A Brief History on Three English Rocker Clothing Houses of the Trippy ‘60s
The sixties, man. Filled with kaleidoscopic clothing that would strain the eyes of those who looked at them, or would absolutely fascinate, like they still do many to the day. Whether in dresses, suits, blouses, or shoes, rock stars like Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Jimi Hendrix Experience- and let’s not forget the Beatles in their acid trip era- ensured they were decked out in the grooviest fashions they could access, leaving us in the future to marvel at their courage in actually sporting these pieces in public.
You may be wondering now, as have I many times in the past, where and how did these musicians find their dazzling clothes? With the conservative nature of many in the ‘60s, surely glittery neon prints weren’t the choice of wear amongst common people. Here enter the eternal Apple Boutique, Hung On You, and Granny Takes a Trip- stores that embodied the energy of those hazy crazy days, and the people heavily involved in making them the wildly cool days they’re remembered as today.
Apple Boutique
Where to begin with the Apple Boutique? Many recall the store as the Beatles’ failed attempt at groovy retail clothing. This rings true, but there’s a little more to the story.
It started with a money-making venture — as things often do — in order for the Beatles to avoid paying taxes, every English band’s problem it seemed in the ’60s and ’70s. So the Beatles brainstormed ideas for what to sell: according to John Lennon, Paul McCartney had suggested an all-white product shop, as it was apparently difficult to find anything white in the vibrant culture brewing at the time (a situation that seems to be a tad ironic as you read forward). Ultimately it was decided that the Beatles would open a store featuring cheap but quality-made products, including clothing, books, music, and furniture. Thus were called upon The Fool, a Dutch music group who simultaneously specialized in hip, Eastern-inspired designs. Previously involved in the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” performance and their 1967 movie Magical Mystery Tour — named after their album of the same year — the Beatles trusted the group with £100,000 to create an alluring, psychedelic atmosphere among the shop.
The store — managed by Pattie Harrison’s sister, Jenny Boyd, and Lennon’s schoolmate, Pete Shotton — opened in London in December of 1967. Apple’s opening event saw attendees including John and Cynthia Lennon, George and Pattie Harrison, and Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton of (at the time) the band Cream. They were reported to have been drinking apple juice as the store did not have a liquor license, perhaps an ironic testimony to the shop’s name.
Apple found most of its success among the hippie-rocker childen of the time, who were enticed by the trip-inducing mural on the store’s exterior walls as well as its colorful interior and clothing designs. However, this success proved to be short-lived. The initial sign of the store’s soon-to-be downfall occurred with the city of London’s demand to paint over Apple’s exterior mural with white.
Slowly but surely the boutique fell apart. The promise of affordable, first-rate clothing was broken as The Fool’s designs were lucrative to produce, raising in-store prices. Paul McCartney’s prospect of the boutique being “a beautiful place where beautiful people [could] buy beautiful things” was spoiled as the store’s “customers” and even staff members—including The Fool—stole much of the inventory, leaving the boutique in debt about twice the amount they had invested. In a way declaring their defeat, the Beatles decided to give away their remaining inventory to anyone who showed up at Apple. Insisting on one piece per patron (though they couldn’t enforce the rule as they couldn’t even prevent their own staff from shoplifting their products), the shop’s entire stock was quickly done with — leaving Apple further in debt and closed by July of 1968.
Apple’s story raises the long-lasting concern over censorship: the Beatles delved more into the topic frequently in their music after experiencing its effect on the downfall of their store, (London’s demand to cover up their building art). While censorship certainly played a role in Apple’s collapse, the boutique was also poorly managed and too adamant on staying in line with the laid-back values of their customers, (the Beatles refused to take action against shoplifters as it wasn’t cool to call people out among the crowd). The store surely could not have survived the way it was being run.
The Beatles ended up pursuing another venture in 1968 — a variation of Apple focused on tailoring — which also failed (though perhaps not as miserably). The closing of Apple Tailoring prompted the Beatles’ exit from the world of clothing retail the same year.
Granny Takes a Trip
Perhaps the most iconic among the three (certainly my favourite) lies the boutique Granny Takes a Trip, doesn’t the name on its own simply make you wanna twist & shout?
