Cyberdog

CYBERDOG By Elly Henkes

Cyberdog is more than just a store, it's a whole experience with a fascinating story behind it. The shop is buried in the heart of Camden. Right by the

sprawling market that Camden is famous for, it's impossible to miss with its entrance flanked by two giant silver robot statues, well over twice

the height of the average human. Cyberdog's branding is powerful and immaculate, and the interior of the store, covering three floors with

its darkened atmosphere, flashing lights and pulsing electronic beats, does their image absolute justice. Neon strobe lighting is everywhere,

strips run across the ceiling, along the walls and down the escalators. The walls feature circuit board style patterns, exposed silver piping, and most

exciting, rows of humanoid robot sculptures incubated in colourfully backlit pods. There's quite a warehouse like feel to the building, due to the interesting mix of eclectic, futuristic elements and rough, underground architecture. A scattering of mannequins around the shopfloor have

various cyborg features including wiring within their bodies and elongated horns. Throbbing trance music blasting out at 150bpm drowns

out any possibility of keeping up a conversation and means staff wear ear plugs to get through the day. The staff are another sensational part

of the place, kitted out in neon, rubber and PVC clothing they complete the aesthetic. Their commitment to the style of Cyberdog completes

the experience. Many of them have multiple piercings, coloured hair, and can be seen bouncing around in platform shoes, ready to help the

next customer. Cyberdog is clear about how it recruits staff, making sure they look for people with the most authentic, unique people, with

a strong sense of passion for self-expression. Clubbers, ravers and cybergoths, they are dedicated to style. The store is a maze of vibrant

clubbing gear, with clothes and accessories laid out in UV lighting for full effect. You can find flashing t shirts, graphic prints on everything,

skintight neon bodysuits, unisex combat trousers, reflective backpacks, visors, hair dye, makeup and more. The basement is 18+ only, with

a member of staff at the top of the stairs to deter children from what they keep below. Contained in the adult section is vast array of bondage gear,

sex toys and fetish wear, everything you need to get as freaky as possible. Meanwhile pole dancers in underwear and fishnets gyrate in the red

lighting. Known as Futurelovers on social media, the over 18s brand was launched in 2018 and makes use of the slogan ‘live long and perverted'.

and atmosphere of the store is incredibly stimulating and the energy is addictive. “The shops are very important for us because that's where you

see the whole vibe," says owner Terry Davy. “It's the decoration as much as the clothes." So what's the story behind the the brand that brought such

a thrilling environment to the heart of Camden? It all started when partners Terry Davy and Spiros Vlahos decided clubbing fashion was to boring and that

planet Earth needed something a lot more exciting. The store we know today began life as a market stall when they started selling t shirts in Camden

Market in 1994, and Cyberdog soon opened its doors as a fully fledged store in 1998. The Grade I listed building which Cyberdog currently occupies can be found in the Stables Market and was designer who put her vision

used by the prominent punk rock band The Clash during the late 80s as a living space and studio. Cyberdog's warehouse is based in Canning Town and

from there Cyberdog clothes are shipped all over the world. Cyberdog was named after the owners' pet dog Chi Chi the ‘Space Chihuahua', who

according to the website crash landed on Earth and invented the brand to remedy the lack of interesting clothing available. “The result was a mash up of

techno funky colours and cutting edge future shock." The About U s section on Cyberdog's website states that the brand has an “accessible urban underground

vibe “ and “never compromises, never follows the trends." Davy and Vlahos are both real life partners and business partners. Davy is is the fashion into creating the clothes the world of clubbing deserved. She has over 20 years experience in fashion and product design and works as the creative

director for Cyberdog, being the stylist and artistic director behind their photoshoots and campaigns. Talking about the fashion she says “I love hi

tech, I'm really into technology and that influences me in the design of the clothes." She disagrees with the view that many take of Cyberdog's fashion

when they refer to it using the word ‘futuristic'. “We're always getting referred to as `futuristic fashion', but what is the future? You don't know what

it's going to be, it's just trying to be at the cutting edge. The clothes I design reflect the times we're in, they might be progressive but they are for now." >>

As the website boldly states, “the future is here… enjoy!" At the inception of Cyberdog, Davy was inspired by technology, science fiction, rave clubs and getting dressed up so put all of these interests together into her clothing designs. Davy and Vlahos experienced the start of the rave scene in the nineties firsthand as clubbers and saw a lack of clothing to fit the new music evolving from it. They were driven by not being able to find the right clothes to go clubbing in and wanted to bring the neon glowing colours that

shiny new clubs were being lit by to clothing that hadn't previously been available in such colours. She describes being part of an emerging alternative scene: “I started going to clubs but I couldn't find the clothes that matched the music. I saw the UV backdrops in some of these clubs and I was like, ‘I wanna glow like that.' So we started to do neon glow, off-the-wall trippy images." Cyberdog's unique fashion was visionary in fusing elements of goth and neon and Davy became central in establishing the style we know as cybergoth. “We started experimenting with the darker fetish club clothing, which were all black at the time. We added flashes of neon colour – this is how the term ‘cybergoth' came about." In terms of Cyberdog's contribution to the creation of cybergoth she says “I don't wanna say that we started that whole thing but in a way we probably did." The flagship store never fails to live up to it's lively nature, as can been seen from its relationship with live music events throughout its history.

It's common for Cyberdog to have live DJs perform sets during store opening hours for customers and they have in the past hosted those such

as DJ Recklezz is Primo, Max Correnti and Dave Pearce. Back in 2014 the brand celebrated 20 years of Cyberdog with the Cyberdog Weekender. It was a

massive two day open air event at Camden Market featuring live music, podium dancers and a bar. The Camden store often teams up with promoters to sell

tickets to various trance rave nights. On top of this theyve been the venue for events run by other organisers, including the renowned Egg London who

used Cyberdog as the location for their party celebrating the birthday of Berlin Berlin. Galaxy of Ravers, a film made by Cyberdog in 2016 and directed

by Davy and Vlahos' son Eros, depicts Cyberdog's crazy universe of neon and bright lights. The short but spacey five minute video is super trippy and

shows off a variety of styles and looks, and even features a cameo from Chi Chi the original cyber dog himself. Check it out on Youtube to get a good feel for the strange and wonderful vision Cyberdog bring to life. Cyberdog has taken its place in cultural history as a brand that defies the coming and going practically created and continue to redesign the concept of cybergoth. What grew from a market stall into an empire has become a force of fashion and

of trends to meet the fashion desires and needs of British rave goers, clothing a generation of clubbers and space cadets for almost 30 years. Davy and

Vlahos have made a phenomenal contribution to clubbing fashion, propelling rave wear and cyber chic into outer space. They self expression. From creating a shop that itself feels like a club and brings the happiness of a rave to everyone who visits, to celebrating individuality and

catering to wildest subcultures, Cyberdog's brand truly has created the future here and now. It's all about having fun.