The Fashion and Textile Museum’s new exhibition, Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London, surveys the glamorous and often outrageous fashion, music and clubbing scene in the capital more than 40 years ago. It’s an affectionate and nostalgic celebration of new romantic London and the people who came to define it.
By the late 1970s punk had imploded and its ability to shock had dissipated. Youth culture had begun to embrace a distinct shift away from punk’s gritty nature and nihilistic attitudes. In London, particularly, the new decade became a defining time for something different in fashion and nightlife.
The emerging club scene created a fervour for style experimentation, birthing a new subculture in the process. Part dandy, part futuristic in aesthetic, the new romantics embraced a highly stylised, creative, fashion-forward look.
