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D E S I G N C U LT U R E FA S H I O N 1956 –1976
G E O F F R E Y R AY N E R RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN A N N A M A R I E S TA P L E T O N
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POP! © 2012 Geoffrey Rayner, Richard Chamberlain, Annamarie Stapleton World copyright reserved ISBN 978‐1‐85149‐690‐7 The rights of Geoffrey Rayner, Richard Chamberlain and Annamarie Stapleton to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher Every effort has been made to secure permission to reproduce the images contained within this book, and we are grateful to the individuals and institutions who have assisted in this task. Any errors are entirely unintentional, and the details should be addressed to the publisher. British Library Cataloguing‐in‐Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Designed and typeset by John and Orna Designs, London Printed in China Published in England by ACC Editions, an imprint of Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk
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CONTENTS
4
INTRODUCTION
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T H E P O P I N P O P U L A R 19 4 5 –1956
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R O C K ‘N’ R O L L 1956 – 1959
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‘M A D M E N ’ : M O D E R N I S T S I N T O M O D S 19 6 0 –19 6 3
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S W I N G I N G S I X T I E S 19 6 4 –19 6 7
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P S Y C H E D E L I A 19 6 7–197 0
16 6
UNDERGROUND POSTERS & G R A P H I C S 19 6 6 –1973
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T H E F U N PA L A C E 19 6 9 –1973
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‘ T H E M’ 1970 –1976
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PUNK
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APPENDICES
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INTRODUCTION
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POSTER, ‘BLACK EYES AND LEMONADE’ DESIGNER BARBARA JONES B R I T I S H , 1951 The artist Barbara Jones designed this poster for an exhibition of the popular arts she curated and organised with Tom Ingram at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London’s east end, as part of the 1951 Festival of Britain. The exhibition’s title was adapted from a poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore to read ‘A Persian heaven is easily made, ‘tis but Black eyes and Lemonade’. A pioneer in the field of popular culture, Jones later taught the Pop artist Peter Blake, who described her as ‘A treasure trove of information about Popular Culture.’
2 4 T H E P O P I N P O P U L A R 19 4 5 –1956
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T E X T I L E , ‘ C I R C U S S T R I P E ’, D E S I G N E D B Y S U S A N W I L L I A M S E L L I S F O R B E R N A R D WA R D L E LT D , B R I T I S H , E A R LY 1950 S . I N S E T: B O O K C O V E R , P O P U L A R E N G L I S H A R T , W I T H A D E S I G N O F M E R RY- G O - R O U N D H O R S E S . N O E L C A R R I N G T O N F O R K I N G P E N G U I N B O O K S , 19 4 5 . C O V E R D E S I G N A N D I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y C L A R K E H U T T O N This textile and book epitomise the growing interest in popular culture in Britain during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, which eventually led to Pop.
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R O C K ‘N’ R O L L 1956 –1959
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B O O K C O V E R F O R T H E B R I T I S H PA P E R B A C K E D I T I O N O F T H E B L A C K B O A R D J U N G L E , PA N T H E R B O O K S , L O N D O N , 1957. A U T H O R , E VA N H U N T E R , A M E R I C A N , 195 4 This story of teenage rebellion and delinquency in the American public school system was made into a ground breaking film in 1955, which is often credited with providing the launch pad for youth culture in the 1950s and 1960s.
28 R O C K ‘N’ R O L L 1956 –1959
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LP RECORD SLEEVE, ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, B I L L H A L E Y A N D T H E C O M E T S , A M E R I C A N , 1956 The film, and its soundtrack, which featured Bill Haley’s iconic rock ‘n’ roll single, ‘Rock Around the Clock’, notoriously provoked scenes of wild and destructive behaviour from teen audiences, when first released.
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FILM POSTER LOVE ME TENDER B R I T I S H , 1956 Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, burst onto the world in 1956 with a string of extraordinary Rock ‘n’ Roll hits, amongst which were ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and ‘Hound Dog’. Elvis’s rapidly growing fame and status was further cemented that year with the world wide release of his first film, Love Me Tender. This poster for the film’s British release is remarkable for successfully conveying, at that early date, both the energy and dynamism of Elvis’s music and the power of his sexuality.
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L P R E C O R D S L E E V E , E LV I S P R E S L E Y A M E R I C A N , 1956 The 1956 sleeve of Elvis’s first LP, its image equally as powerful as the preceding film poster, set a standard for Pop record sleeves, such as the homage version for the sleeve of the 1979 album London Calling, by the British Punk band, the Clash.
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A COTTON ‘BORDER PRINT’ TEXTILE INTENDED FOR S K I R T S F O R E LV I S FA N S A N D O T H E R R O C K ‘N’ R O L L E R S A M E R I C A N , c1956
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A S H O R T F E LT S K I R T I N T E N D E D F O R R O C K ‘ N ’ R O L L DANCING, APPLIQUÉD WITH A DESIGN OF RECORDS A N D M U S I C A L N O T E S , A M E R I C A N , c1957 ‘ T E D D Y B O Y ’ D R A P E J A C K E T, B R I T I S H , L AT E 1950 S The ‘Teddy Boys’ were the first ‘teenage tribe’ in post‐war Britain. Mainly working class blue‐collar youths, they were identifiable by their outfits derived from Edwardian dandy fashions and American Western styles, worn with heavily greased ‘Pompadour’ or ‘Tony Curtis’ inspired hair styles. From about 1954, they dominated headlines in the media for a few years with much‐exaggerated stories of violence and delinquency, which culminated in 1955 and 1956 with the somewhat mythic trashing of cinemas during showings of the films, The Blackboard Jungle and Rock Around the Clock. The high point of their notoriety coincided with the Rock ‘n’ Roll era between 1956 and 1959.
3 6 R O C K ‘N’ R O L L 1956 –1959
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38 R O C K ‘N’ R O L L 1956 –1959
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‘M A R T I N I L A B E L ’ P R I N T E D C O T T O N S K I R T B R I T I S H , c1956 This textile is a particularly early example of Pop’s use of commercial advertising for decorative purposes. Whilst a successful marketing tool for Martini, it also expressed the sophisticated taste of the wearer for glamorous and sexy Italian drinks, and by association, exciting foreign travel. It was particularly popular between 1956 and 1957 with Rock ‘n’ Roll fans for full circle skirts worn with layer upon layer of stiffened petticoats.
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MANS SLICKER JACKET PRINTED COTTON B R I T I S H , c1957 The early use of photographic images of film stars for the design of the textile used for this slicker jacket is remarkably prescient of Pop textiles in the later 1960s and early 1970s, many of which were inspired by late 1950s textiles such as this.
4 2 R O C K ‘N’ R O L L 1956 –1959
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T E X T I L E , P R I N T E D W I T H T H E N A M E S O F P O P S TA R S B R I T I S H , c1957 A cotton textile printed with the names of Pop stars, intended for the skirts of Rock ‘n’ Roll fans.
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