New Year New You?
Welcome to 2025, where our Instagram feeds and TikTok FYP are filled with romantic views of 2024 and optimistic plans to be happier and healthier in 2025. Well that, plus freeze dried sweets, Turkish pasta and Becki Jones “what I eat in a day” – or is that just me?
New years resolutions to eat and drink less, exercise more and generally be a better person feel so harsh in January, when skies are grey, temperatures struggle to get above chilly and the desire to snuggle up with a box set and a Shepherds Pie far outweigh any inclination to hit the gym. My achievable NYs resolutions are to scroll less and do more. Read more, be more creative and be more present. Funnily enough these have all been on my to do list ever since the desire to know whether Eva Chen is going to her country house at the weekend, how Lorna Luxe’s husband is doing with his cancer treatment or what Brooklyn Beckham is making Nicola for dinner, became (not) important parts of my day.
I used to read at least one if not two books a month, and actually call my friends for an actual chat if I wanted to catch up with them. Now apparently (according to my daughter) it’s seen as aggressive to leave a message. So texts, WhatsApps and voice notes have replaced conversations. But unlike some of my younger friends and family, I do actually still go out – a lot – thats a habit I intend to keep up to my grave. My 92 year old parents who died last year, continued to socialise and be part of many communities until they physically couldn’t any more – and then people came to them as they were good friends and interesting people.
Going out was so important to my generation, some may say it defined us. Creative kids of the 80s found their tribe in clubs and through music. I always say I only went to art college because I wanted to be in a band. Sadly I never was, but I made outfits for a couple of bands and appeared in a local music videos – sadly (or fortunately) no footage is available anywhere .
With nothing to do at home – no mobile phones or internet, tv was boring and music had to be seen live, bought on records, listened to on the radio, read about in the NME or watched once a week on Top the Pops – going out was the only option if one wanted an interesting life. No matter how small your town, there was always a club or pub that attracted people like you – people who wore ‘weird clothes’ and listened to alternative music.
Hull Artwork by Mark Wigan, Mrs Wilson’s Children – book about the Welly Club
During ’79 to ’81 The Welly Club in Hull was where I found my tribe. As an art foundation student (the perfect credentials for the 80s alternative scene) I saw some of the greatest bands of the time. Down a dingy side street in Hull, in a tiny club where an eclectic mix of heavy metal fans and punks (the music could switch from Stairway to Heaven to Another Girl Another Planet in a matter of minutes) we danced every Friday night and went to gigs on Tuesdays. I saw The Teardrop Explodes, Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, Magazine, The Specials and The Beat, as well as local bands such as The Akrylykz (Roland Gift’s first band) and The Odds (saxophonist Stuart Mathewman went onto to write music with Sade).
Little did I know at the time – as one doesn’t when one’s young – this club formed me in so many ways. My love of dressing up and passion for street style (although it was just called clothes back then), youth culture and music has continued throughout my life and eventually became my career. Making outfits out of old sheets and tie dying them, using up ripped up jersey that had fallen off the knitting machine at college and running up an outfit on the overlocker, marked the start of a weekend filled with music, dancing and drinking. With no Pinterest boards, Instagram images or influencers to use for inspiration – our imaginations ran riot, it was messy and drunken and there were no pictures to document any of it.
Me sometime in the 80s, Messy times at Jungle@Busbys (not me)
Like so many others of my generation going out and experiencing music and culture in real life was crucial in expanding our creativity and forming our views on the world. After college, coming to London as a relatively small town girl, took my love of club culture to the next level. Narrowly missing out on The Blitz and Taboo as they were on their way out, The Wag, Mud Club, Jungle at Busby’s and The Cafe De Paris were all equally exciting. And the gay clubs – oh the gay clubs – Comptons, Madame Jo Jos, Benjis and so many more – yes it was like It’s a Sin – but thats a whole other story.
There were many famous people in clubs back in the day (they weren’t called celebrities then) but no one cared much if George Micheal was at the bar with his girlfriend (!) or Tina Turner and Andy Warhol pitched up at the Cafe De Paris – actually I low key screamed when I saw him – as it was the club faces that were the most interesting. The people who dressed up in outrageous original outfits were who we wanted to see. Philip Salon, Boy George before he was famous, Caryn Franklin, Princess Julia, Steve Strange and Leigh Bowery were the real life celebrities of the time, the ones who made their own outfits and dressed like no-one else.
Leigh Bowery
The first time I saw Leigh Bowery at a club, wearing one of his outrageous outfits and performing some kind of giving birth scene in the middle of the club, was both fascinating and confusing as no-one was quite sure what was going on – or indeed how iconic it was to become in the future. Everyone was just doing their creative thing and forging their own path. Some went onto greater things, fame and fortune, some to sadly die in the aids epidemic and some like me to continue to be fascinated by popular culture and make it their career
Leigh Bowery fearlessly forged his own path, reimagining clothing and makeup as forms of painting and sculpture, testing the limits of taste, and celebrating the body as a shape-shifting tool with the power to challenge norms of aesthetics, sexuality and gender. He created some of the most iconic images of the 1980s and 90s that continued influence the work of people like Alexander McQueen, Anohni, and Lady Gaga.
The Tate Modern is to host an immersive exhibition of Leigh Bowery’s work from 27th of February – 31 August 2025. It will feature some of his ‘looks’ alongside his collaborations with artists including Michael Clark, Charles Atlas, Nick Knight and Lucian Freud and will provide a fresh insight into the creative scenes in London, New York and beyond featuring more of the creative “influencers” of the time.
‘Dress as if your life depends on it, or don’t bother.’
LEIGH BOWERY
I might not intend to dress more outrageously this year, but I will try to harness some of the creativity from one of the most iconic fashion and pop culture eras. After all I was lucky enough to live through it.
Be more Leigh in 2025.
Happy New Year.
Jane x
