Shirt

Cotton top gathered into a blouson shape. The fabric has a narrow, turquoise, vertical stripe printed on a white background. Inside the neck at centre back is a white satin label printed in black with, 'STYLED BY/LET IT ROCK/MADE IN ENGLAND'.

In November 1971, Malcolm McLaren opened a shop In The Back of Paradise Garage at 430 King’s Road with his art school friend, Patrick Casey. He sold records, rock ’n’ roll memorabilia and second hand or dead stock clothes which were sometimes customised.

As the shop started to do well after a few months, he took over the space and transformed it into Let It Rock, named after his favorite Chuck Berry record. The shop was a living Gesamtkunstwerk, which fully expressed McLaren’s lifelong obsession which he termed, “the look of music and the sound of fashion.” He came up with the concept and designed the shop’s exterior, interior, graphics, curated and designed the clothes and chose the music and screened the customers. He convinced his girlfriend, Vivienne Westwood, to join and they created a fashion partnership. When the dead stock started to run out, they started to create original designs based on McLaren’s obsession with pop culture.

The shop eventually became the watering hole and fountainhead of punk in the UK.