Mr Freedom was a clothing boutique in London which sold fashion by a number of young designers commissioned by the owner, designer Tommy Roberts, and his partner, Trevor Myles. Celebrities such as Freddie Mercury and Elton John wore designs from the shop which was at 430 King's Road in Chelsea, London from 1969–70 and then at 20 Kensington Church Street in Kensington.
Mr Freedom was part of the counter-culture "Swinging London" scene around King's Road in 1960s' London. It followed the cult success of Roberts' earlier boutique, Kleptomania, which he had opened in 1965. Roberts bought the lease to the King's Road boutique, at number 430, in 1969 from Michael Rainey, who had owned another boutique with a cult following at that location, Hung On You. At Myles' suggestion, Roberts named the shop after the 1969 William Klein film Mr. Freedom , which was a spoof of the anti-war movement.
Roberts' designs featured styles now considered typical of the era: broad-brimmed hats, close-fitting maxi dresses, silk-screened cartoon character images on jersey tops, and winged shoes. Bright colours were also characteristic of the clothing. Rather than continuing with the homespun hippie style popular among the youth during the 1960s, Roberts veered away from nostalgia. Mr Freedom carried styles that were "brash, pop art fashion", such as satin ties for men, satin jackets, T-shirt dresses with appliqued "satin stars, thunderbolts, and ice-cream cones". [1] A dose of 1950s retro was added to the mix of influences by 1972. [2]
Roberts produced clothes for the boutique in collaboration with a number of other young avant-garde designers, "many of them gathered in from outside the pale of the fashion trade". The shop was described as having an "unquenchable enthusiasm for all things bright and in outrageously bad taste". [3] In 1970, Elton John hired Roberts to design several concert outfits before he set out on an American tour. Roberts designed a "yellow boiler suit" with a piano appliqué on the back, and "white boots with green wings". The shop was known for kitschy design as much as the clothes themselves. An inflatable sex doll was used as a mannequin. [4]
Roberts operated Mr Freedom at the location at 430 King's Road until December 1970. In May 1971, the lease was taken by Myles and became Paradise Garage, selling Americana, with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood selling 1950s rock and roll records from a backroom, before McLaren took over the shop in November 1971 and renamed it Let it Rock. [5]
Roberts moved Mr Freedom to a new location, at Kensington Church Street. The store sold Pop art furniture in addition to clothes, by designer Jon Weallans, who designed such items as a chair in the form of a pair of false teeth. [6] Mr Freedom added a small restaurant to its basement in 1971, called Mr Feed'em. The interior design was noted in the media as a fascinating draw for the public: "Stylistically, it defies analysis. It is almost impossible to detect at what point the patient, period reconstructions shade into pastiche". It was noted at that time, that the restaurant was relatively expensive. [3]
Roberts closed the Mr Freedom boutique in 1972. In 1973, he opened the shop City Lights as a high-end tailor, and pursued other design projects during the 1970s. The kitsch and irony apparent in Mr Freedom's fashions had a lasting impact, not only on street fashion but even on Parisian couture designers. [1]
Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. In 2022, Sky Arts ranked her the 4th most influential artist in Britain of the last 50 years.
Antony Price is an English fashion designer best known for evening wear and suits, and for being as much an "image-maker" as a designer. He has collaborated with a number of high-profile musicians, including David Bowie, Robert Palmer, Iva Davies, Steve Strange, and Duran Duran, but especially Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, whose look was defined by Price's designs. The manner in which Price dressed – or in many cases, undressed – the "Roxy girls" on the covers of their albums helped to define the band's pop retro-futurism.
King's Road or Kings Road is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both in west London, England. It is associated with 1960s style and with fashion figures such as Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood. Sir Oswald Mosley's Blackshirt movement had a barracks on the street in the 1930s.
Kensington High Street is the main shopping street in Kensington, London, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in Soho in the City of Westminster, Central London. Close to Oxford Street and Regent Street, it is home to fashion and lifestyle retailers, including many independent fashion boutiques.
Raymond "Ossie" Clark was a British fashion designer who was a major figure in the Swinging Sixties scene in London and the fashion industry in that era. Clark is now renowned for his vintage designs by present-day designers.
Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the eponymous high-end shoe brand.
Sex was a boutique run by Vivienne Westwood and her then-partner Malcolm McLaren at 430 King's Road, London between 1974 and 1976. It specialised in clothing that defined the look of the punk movement.
Paul Gorman is a British-Irish writer and curator.
John Stephen, dubbed by the media the £1m Mod and the King Of Carnaby Street, was one of the most important fashion figures of the 1960s.
Granny Takes a Trip was a boutique opened in February 1966 at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, by Nigel Waymouth, his girlfriend Sheila Cohen and John Pearse. The shop, which was acquired by Freddie Hornik in 1969, remained open until the mid-1970s and has been called the "first psychedelic boutique in Groovy London of the 1960s".
Thomas Steven Roberts was an English designer and fashion entrepreneur who operated prominent independent retail outlets including pop art boutique, Mr Freedom, and the 1980s decorative arts and homewares store, Practical Styling.
Lloyd William Johnson is an English fashion entrepreneur.
Joseph is a luxury fashion brand and retail chain that was established in London by Moroccan entrepreneur Joseph Ettedgui and his family in 1972.
Michael Sean O'Dare Rainey was an Australian-born British fashion designer, best known for his 1960s London boutique, Hung On You.
Hung On You was a London fashion boutique, run by the designer Michael Rainey, particularly known for flowery shirts and kipper ties in bold colours. Rainey's customers included the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Kinks and the actor Terence Stamp.
Kiki Byrne was a Norwegian-born, London-based fashion designer who is mainly remembered as Mary Quant's rival on the King's Road in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Trevor Myles is a British former fashion entrepreneur and designer who ran the Mr Freedom boutique at 430 King's Road, Chelsea, London and later in Kensington Church Street, with his business partner Tommy Roberts.
Stirling Cooper was a London-based fashion wholesaler and retailer that, along with brands such as Biba, Quorum, Browns and Clobber, helped to redefine UK fashion in the late 1960s.
Workers for Freedom was a British fashion label that was launched in 1985 by Graham Fraser and Richard Nott. The brand was awarded Designer of the Year in 1989 at the British Fashion Awards.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)