John Sutcliffe (designer)

For other people named John Sutcliffe, see John Sutcliffe (disambiguation).

John Sutcliffe (died 1987) was a British fetish clothing designer and publisher of the fetish magazine AtomAge . ^[1]

In the 1950s he was divorced because his feelings about leather had led to him being diagnosed as mentally ill and treatment failed to change him. ^{[2] [3]}

He began his AtomAge fetish clothing business in 1957, registering it as a “manufacturer of weatherproofs for lady pillion riders”. ^{[4] [2]}

He was an influence on the leather catsuits worn by Emma Peel in The Avengers , and created the leather catsuit worn by Marianne Faithfull in the 1968 film The Girl on a Motorcycle . ^[3]

Sutcliffe published AtomAge magazine, a fetish magazine that was an offshoot of his fetish clothing business. The magazine has been called the "underground bible of leather, rubber and vinyl fetish wear throughout the 1970s" ^{[5] [6]} and documented Britain's S/M scene. ^{[7] [8]} The first AtomAge clothing catalogue was published in 1965 and it expanded into a magazine in 1972. ^[9] The magazine ended in 1980. ^[10]

Sutcliffe's work helped inspire Sex, a boutique run by Vivienne Westwood and her then-partner Malcolm McLaren at 430 King's Road, London between 1974 and 1976, which specialized in clothing that defined the look of the punk movement. ^{[11] [1]}

In 1982 Sutcliffe published a novel by Jim Dickson called The Story Of Gerda, about bondage and fetishism. ^{[10] [2]} A copy of it was sent to the police, and to keep from being prosecuted Sutcliffe agreed to have all stock and AtomAge magazine plates destroyed. ^[2]

He created a sewing needle for vinyl that improved the ability to stitch and work that material, and a method for attaching a muslin-type fabric to latex, which after that could be securely sewn. ^[2] He also created a sewing machine specifically for leather and asked Singer to manufacture it, but as remembered by his friend Robert Henley, "Singer were so horrified, they called the police." ^[1]

Legacy

In 2023 he was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame. ^[12]

Further reading

Dressing for Pleasure in Rubber, Vinyl and Leather: The Best of Atomage 1972-1980. Jonny Trunk (author). Damon Murray, Jonny Trunk, and Stephen Sorrell (editors).  United Kingdom: FUEL, 2010.

References

1. Hodgkinson, Will (10 September 2010). "King of kinky". The Guardian.
2. "John Sutcliffe: rubber Johnny". Dazed. 20 September 2014.
3. "King of kinky". TheGuardian.com . 10 September 2010.
4. "Of Human Bondage". W Magazine. 1 October 2010.
5. Trunk, Jonny (2010). Dressing for Pleasure in Rubber, Vinyl & Leather: The Best of AtomAge, 1972-1980. FUEL. ISBN   978-0-9563562-3-9.
6. Phelps, Nicole (3 March 2021). "Kwaidan Editions Fall 2021 Ready-to-Wear Collection". Vogue. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
7. Moreland, Quinn (15 December 2017). "Fever Ray Explains How Ball Gags, Leather Fetishes, and Weird Memes Inspired Her New Album" . Retrieved 7 December 2021.
8. Woo, Kin (4 April 2018). "The Husband-Wife Team Designing Clothes Inspired by David Lynch". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 7 December 2021.
9. George, Cassidy (8 January 2020). "From fetish to fashion: The rise of latex" . Retrieved 7 December 2021.
10. Hodgkinson, Will (10 September 2010). "King of kinky". The Guardian.
11. J.C. Maçek III (6 June 2013). "Fashionably Anti-Establishment: 'Punk: From Chaos to Couture'". PopMatters .
12. Rhodes, Dave. "LA Leather Getaway by CLAW - Third edition - The Leather Journal". www.theleatherjournal.com.

External links

• Atomage Magazine Appreciation Site (A private, non-commercial site featuring the history and work of John Sutcliffe and his Atomage fetish clothing business)
• Dressing For Pleasure, the book of Atomage imagery, history and readers letters
• EVOLVER article on John Sutcliffe (in German)