Boots

These boots belonged to Terence Anthony Howard Kettle (29 Jan 1949 - 21 May 2001), and were donated to the museum in his memory by his wife, Sara Kettle. Terrence enjoyed wearing colourful, extrovert clothes and was well known in the 1970s for his sometimes outrageous outfits. He was very attached to these boots, which he regularly wore to gigs on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham. In the 1960s, the Eel Pie Hotel was a centre for jazz, rock and blues music, attracting a bohemian crowd and muscians such as The Rolling Stones, The Who and Pink Floyd. Concerts stopped in 1967 and the hotel burned down in 1971, but at the end of the decade a club opened on the island that featured bands such as Black Sabbath.

These boots date from around 1973 and were designed by Lionel Avery, who had started his business around 1969. They were made by the Greek-Cypriot Loizou brothers and sold at a stall called Todds in Kensington Market in Kensington High Street. Lionel Avery began designing boots in 1969 and his clients included Alice Cooper, Stevie Wonder, Mott the Hoople, Slade, Sweet, Suzie Quatro and Gary Glitter. Most famously Avery produced boots for Elton John, sometimes co-designing with the singer. John's famous boots were made in silver leather with Elton John's initials applied in red, with red stripes on the increasingly high platform soles.

From the 1950s, Greek-Cypriot brothers George and Costas Loizou had a shoemaking workshop at 227 Waterloo Road making shoes for the iconic british fashion shoe retailer Ravel, before they set up Bella Shoes at 466 Lea Bridge Road, Leyton E10 in the early 1970s. Bella Shoes was open to customers, but for VIP customers, such as Elton John, foot measurements were taken by Lionel Avery and Ken Todd at their stall at Kensington Market. The measurements were given to George, who would cut the leather to size, and then handover to his brother Costas to finish them.

High heeled platform shoes were worn by men and women in the 1970s, influenced in part by a revival of some 1940s styles. The shoes played a part in the so-called 'Peacock Revolution', which saw young men in particular dressing in colourful, decorative clothing - often flambouyant in style and drawing from varied cultural influences.