Young Kim writes about her late partner Malcolm McLaren and explains the history behind today’s Look of the Day.
For Malcolm McLaren, a pop culture obsessive, fashion and music were inextricably entwined. He called this “the look of music” and the “sound of fashion” and practiced this throughout his life, most notably at his shop at 430 King’s Road. Every clothing collection he conceived and realized with his design partner, Vivienne Westwood, had a musical component. The first shop was in fact, named after one of his favorite songs, “Let It Rock” by Chuck Berry.
This piece of knitwear for the Witches collection is a good example. It was inspired by his first solo album, “Duck Rock” which was an anthropological adventure discovering traditional indigenous music and cultures in Africa, South America and North America. Only Malcolm McLaren could have successfully interpreted this idea as a mixture of traditional African music, American Square dance, Peruvian traditional songs, and hip hop. In New York, through friends like the gallerist, Tony Shafrazi, he met and befriended artists like Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf. Inspired by this new kind of graffiti art, he worked with Keith Haring to create the artwork for “Duck Rock” and the iconography of the Witches collection.
Text: Young Kim
Image: Billie Turnbull wearing a piece from Scarlett Cannon’s wardrobe, photographed by Christina Smith for The Lights, Camera, Action Issue.
