Ah well, talking about London clothes shop, more to the point is the 30 years plus existence of Retromania. Not far from Victoria station these days but I feel like I once saw it nearer the centre of town - like maybe in the vicinity of Seven Dials?
"Retromania London is FARA Charity Shop's specialist retro, vintage and designers shop. Destination shopping for vintage lovers and fashionista's alike. We're talking vintage hats, bags, scarves, dresses, menswear and memorabilia. An emporium of all the historical pieces donated throughout FARA shops and collected together in one fabulous space. All funds raised help FARA's vitally needed programmes helping some of Romania's most vulnerable children and young people. Donations always welcome. Open seven days a week."
I would say that's where I picked up the term unconsciously but in fact I came across an old review of Paul Oldfield's in Melody Maker from 1988 where he used the term so I'm thinking it just bubbled up from the social unconscious in the '80s and was circulating, authorlessly. The kind of logical-seeming neologism that multiple people might have independently hatched.
It is one of those shop names that doesn't make much sense: 90% of the stock must be second-hand clothing, then and now. 'Beyond revivalism': yes I think that might have been the point: it wasn't clothes for the mod revival or old skinheads, but a kind bricolage of 70s/80s style.
Must be 20 years by now. Surprised that it's survived the Strokes/White Stripes era.
ReplyDeleteAh I didn't realise it was such an old shop
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by what the phrase "beyond retro" was meant to suggest
like, beyond vintage, beyond revivalism, beyond irony, into total atemporality
Ah well, talking about London clothes shop, more to the point is the 30 years plus existence of Retromania. Not far from Victoria station these days but I feel like I once saw it nearer the centre of town - like maybe in the vicinity of Seven Dials?
ReplyDelete"Retromania London is FARA Charity Shop's specialist retro, vintage and designers shop. Destination shopping for vintage lovers and fashionista's alike. We're talking vintage hats, bags, scarves, dresses, menswear and memorabilia. An emporium of all the historical pieces donated throughout FARA shops and collected together in one fabulous space. All funds raised help FARA's vitally needed programmes helping some of Romania's most vulnerable children and young people. Donations always welcome. Open seven days a week."
I would say that's where I picked up the term unconsciously but in fact I came across an old review of Paul Oldfield's in Melody Maker from 1988 where he used the term so I'm thinking it just bubbled up from the social unconscious in the '80s and was circulating, authorlessly. The kind of logical-seeming neologism that multiple people might have independently hatched.
It is one of those shop names that doesn't make much sense: 90% of the stock must be second-hand clothing, then and now.
ReplyDelete'Beyond revivalism': yes I think that might have been the point: it wasn't clothes for the mod revival or old skinheads, but a kind bricolage of 70s/80s style.