Our final guest speaker for the i-D Inspirational Men Dinner is Judy Blame. The one and only. Ain’t nobody we’d rather be.
Click images to enlarge.
Judy comes in and out of the i-D office to chat to the team and take the mickey out of his mate, Fashion Editor Elgar Johnson. A stylist of the ‘super’ order, jeweller, designer, art director and general figure of ultimate fashion respect, Judy has worked with i-D on covers and spreads since the early 80s, bringing his cut and paste, style over status aesthetic to the magazine, and helping shape its style identity over the years. Chains, safety pins, string, bottle tops – you get the picture – it’s artistic, iconic, one-off fashion and if you can’t make it work, you’re not cut out for it. Reuniting with his old friend, the photographer Mark Lebon for one of those artistic, iconic and one-off fashion stories (backstage film here) in The Lights, Camera, Action Issue, Judy commented: “I knew I’d enjoy the fashion biz again if I did it with Mark. It was just a way of doing something a bit more human. Mark’s a very human person. He calls it spiritual. He’s just a big old human.” If you want to be inspired, Judy’s contributions to SOUL i-D are a good place to start. But first, get acquainted. Here’s 10 reasons we love The Blame.
1. Judy ran away from home at 17 in pursuit of punk rock.
2. Judy was named Judy by designer Antony Price. “Judy was a nickname given to me by a friend and Blame just sprang to mind one day. It sounds like a trashy b-movie actress from the 50s – a bleached blonde tart who only made one film and never got anywhere – I like that.”
3. Judy’s first editorial feature was for i-D.
4. Judy was part of Ray Petri’s Buffalo aesthetic.
5. Judy is a jewellery designer stocked at Dover Street Market.
6. Judy has lots of god children.
7. Judy buys his underwear in Muji and Marks & Spencers.
8. Judy designed Princess of Pop, Kylie Minogue’s Jubilee concert performance outfit. Read all about it.
9. Judy thinks Nike and Adidas make the best trainers.
10. Judy has styled Neneh Cherry, Boy George, Björk and Kylie Minogue.
Text: Sarah Raphael
Images from top: The Madness Issue, March 1986, photography Mark Lebon, styling Judy Blame / The Lights, Camera, Action Issue, Summer 2012, photography Mark Lebon, styling Judy Blame / Judy Blame in The Positive Issue, May 1992/ Judy Blame in The 30th Birthday Issue, Pre-Fall 2010, photography Nick Knight/
Judy Blame will be speaking at the i-D Inspirational Men’s Dinner, sponsored by Victorinox, during London Collections: Men.
