Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of Leigh Bowery’s 1980’s London

’Dress as though your life depends on it or don’t bother.’ (Leigh Bowery, 1985)

Outlaws pays homage to the boundary-pushing fashion and styling that defined London’s vibrant 1980s club scene, celebrating the anarchic energy and experimental flair of Leigh Bowery and his fellow fashion renegades, who pioneered a unique and daring creative movement.

Bowery, an Australian-born performance artist and fashion designer, was the central figure of this movement, and he and his circle of friends sparked an explosion of outrageous fashion. Outlaws features specially commissioned photography of original outfits crafted by 27 trailblazing clothes designers, including John Galliano, Stephen Linard, Bodymap, Pam Hogg, Rachel Auburn, Wayne Hemingway, Richmond Cornejo and Bowery himself. These are accompanied by interviews with icons of 1980s clubland such as musician Holly Johnson, DJ Mark Moore and artists Peter Doig and Dave Baby, while stories from those who wore the pieces are entwined with clubland flyers and rarely seen photos of the styling on show at clubs such as Taboo, the legendary weekly club night Bowery founded in 1985 in Leicester Square.

The scene also encompassed art, photography, film and music and was a vibrant marker in LGBTQ+ history. It forged a creative community of people who together influenced and changed the landscape of British popular culture in the mid-1980s. Outlaws pays homage to their remarkable talents.

Martin Green was a regular on the 1980s club circuit and went on to run the legendary nightclub Smashing in the early 90s. He is curator of the exhibition Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London which opens at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London in October 2024. Green has compiled 30 albums and has a show on Soho Radio. He has co-ordinated fashion show music for Katherine Hamnett, Pringle and Pucci and has DJ’d at events for Pulp, Prada and Paul McCartney.

NJ Stevenson began her fashion curatorial career in 2009 and has since worked on many projects with venues including the Fashion and Textile Museum, where she is curating Outlaws with Martin Green. Stevenson is widely published and is a lecturer at the London College of Fashion. She first met Martin Green on the London club scene in the early 1990s.