy and various other fabrics for the Bondage trousers. This period is where Vivienne really got going as a designer and along with the Bondage trousers came, in-side out felt blazers, Sleeveless bondage macs, one strap bondage jackets, toweling jackets and also a wide range of footwear, studded bondage boots, peep toe Spiderman boots and snowman boots. Today, much of the Punk, Goth, Emo, and Scene cultures base their look on the styles of Seditionaries. Outerwear included bondage jackets, fabric motorcycle jackets and striped mohair sweaters.

By 1980, Westwood and McLaren's relationship slowly deteriorated and the shop finally closed its doors in September 1980. The last Seditionaries T shirt design was the now famous "Anarchist Punk Gang" collage shirt. After seditionaries closed in September 1980 the designs were licensed and sold to the rival store BOY.

In late 1980 early 1981 the shop re-opened as World's End the building which was designed by David Connor to look like a 19th century galleon. The shop has a giant clock which spun backwards and a floor which was raked at an extreme angle. Westwood used the store to sell her PIRATES collection. World's End is still open today and is run by Westwood and McLaren's son Joe Corre, who also uses the store to sell his brand of lingerie.

BBC WORLD NEWS: 18 JUNE 2009: Three people were charged yesterday with faking artwork by the artist BANKSY and producing copies of designs by VIVIENNE WESTWOOD and MALCOLM MCLAREN and submitting them for auction through various London auction houses.

Grant Howard, 43, of Birdhurst Rise, South Croydon, Lee Parker, 44, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, are charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

At the City of London Magistrates' Court Vesna Grandes-Howard, 32, also of Birdhurst Rise, South Croydon, is accused of money laundering.

All three face a charge of possessing articles for use in fraud.

It is alleged that they manufactured and sold faked VIVIENNE WESTWOOD clothing from her SEX and Seditionaries period when partnered with Malcolm McLaren.

Grant Howard was remanded in custody. Parker and Grandes-Howard were remanded on bail.

The trio are due before Southwark Crown Court, London, on 18 August.

[edit] References

1. The Look: Adventures in rock & pop fashion by Paul Gorman. Publisher: London, Adelita Ltd, 2006 ISBN 978-0955201707

2. England's Dreaming Sex Pistols and Punk Rock by Jon Savage. Publisher: London, Faber & Faber Ltd, 1991 ISBN 9780571139750

3. Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by John Lydon. Publisher: Picador, 1995. ISBN 0-312-11883-X.

4. "SEX & SEDITIONARIES" by PunkPistol. Publisher First Edition, 2006. ISBN 10-0955464307 ISBN 13-978-0955464300

[edit] External links

• The Look blog Blog of definitive style text The Look.
• Only anarchists are pretty Photos and information.Closed as of 11/08.
• Sex & Seditionaries Clothing designed by Vivienne Westwood & Malcolm McLaren circa 1975-1979.
• Punk Pistol Seditionaries tribute site to clothing designed by Westwood & McLaren.
• Punk Pirate 1981 Clothing line designed by Westwood and McLaren. (previously punkpirate.com - no longer accessible)