The King of Carnaby Street: A Life of John Stephen

by Jeremy Reed

In 1956, John Stephen took a lease on 5 Carnaby Street in the epicenter of London, a city on the cusp of a cultural and social revolution that would last for a decade. Before long, John Stephen was a cult name in fashion, revolutionizing the design of men's shops and establishing the prototypical boutique aesthetic that was to be copied by an entire generation of fashion retailers. John Stephen set up in clothes at the right time in the right place for a generation waiting to intersect with his liberally colorful designs.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well first, the poet Jeremy Reed has excellent taste, but second, he's not one of the greatest biography prose writers that's out there. This book is more of a 'think' piece then a straight ahead biography. But besides that point, John Stephen is a fascinating man in an equal fascinating world of street fashion at the right time and place.

"The King of Carnaby Street" is a portrait of John Stephen who pretty much started the whole groovy Mod Carnaby Street scene. The first one to open a series of shops, he was also a taste-maker and obsessive worker. His private life was hellish like any other gay man who lived in the outlaw U.K., where at the time it was illegal to have homosexual sex. This book is a must for those who collect Mod-era subject matters. And I do, but I just wished the book was a bit more bio like and less.....well, Jeremy Reed.

[Carlos Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less a biography of John Stephen and more a biography of Carnaby Street itself and its effect upon male Mod fashion (and vice versa!). Finally, a book concentrating on sixties men's fashions!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Stephen did so much to invent the fashion look(s) of 60s London, and to establish Carnaby St as its fashion epicenter. By 1967 he ran 15 shops! Rock musicians had a lot to do with making his fashions popular.
Stephen is presented with respect for his design instincts, in clothing and store design; and for the hard work he did to achieve his success. He had an extra personal obstacle to deal with: he was queer when that was illegal, and was aggressively prosecuted.

Jeremy Reed's research is detailed and comprehensive, but he repeats himself too much, and his style is formal and wordy...so 3 ***.

[WORN Fashion Journal]

Jeremy Reed’s biography of fashion designer John Stephen escapes many of the familiar tropes that biographies tend to fall into. The “life” of John Stephen, as indicated in the title, is really only his professional one, with little of the typical biographical exposition bookending each side. Reed begins his story with the Glaswegian’s arrival in London in 1952 at the age of 18. Six years later he opened the first boutique in Soho’s Carnaby Street and played a key role in transforming the neighbourhood into the a shopping and cultural hub.

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Perhaps due to the fact that Stephen himself was a private man during his heyday, Reed has built his story around the major cultural events of the era when he was active. Though Stephen’s career is the focal point, the book equally functions as the story of London in the 1960s, of Carnaby Street and of the mod subculture. Other cultural figures like Mary Quant, Foale & Tuffin, the Beatles and the Who all make appearances, emphasizing the influence of different types of artists on each other. While forging a link between clothing and music is nothing new, Reed also manages to draw parallels between fashion and drug culture, as well as social ideologies popular amongst the young in trendy London. As he detailed the tendency of Mods to prioritize aesthetics and borrow from other cultural movements, I wondered how seamlessly they would fit in with today’s tumblr generation.

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Reed’s choice to focus on Stephen’s contribution to fashion rather than dramatizing his personal life is a smart one, making the book read less like the novelization of a Lifetime movie and more like an intelligent deconstruction of an influential designer’s oeuvre. That said, this method does carry its own pitfalls – occasionally, the books lags sometimes when it goes into detailed accounts describing the techniques Stephen used to cut a suit or all the possible colour combinations of striped trousers he designed (though design aficionados – and I’m sure there are many among WORN’s readers – might appreciate these details). Other times it began to feel repetitive where Stephen’s dealings with other famous people are brought up – it seems every page carries at least a few references to the Kinks, Mick Jagger, or other stylish rockstars, to the point of excess.

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For me, the most intriguing aspects of Stephen’s story were the ways he used his clothing to provoke the status quo. Stephen, a gay man, was forced to live most of his life in the closet, putting on airs of being an eligible bachelor for his young fan base. However, he used his clothing as a means of blurring the lines of gender presentation, often designing androgynous clothes for both men and women. Men’s clothing was his specialty, and many of his designs were much showier than what men had previously worn – jeans became tighter and shirts came in flamboyant colours like pink and aquamarine. Stephen turned shopping into a recreational activity for men by making his stores have a nightclub feel.

The King of Carnaby Street, while giving a general idea of who John Stephen was as a person, is more about the influence a provocative design aesthetic can have on a generation than a typical biography. True, Stephen was the driving force behind his line, his business philosophy, and his success, but it’s the clothes that are the stars of this story. (reviewed by Anna Fitzpatrick)