What a picture
Pelé receiving the PFA Merit Award for his services to Professional Football from Gordon Banks. Two greats.
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Fuck me,it’s been a bumper December of losing idols
Whatever your view of punk,mclaren and Westwood certainly helped change the landscape of what being a teenager meant.
Surprised there hasn’t been a film about them .
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Vivienne Westwood was amazing. Her clothes had such an identity - instantly recognisable and she made things that people would wear year in year out. She believed in quality. Don’t be fooled by the punk thing. I’ve seen a fair bit of the original Seditionaries stuff and all of it was beautifully conceived and made, with excellent fabric, buckles and buttons etc. She then turned that into a world famous brand with her activism and attitude right at the centre of it’s identity. The brand remained independent, she never sold out. What a life!
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Was reading earlier someone who bought trousers from sex in 77 who still has them and says they are still the best quality trousers he has ever had.
I never associated her punk stuff with quality before
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I wasn’t hugely knowledgeable about her but liked what I’d seen. A goodly chunk of what I knew was her putting Naomi Campbell into a pair of high heels so tall and spindly that she fell over on the catwalk!
In my backwater area, you were a God if you had genuine ‘Sex’ stuff, and not the market-stall ripoffs that fell apart in days.
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Yes,was to expensive for me around 77/78, but did have an older mate who had a fair bit. Lost touch with him in the 90s so don’t know if he still has it. I suspect he does as he took it all very seriously
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It’s hugely collectable now and very expensive, so is the later ‘Westwood’ stuff. I saw quite a bit of it at McQueen, they have an archive for inspiration as well as all their own stuff but also they would rent pieces from agencies that deal with this sort of thing.
At the time I made a suit for Johnathan Ross and was talking with him about punk and how amazing the original stuff is. Turned out that he is a real enthusiast and has a huge collection of it and brought a couple of things in to show me at the final fitting of his suit.
This one for instance is amazing up close, it has such authenticity. It looks and feels like American military clothing (a real benchmark for utility clothing imv) or top end work wear. Hard wearing fabric and all the seams are sewn with a small stitch, super accurately, really fantastically detailed. Really not sure how you could do this stuff that well with a tiny scale. You would have to be on the maker with an iron rod if you cared as much as she obviously did. She was an absolute master. 
As you can probably tell, I absolutely love this shit. 
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My grandmother passed away in the early hours of this morning. It’s been coming for a while (she was 88 after after all), but more definitively since she opted for palliative care at on Christmas Eve. An altogether wonderful person, and she will be very much missed (as an example, despite my being 37, she would still send me £60 each month as fun money). Down to one grandparent left, and in a fit of irony, it’s the one who you’d have probably expected to go first give the medical history who is left.
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Sorry to hear that mate
Sorry to hear that Jon.
Sorry to hear that news John
Condolences to you and your family.
Sad times. So sorry to hear your news.
Sad news Jon. I hope the end was gentle for her.
As many in here know I work in the Charity sector and about 4 years ago I went to a meeting that was hosted by The Salvation Army at Regent Hall which is close to Oxford Street Station.
Because they have a citadel there and some space they also have a charity shop, Pretty unique as no other charity could afford the rent in that area.
Anyhow I had to sign in at the shop before going upstairs for the meeting.
The staff were busy so I had a look round the shop while I was waiting.
The very first thing I saw was a tee shirt on a hanger. It looked quite cool so I checked the price ticket. It was £35.00
I have never seen a tee shrt for that price in a charity shop and then noticed it was a Vivienne Westwood original.
2 hours later I came back down from the meeting and the tee shirt had been sold.
Someone felt they had a bargain!
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My condolences Jon
Sorry to hear the news Jon, my condolences.
Condolences John. Sounds like she was a wonderful person for you.