Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon hanging out on the shop floor. Vintage liberty prints reimagined as clothes which ushered in a new era of dandyism. Folklore sweeping the in-crowd that the label was laced with LCD (it wasn’t).
Welcome to Granny Takes A Trip, the 60s boutique which for a few short years burned bright as an icon of Swinging Sixties London.
Today (June 26)
the story of the iconic King’s Road shop will be told by the people who knew it best, thanks to the work of De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s Cinema and Television History research centre.
Shop owners John Pearse and Nigel Waymouth will join It-girl Jenny Spires, fashion archivist Mark Butterfield, and Professor Steve Chibnall and Dr Alissa Clarke of CATH in conversation at the Royal Albert Hall. The event will be hosted by TV presenter, associated lecturer and British fashion historian Amber Butchart.
Amazing stories, remarkable reminiscences and outrageous style are guaranteed!
It is the final part in CATH’s successful Summer of Love Revisited season developed upon the archive of counterculture director Peter Whitehead, which was gifted to DMU last year.
Never-before-footage filmed by Whitehead of the shop will be shown, while DMU MFA Performance Practices student Paloma Styles is set to join models wearing rarely-seen clothes from the Granny Takes A Trip collection for a mini catwalk.
Prof Chibnall, Professor of British Cinema, and Dr Clarke, co-curator of the Peter Whitehead Archive, said: “We are thrilled to be enabling this fabulous event that will capture the innovative attitude, atmosphere and artistry of this epicentre of the counterculture."
So step through the doors of Granny Takes a Trip today and experience a glimpse of that Swinging Sixties style.
Doors open at 7.30pm.
Posted on Monday 26 June 2017