Outlaws
‘Dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother.’
(Leigh Bowery, 1985)
Outlaws dives into the anarchic energy of London’s 1980s club scene, celebrating the avant-garde, experimental designs of Leigh Bowery and his fellow fashion renegades, including John Galliano, Stephen Linard, BodyMap, Pam Hogg, Rachel Auburn and Wayne Hemingway.
This unique and daring creative movement sparked an explosion of outrageous fashion. Outlaws features specially commissioned photography of original outfits crafted by 28 trailblazing clothes designers. They are accompanied by first-hand accounts from musician Holly Johnson, DJ Mark Moore, artist Peter Doig and photographer Dave Swindells, as well as rare photos and flyers from club nights where these outfits were worn, such as Bowery's legendary Taboo.
Outlaws captures a subculture that defied norms and pushed the boundaries. It is a tribute to the visionaries who reshaped British pop culture and blazed a trail to high fashion.
Martin Green was a regular on the 1980s club circuit and went on to run the legendary nightclub Smashing in the early 90s. He is co-curator of the exhibition Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London with NJ Stevenson, which opens at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London in October 2024. 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 began her fashion curatorial career in 2008 and has since worked on many projects with venues including the Fashion and Textile Museum, where she is co-curating Outlaws with Martin Green. Stevenson is widely published and is a lecturer at the London College of Fashion. She first met Martin Green on the London club scene in the early 1990s.