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T A B O O BIRTHDAY PARTY by THE FACE

´Nothing succeeds like excess´  wrote Oscar Wilde,  and clothes designer Leigh Bowery has taken excess to excess with his club Taboo.  Tony Gordon takes care of the business side while Leigh types out the guest list,  downs two bottles of Sainsbury´s vodka and makes his wat to the club to entertain and act as official greeter.  As Taboo´s reputation has grown, so has its impressive guest list. Club regulars include designers John Galliano, John Richmond, John Flett,  Antony Price,  Judy Blame, Paul bernstock,  Gregory Davies, Jasper Conran and Bodymappers Steve Stewart, David Holah and ballet dancer Michael Clark ; models Susic Bic, Lesley Weiner and Dovanna; stylists Ray Petri, Mitzi Lorens, Paul Lonergan;  hairdressers Ray Allington and Sam McKnight;  popstars Frankie´s, Spandau, Wham!, Boy George, Paul Young, Bryan Ferry, ABC, Marco Pirroni,  Pete Shelley and Sharon Redd.  Others habitue´es include artists Duggie Fields, Trojan, Andrew Logan, Michael Kostiff and film-makers Derek Jarman,  John Maybury and Ceryth Wyn Evans. To name just a few. Over the past months,  the crowd outside has swallen into a seeting mass of suburbanites trying to outweird each other,  dressed and ready to kill to get in.  one young girl was turned away three weeks in a row ´because she ws fat and unfashionable´ says Leigh.  ´So she starved herself and bought a John Galliano outfit from Browns.  When she come back,  we let her in, but as the door opened,  the cwod surged and knocked her over.  She was trampled on and couldn´t move because she was so weak from dieting.  We didn´t find her until 3am in the gutter.  So sad - and bad for business.´  Over the year Leigh  has sported three looks -  the polka dots,  the plastic policeman´s helmet and his current shaven-headed ´ink-on-a-boiled-egg´ look. Aways the genial host, he likes everyone to be natural and treat Taboo as a second home.  Many times guests have been greeted by the host crawling around naked on all fours.  Music is provided by the best DJ in London, scratch video maker Jeffrey Hinton. The club´s best endorsement comes from Boy George : ´ For me, Leigh Bowery is Taboo -  without him it would be another sweaty rundown Jewish discotheque.  He gives the place its vitality and it´s worth going every week just to see whose face he´s going to spit in next or how big his lips are going to be.  Leigh is Taboo and anyting taboo is welcome to wriggle around n my face anytime. THE FACE MAGAZINE / TEXT BY FIONA RUSSELL POWELL / PICTURES BY DEREK RIDGERS TABOO MENU