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During the 80’s I made several trips to London for long holidays and to visit family. In 1986 I decided to attend a makeup college for a yearlong course. Complexions London School of makeup sounded like a dream, offering courses on fashion, film, prosthetics & located in the west end. I found a small little bed set in Russell Square just around the corner from the college. It was located over a pub and directly across from a church bell tower. I never remember getting a good nights sleep there. I attended school during the day and went clubbing at night. At that time I didn’t wear much makeup, just a bit of foundation and lip-gloss. Heaven was my idea of a good club, big loud fun and gay with lots of different rooms. Pyramid night was the best. One night I discovered a door leading into a separate small club. I’m not sure how I got in, but it was that night I discovered a scene that I still remember today. The night was called John Cranshere Anarchy party. John, who was a somewhat well known designer in London, had a shop in Soho at that time. His clothing was very dressed up bondage, with a smart tailored look in mostly red, black and white. On that night he was dj’ing, playing a campy high-energy set of Lime, Sylvester and Abba. The party was packed with trendy fabulous people, some dancing. The smell of poppers drifted up in to the balcony that overlooked the dance floor. It was at that time I met my friend Pam, a tall trendy Pakistani girl with short-cropped blonde hair. Pam told me a bit about the scene and asked me if I wanted to go with her to Delirium. I read the story of Trojan and Leigh Bowery, so I had a general knowledge of who Leigh was. Delirium was Leigh Bowery’s party and I was curious so later in the week we went there. The club was a large theater space with a spiral sliding board on the dance floor. Philip Salon was there and let me take his photo. “I love what you’re wearing!” I said, “well it’s a bit of this and a bit of that” said Philip. When I saw Leigh Bowery for the first time, I didn’t get it. I thought who is this cartoon character in the club tonight. He was so campy with his appearance. The outfit was so over the top. A spiked helmet with glasses and big smiley lips wearing an old lady cut dress in a check print. His energy was that of a star struck ham. He climbed the slide with such enthusiasm and slid down as if it was put there for just that purpose. His energy seemed endless exaggerating every movement. Rachel Auburn was dj’ing-playing songs by Dee Dee Jackson's Automatic Lover, and Abba's “Lay All Your Love on Me” which was a huge hit with the crowd. Rachel kept people dancing all night. Sacrosanct was another party I attended. This is the time I started to scout the clubs for models to use at college. Photographing them in their club looks with my makeup. Sacrosanct was a wild Club. Boy George came in wearing a long red jacket with matching baseball hat and red bondage trousers. At that time George had his hair bleach blonde and cropped short. Pam and I were sitting at a table with all Japanese friends when Boy George sat down and said something in Japanese. All of them started howling with laughter. I was told he said Japanese boys have big dicks. Leigh Bowery was dancing with a very large woman. I think she was one of his models or slaves? She had short crop blonde hair and spaghetti strapped long dress. As Leigh danced with her she fell flat on her back in the middle of the dance floor and her big tits popped out of her dress. Leigh just pulled her up with one hand and they carried on. Later that night I met my friend Kosmo who agreed to model for me at college. We became buddies and went out clubbing often. It was Kosmo who told me about Taboo and knew all the names of the Taboo freaks. He was a big fan of Rachel Auburn and knew many of the records she played at the clubs. We also would go to the Scala cinema together there. He schooled me on the best of cult films like “Ciao Manhattan”, “Return of the Valley of the Dolls” & “Faster Pussycat Kill Kill Kill”. London was our playground and this was an amazing time for fashion & clubs. I started to notice postcards of Leigh Bowery in the shops. He was a becoming a well-known celebrity. I was influenced by him and started painting my face with large mouth and smoky eyes. Kosmo also influenced me with his designs and ideas. There were so many individual designers of fashion who were strong. London was booming with new ideas. Leigh Bowery seemed to be the most outrageous with a strong loveable character and he was the perfect host for a very memorable London scene of 1986 & 1987. |
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