Babylon Blog

hey everyone, just a heads up we will be down at portland flea once again next sunday with more fresh vintage finds! you can find us there every third sunday. location is inside union/pine and on the street outside at grand & pine (next to andy & bax). this is a great flea market with an eclectic range of vendors and vintage goods. we will be bringing some halloween costume ideas this week along with tons of new and (cheap) stuff! here are some pics from the pdx flea...  yep - there's even a photographer there who takes old timey tin-type photos... a great place to find something for everyone on your holiday shopping list! hope to see ya there* xo, HB *our brick and mortar location at 4512 ne sandy boulevard in hollywood is closed monthly on the third sunday ;-)

we are obviously inspired by our punk history here at hollywood babylon, and so it seems as good a time as any to credit vivienne westwood and malcolm mclaren for largely initiating the punk movement in england back in the late seventies. in researching their story and also the upcoming exhibition at the met's costume institute "Punk: Chaos to Couture” (opens may 9th) i found some amazing links and images to share...maybe punk's not dead after all... "It all goes back to the early 70’s, when Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood opened up a shop on Kings Road in London selling the favoured Teddy Boy fashions (a tailored, fitted look reminiscent of British dandyism). In search of something new, McLaren traveled to New York where he met the New York Dolls. With their tattered, worn-down, glam rock persona, the American band inspired McLaren to bring back a thrift shop mash up style that Britain desperately needed. Further inspiring Westwood and McLaren was the Situationist movement, which had come to the fore in France around the time of the Paris riots of 1968. The Dada- like anarchism of the Situationists led by Guy Debord ,combined with the ripped, safety pinned, thrift store aesthetic of the New York muscians was perfect for the new revolutionary style that McLaren had in mind. Ironically, what McLaren created was totally contradictory to what the Situationists were rebelling against. The capitalist spectacle and commodity fetishism which Debord had famously denounced, is exactly what McLaren recouped as punk's ugly, raw, deconstructed image in the form of mainstream fashion. Despite the blatant disparity, the British youth ate. that. shit. up." the new york dolls mclaren and westwood designed goods for their shop on kings road in london's chelsea district, this is where vivienne westwood got her start as a designer...the shop went through many incarnations and re-brands through the seventies from first being titled "Let It Rock", then "Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die," then "SEX",then Seditionaries and finally became known as "World's End". World's End remains open as part of vivienne westwood's global fashion empire. malcolm mclaren went on to do many things including managing the sex pistol's, making his own music and art and he's also known for helping to popularize hip hop in the early 1980s... one of my favorite vivienne westwood designs from her retrospective. vivienne westwood and malcolm mclaren back in the day... the sex pistols. the commentary below came from an article in the new york times regarding the upcoming "Punk: Chaos to Couture” exhibition at the met. "Still, for some punk originators the idea of leather and studs at the Met, with the imprimatur of Vogue, which co-sponsors the Costume Institute Ball, on May 6, is heresy. “Getting these high-fashion designers, what does that have to do with punk?” said Legs McNeil, who was a founder of Punk magazine in 1975. “So rich people could go slumming? Come on, give me a break.” It’s a “masturbatory fantasy for Anna Wintour and Vogue,” he added. “They always go and try to co-opt what they can’t own. They try to co-opt authenticity and turn it into something boring.” Debbie Harry, the enduring Blondie frontwoman who helped shape the downtown scene at CBGB in the 1970s alongside bands like the Ramones, Television and the New York Dolls, said the era’s style was deliberately transgressive. “We were definitely looking to be different,” she said, “to be not really fashionable, but to look very cool, to look rock ‘n’ roll.” She made outfits of cinched garbage bags and pillowcases she found on the street. Her taste wasn’t always a hit. “I almost got thrown off a bus once for wearing my underwear,” she recalled. “The bus driver screamed at me. I had on little orange satiny pink tap pants — they looked fantastic, but he was outraged that I was walking around in my skivvies. I remember using my bra as outerwear, and really getting a lot of bad looks.” But, she added, “It just felt right. It looked hot.” awesome. keep it alive yall. debbie harry and anya phillips in the late 1970s photo of blondie by chris stein *quote #1 came from here **quote #2 came from here

if you pop by hollywood babylon in the next month or so you will be in for a treat, as we are currently displaying the awesome art of tim goodyear. (you may have seen it before inside pork magazine) we kicked off the show with a bad movie night in the shop featuring deadbeat at dawn and the uninvited...friend us on Facebook to stay tuned on facebook for future events at hollywood babylon. (always free) [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pKPkf9dJKw&w=420&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX-baqOLO4g&w=420&h=315]

hollywood babylon was stoked to style corin tucker band's new video "neskowin" and work with director alicia j. rose et al. it was an absolute dream to work on a project inspired be the late seventies-early eighties with such an enthusiastic director and such an agreeable cast and crew. alicia gave us the theme of the video referencing poly styrene from the x-ray spex, foxes, little darlings, and we threw in many of our personal first hand memories from our punk-rock youth. back in the a day there was a DIY sensability which we wanted to capture in the styling. we especially enjoyed dressing the kids for the arcade scene ala goonies! it's really a mash-up of seventies and eighties fashion! we loved raiding our shop for all the pieces and it's fun to see it all immortalized. the video launched a couple weeks ago on npr and spin and others, if you haven't seen it you're in for a treat! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY7TRjAvgvY&w=560&h=315] to see some of our inspiration for the shoot go here!

Tonight we will have the pleasure of seeing glam punk legends Redd Kross headline East End's annual Block Party. Known for their infectious power pop and their often over the top vintage fashion we thought it'd be the perfect time to share a few pictures of them past and present. Formed in 1978 they were a huge part of the LA punk scene and their bass player Steven McDonald also plays in a little band called OFF! with Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks / Black Flag. Redd Kross are releasing their new album "Researching the Blues" next month on Merge records after 15 years of silence and tonight are playing right here in Portland Oregon. Here's hoping they they stop in the shop today for some new vintage duds... [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6nSIp6o6N8]

 

there is something irresistible about a leather clad bad boy. am i wrong? the leather jacket is an essential ingredient of the tough guy image.

here is a little photo tribute to some dudes looking bad in leather through the years...

below: archival photo of a hells angel wearing his metal studded leather jacket 1960 - 1970

above: Steve McQueen was the ultra-cool male film star of the 1960s, and rose from a troubled youth spent in reform schools to being the world's most popular actor.

above: Marlon Brando in 'The Wild Ones'

James Dean above.

above: the T-birds

below: our favorite gang of leather jacket wearing dudes The Ramones

above: The Misfits circa 1977

above: Mr. John Lydon with Sid Vicious in the late seventies.

stay tuned for a bad girls post yet to come....

above: Brigitte Bardot on a motorcycle circa 1971

((click the flyer above to go to the facebook event + rsvp ! ))