To any style conscious Londoner in the sixties just two places mattered: the King's Road and Carnaby Street. By the end of the decade the whole world came to see and be seen, to take part in the theatre that played out of the new boutiques and onto the street. From the sleek modernist tailoring of 'Top Gear' and 'His Clothes' to the nostalgic dressing up box style of the World's End boutiques, at the heart of it all were the young designers whose conviction to make and sell clothes on their own terms generated an explosion of talent which lasted and evolved over twenty years, leaving an indelible mark in fashion history. Boutique London follows the journey of the first risk-takers like Mary Quant and John Stephen, to the celebrity salons of Ossie Clark, 'Mr Fish' and 'Granny Takes a Trip', stopping along the way to include the weird and the wonderful, the glamorous and the bizarre. With in-depth profiles of over thirty retailers and lavish illustrations, the clothes, interiors and characters of Boutique London are as diverse as they are colourful, vividly bringing to life a vanished London, which changed the way we shop forever. AUTHOR: Richard Lester trained with Sotheby's in the early 1990s having worked for Osborne & Little and Liberty and combines writing with running an online vintage fashion business based in Sussex. In 2004 he donated a large collection of designs by John Bates to the Fashion Museum in Bath and assisted in organising the designer's retrospective exhibition at the museum in 2006. ACC Editions published John Bates: Fashion Designer in 2008 and Photographing Fashion: British Style in the Sixties in 2009. SELLING POINTS: Follows the developing fashions and boutiques of King's Road and Carnaby Street in the 1960s, profiling more than 30 retailers, and illustrating the clothes, interiors and characters of this vibrant epicentre of the fashion world ILLUSTRATIONS 150 colour & 55 b/w illustrations

Author Biography

Richard Lester trained with Sotheby's in the early 1990s having worked for Osborne & Little and Liberty and combines writing with running an online vintage fashion business based in Sussex. In 2004 he donated a large collection of designs by John Bates to the Fashion Museum in Bath and assisted in organising the designer's retrospective exhibition at the museum in 2006. ACC Editions published 'John Bates: Fashion Designer' in 2008 and 'Photographing Fashion: British Style in the Sixties' in 2009.