Mar 5 2006 - By Sarah Robertson, Sunday Sun
It was the summer of 1980. Musician Steve Strange's club, Blitz, was the only place to be seen in London.
Photographer David Bailey rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bianca Jagger and the Sex Pistols, while club DJ Rusty Egan whipped the dance floor into a frenzy.
Boy George was just a humble cloakroom attendant and the look sported by everyone was new romantic mixed with punk.
And it was here that North fashion designer Judith Frankland found fame when music icon David Bowie came to the Blitz looking for extras to appear in the video for his number one single Ashes to Ashes.
Bowie spotted Steve, the founder of 1980s group Visage, wearing one of Judith's creations, a black wedding dress, and asked if he could use it in his video.
She went on to travel the world, designing in Los Angeles and Paris with Marc Jacobs, and setting up wild club nights in Milan with drag queen Ru Paul.
Now, after 20 years on the club circuit, she is back in her native Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, and says her party days are over.
But her bright pink hair, huge gold earrings and black top with skull insignia suggest that punk will always be part of Judith's life.
She said: "They were pretty wild days back then. It was such a brilliant time. I'd gone to study fashion and textiles at the Ravensbourne College in London and the punk era was taking off.
"I'd wear boiler suits dyed pink with big purple boots and my hair was covered with big bows. The Sex Pistols had come on the scene and I just thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. London was just the place to be in. It was edgy and vibrant."
Judith, 46, had been at art college in Cumbria before heading to London in 1977. She settled in Bromley, the centre of punk and the home town of Siouxsie and the Banshees and rocker Billy Idol.
She said: "I couldn't stay in Cumbria . . . it was too quiet and boring. I was a rebel and my parents wanted me to travel the world, especially mum, who I get my love of fashion and designing from.
"Once I was in London I met other people like me and I fitted in."
In February 1979, Blitz opened in London's Covent Garden. It was owned by Steve Strange . . . a pioneer of the new romantic music scene of the early 1980s.
Strange started wearing Judith's creations after attending her graduation show.
She said: "Steve and I became firm friends. The Blitz was the place to be seen. It wasn't big and could only hold 200 people, but I don't know a club as exclusive. You could never be too outrageous and only the wildly dressed got in. Mick Jagger was famously turned away because Steve didn't like what he was wearing.
"I ended up working there with Boy George who was on the cloakroom, and the two of us hit it off. George was the queen of all queens. I never knew anyone who wore as much make-up.
"He was brilliant at put-downs and he could hold his own with anyone. I always knew he would end up famous.
"We all wanted fame, just like young people do now, but what was nice then is we were all at the same level. Everyone was penniless, but we were together."
Judith ended up living with DJ Rusty Egan and the Band Aid co-founder and former Ultravox singer Midge Ure.
She said: "Midge was just lovely. I think he should have been given more thanks for what he did with Band Aid. Spandau Ballet started playing at the club and I became friends with them."
But Judith wasn't impressed by recent Celebrity Big Brother contestant Pete Burns, then in group Dead or Alive. She said: "Everyone thought Pete Burns was an idiot, as I remember. We all thought he was a bit naff. George was way better and very intelligent, the one with all the witty put-downs."
After spells in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Paris, Judith met her now ex-husband Luciano Maurizio. They moved to Milan and set up night spot Pussy Galore's.
She said: "We flew all the big drag queens in like Ru Paul . . . it was wild. Pop star Seal would drop in and MTV filmed there."
But with her marriage on the rocks, Judith decided she had enough of clubs. She moved to Hollywood and set up a fashion company with friend Amy Dresner and the two saw their Frankland Dresner designs fly off the shelves.
Last year, however, Judith shut the label down and moved home to care for her mum and start designing back in the North.
She added: "It was the right time to come back. Most of my good friends are dead now because of AIDS.
"I don't keep in touch with Steve any more or George but if I saw them again I'd chat away. I don't regret a minute of it but those days are gone. The party is over."
