Mr Freedom:
Tommy Roberts - British Design Hero
Andrew Bunney speaks to Paul Gorman on Tommy Roberts
12 10/15 UP
text: Andrew Bunney translation: Mayumi Horiguchi
- A :
- How big was the department store in terms of employees?
- P :
- It was about 10 staff in store; there was a design studio upstairs. They had George Hardie as the principal graphic designer doing some of the greatest work. They were even people making props that would be used for photo shoots. Tommy had a giant mechanical fly which flapped its wings that he had bought from a film set hanging from the ceiling.
- A :
- What else could you buy at Mr. Freedom at this point?
- P :
- Virtually everything. Underwear, kids wear, a lot of knitwear, suits, loud check suits that David Hockney wore, and of course food - Mr Feed’Em in the basement.
- A :
- What sort of food?
- P :
- Traditional English sausage and mash, but the sausages were dyed blue and the mash was green, the soup had a plastic fly in each serving. It was quite jocular and very short lived as well. The restaurant was only about 5 or 6 months, and the place was only 2 years as a whole.
- A :
- How would you characterise the spirit of Mr. Freedom?
- P :
- With Tommy, when you look at him it’s kind of an aggressive thing that is going on. He’s pushing you the whole time – dare you wear these shoes? Dare you come into this place? Which is very celebratory but they wouldn’t have a dressing room – because you shouldn’t have any inhibitions. Very anti-English austerity - which in the early '70's was prevalent, still very grey here. Elton John is a great example a very accomplished, singer/songwriter and on his first album looks like a guy who writes songs for a song publisher, which is what he was. He went to Mr. Freedom and re-emerged as the Liberace of the 70s. There are lots of pictures of him in the winged boots, Jim O Connor bright-red jumpsuits. He then started commissioning Mr. Freedom to make stuff. The rise of Elton John in America was inextricably tied to his look, which came from Mr. Freedom.
- A :
- And Trevor Myles?
- P :
- So Trevor Myles becomes overwhelmed by this and disappears back to 430 Kings Road and sets up Paradise Garage, which is Americana, selling faded jeans for the first time. Shipping things over, buying things incredibly cheap, but some people wanted a pair of faded jeans on the Kings Road at that time. Whereas Tommy Roberts was entering a new phase – he had his first concession in Peter Robinson in Oxford Street. He was talking to Woolworth’s about getting a Mr. Freedom concession in every single outlet where there people who serve there wear velvet hot pants - by this time there was an identifiable Mr. Freedom look. In ‘71 Yves Saint Laurent was using appliqués, and quite a few people, Suzy Menkes, were saying that he is basically channelling Mr. Freedom. You see Tommy having an international presence from first of all this little store, then this department store… it really made a big splash and then it went pop.
- A :
- Why are these projects so short lived?
- P :
- Tommy is more interested in the idea and the impact and interested in blazing a trail. So towards the end of Mr. Freedom the designs he commissions are getting quite dark. Mr Freedom closed at the end of March 1972, on the same day that Cristóbal Balenciaga died. The Evening Standard carried a black-bordered item mourning the passing of both, which shows that both were equally important in the story of fashion at that time. Mr. Freedom closed in March and in November 1972 he opened the first retail fashion business in Covent Garden. In the fruit market, a top floor building at 54 Shorts Gardens, called City Lights Studio.
- A :
- What else would have been in Covent Garden at that time?
- P :
- The fruit market, and two other people. The market was in the Piazza, but every single street would have wholesalers, fruit wholesalers in the area. By this time, 1972, Tommy had got to know Malcolm McLaren pretty well and Malcolm and Vivienne had taken the back part of Paradise Garage. Malcolm really liked City Lights Studio. Very anti pop. Schopenhauer on the sound system, the clothing was all very muted, very tailored, three-piece suits. Instead of it being fun and pop, it was slightly unsettling.
- A :
- Why the name City Lights?
- P :
- It’s from the Charlie Chaplin film. He thought of it as a studio, an atelier. You had to go up two flights of stairs. The floor was wood, which had been stripped and then had been scattered with gold and silver dust, heavily varnished which then sparkled and shimmered with the natural light when you walked on it. The racks were black metal poles and the tables had a skull at each corner. It had this feel of a dream or experience from the ‘30s, ‘40s, Tommy’s masterstroke again was introducing the right people designing at the right time. There were jackets with the lapels sewn into the yoke, smile pockets that opened out and showed the red lining. There were many influential people visiting there, David Bowie and Angie Bowie were frequent visitors, but of course it was out of the way.
