Taken in the streets, clubs, basements and bars of London between 1978 and 1987, the photographs in 78–87 London Youth celebrate the many mutations in London’s youth culture from the height of punk to the birth of Acid House. British photographer Derek Ridgers has documented the perennial youth ritual of dressing up and going out since he first picked up a camera in 1971, and has been drawn to virtually every subculture London has spawned, from punk to the fetish club scene of the present. From early on his photographs attracted the attention of both cultural institutions such as London’s ICA and music and style publications such as the NME and The Face. These photographs, made over a ten-year span, capture punk’s evolution into goth, the skinhead revival and the New Romantic scene, and the eventual emergence of Acid House and the new psychedelia. Gathered here, Ridgers’ images serve not only as a fascinating document of UK style and culture but as a testament to the creative spirit of youth; he lauds his subjects and their sartorial DIY panache. Among those portrayed are Boy George, Andrew Logan, Leigh Bowery and his boyfriend Trojan, Michael Alig, John Galliano, Hamish Bowles, Cerith Wyn Evans, Steve Strange and Martin Kemp and Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet. Derek Ridgers (born 1950) is an English photographer with a career spanning more than 30 years. He is best known for his photography of music, film, club and street culture, and has photographed stars from James Brown to The Spice Girls, from Clint Eastwood to Johnny Depp, as well politicians, gangsters, artists, writers, fashion designers and sportsmen.
Featured image is reproduced from Derek Ridgers: 78-87 London Youth/
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
OUT Magazine
In his new art book, Ridgers intimately documents the confluence of creativity born of the late-'70s/early-'80s London club scene of punks, new romantics, and skinheads--armed with safety pins and eyeliner--who took to the night to revel in its freedom and defy the drab conventions of the waking hours.
Vogue
L.Y.
In 1976, when, at the age of 26, Derek Ridgers began photographing London youth culture, he thought that he was far too old to participate in the scene. Despite his supposed dotage, though, he went on to spend the next decade haunting clubs with names like Billy's and the Blitz, capturing the madly creative fashion wonderland blossoming after dark.
Juxtapoz
Alex Nicholson
These photographs captured across the span of ten years bridge the extremities of youth-culture; from punk through to the brith of acid house. The pictures serve not only as a fascinating document of UK style and culture but as a testament to the spirit of youth, lauding the subjects and their individuality. This book offers us the chance to see the changing faces of fashion, music and culture through individuals and influential social scenes in a time of DIY attitudes.
In his introduction to Derek Ridgers: 78-87 London Youth, artist and director John Maybury writes, "While self-invented/imposed celebrity was/is nothing new, (the dandy, the flâneur, the aesthete) these predominantly working/middle class kids were constructing personae from the debris of a Ballardian no man's land born out of the Situationist yell of punk and Thatcher's neo-fascist groove. At that time everyone was on stage and ready for their close up. Like all photographers of reportage, in some sense Ridgers was invisible hiding behind the lens at the Roxy or Taboo. He silently stalked these stomping grounds, a hunter seeking out its prey. Ridgers' portraits of young boys and girls are weighted with a raw poetry and beauty, while somehow remaining both candid and unforgiving. Time spent in another world is never wasted." Ridgers will sign copies of the book, from which "Scarlett & Jeffrey at the Alternative Miss World, Earls Court" (1981) is reproduced, Wednesday, March 26 at Dashwood Books. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 8.5 x 12.5 in. / 160 pgs / illustrated throughout. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $67.5 ISBN: 9788862083591 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 3/31/2014 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Taken in the streets, clubs, basements and bars of London between 1978 and 1987, the photographs in 78–87 London Youth celebrate the many mutations in London’s youth culture from the height of punk to the birth of Acid House. British photographer Derek Ridgers has documented the perennial youth ritual of dressing up and going out since he first picked up a camera in 1971, and has been drawn to virtually every subculture London has spawned, from punk to the fetish club scene of the present. From early on his photographs attracted the attention of both cultural institutions such as London’s ICA and music and style publications such as the NME and The Face. These photographs, made over a ten-year span, capture punk’s evolution into goth, the skinhead revival and the New Romantic scene, and the eventual emergence of Acid House and the new psychedelia. Gathered here, Ridgers’ images serve not only as a fascinating document of UK style and culture but as a testament to the creative spirit of youth; he lauds his subjects and their sartorial DIY panache. Among those portrayed are Boy George, Andrew Logan, Leigh Bowery and his boyfriend Trojan, Michael Alig, John Galliano, Hamish Bowles, Cerith Wyn Evans, Steve Strange and Martin Kemp and Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet.
Derek Ridgers (born 1950) is an English photographer with a career spanning more than 30 years. He is best known for his photography of music, film, club and street culture, and has photographed stars from James Brown to The Spice Girls, from Clint Eastwood to Johnny Depp, as well politicians, gangsters, artists, writers, fashion designers and sportsmen.
