After punk, pop culture wanted to dazzle again. Fashion and style were the means and the New Romantics took them to the limit.
But the New Romantic movement was more than just a reaction against the anti-glamour of punk…and the music was only part of the story. The first in-depth book about British Pop’s most flamboyant movement.
The clubs and cabarets, the clothes, the glitter, the make-up, the hair, the fashion, the attitude and the style all made up The Look – and the Look was everything.
The New Romantics explores the varied roots of the movement, using interviews with the stars and tracing a range of influences from David Bowie to the movie Cabaret and the Berlin of the 1930s. Includes interviews with Martin Kemp, Boy George and Steve Strange.
The images in this book are amazing. Capturing that brief moment in time (late 70s to early 80s) in England in clubs like The Blitz. As a fan of that era I learned more of the influences that spawned 'the look' including Bowie, the movie Cabaret, Weimer era Berlin etc. That said as others have pointed out the text in this book leaves a lot to be desired. The author is a music journalist and I was left wondering whether the text was a number of old articles thrown together. There didn't seem to be much cohesion or thought to how the sections and information in this book were put together. If you are a fan of this era and manage to find a copy I would recommend picking up this book if only for the pictures.
Excellent book that chronicles the New Romantic movement in London and beyond. Not only does it detail the major players and places in the movement, it provides the backstory on the style tribes that influenced this movement. Gorgeous photos accompany the text. A must for any collector.