The name of the boutique played on the idea of a traditionalist past melding with the antics of the youth at the time (the late ‘60s)—specifically their use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD.
Opened in February of 1966 on a desolate part of King’s Road, Granny Takes a Trip was founded and run primarily by graphic designer Nigel Waymouth, vintage clothing collector Sheila Cohen, and tailor John Pearse. Waymouth was in charge of the interior and exterior designs of the shop, creating a comfortable yet psychedelically striking space inside and an outside view that alternated at times during the year—a store never lacking in attention-grabbing imagery. Cohen and Pearse worked on producing the one-of-a-kind, ostentatious clothing that distinguished the boutique as the place to shop for young, upper class men and women looking to divert from the traditional rich London crowd.
Cohen gathered the stunning fabrics — often of older clothing — to be remade and tailored by Pearse, who was responsible for the grandness associated with the store as he ensured every item was made the finest way possible. Granny Takes a Trip became known for their experimental and unique clothing, crossing many boundaries in the clothing industry such as by creating clothing from textiles traditionally used for products including curtains and bedspreads. Though their pieces were rather expensive, prices were justified by the amount of precise, tedious work it took to find and rework quality fabrics into clothing that emanated the bohemian styles of London in the ’60s timeframe.
Clientele of the boutique grew from locals looking for ridiculous amounts of money to spend on ridiculous fashion to musicians— rock artists such as Pink Floyd, who eventually drew in other stars including Jimi Hendrix, the Stones, and the Beatles. Waymouth tells the story of when he and some others were passing around a joint on the floor when John Lennon and Paul McCartney walked in for the first time. Another British pop group, The Purple Gang, wrote a song by the name of the store in 1968 that was banned by the BBC for its obvious reference to hallucinogenic drugs. Granny Takes a Trip’s name surely rang true to its psychedelic atmosphere, which was one of its main attractions. Salman Rushdie, who lived above the boutique during the reign of its popularity, described the inside as “pitch dark”, with psychedelic music blasting, and the air “…heavy with incense and patchouli oil…with the aromas of what the police called Certain Substances.” Actress and model Anita Pallenberg recalled trying on clothes while simultaneously smoking joints with the workers and other patrons. Everyone was familiar with one another in the small shop. The store’s casual environment played a huge part in solidifying it as the place to be for many of the rich rock and roll scene.
The boutique’s demise began in the late ’60s, when Cohen’s introduction of afghan fur coats sparked an argument between her and Pearse, who wanted to retain the store’s glamorous city image rather than introduce a hippie one. Waymouth, Cohen, and Pearse sold the boutique to Freddie Hornik (who had previously worked at London clothing shop Dandie Fashions) in 1969. He established two locations in America and hired designers that supplied more trendy, fashionable clothing to the likes of Marc Bolan and Lou Reed — Reed’s album Transformer features him in a bedazzled velvet Granny’s suit. This was perhaps a preview of the glam rock styles that were to engulf much of the decade. The original Granny Takes a Trip closed in 1974, while its branches in New York and Los Angeles remained until the later ’70s.
Granny Takes a Trip’s clothing and image epitomized the rich, mysterious, and famous of the young and bold (and often stoned) London crowd. Rock stars immortalized the store by putting their works on display to fans at concerts, on album covers, and in front of paparrazzi. George Harrison’s Granny’s blazer sits today in the Fashion and Textile Museum of London, while other pieces from the shop are now rare collector’s items — reminiscent of a period of experimental and expressive freedom.
Hung On You
Though open for a relatively shorter time than the boutiques previously mentioned, Hung On You was a mecca for the grand, flamboyant Londoners and young music stars of the time. Michael Rainey, a designer already popular among the aristocrats of the city, opened the store with his wife and business partner Jane Ormsby-Gore in December of 1965.
Rainey drew inspiration for his styles mainly from his dandy friends, giving the store a lavish, worldly taste. Colorful, patterned fabrics were brought in by Rainey’s wife from India, giving the clothes both Eastern and Western additions. Old-fashioned tailors from London’s East End reworked the fabrics and clothes to perfection — holding a mindset similar to the tailors of Granny Takes a Trip that ensured the clothing produced was of the highest caliber. Also like Granny’s, Hung On You’s clothing merged old and newer styles, though they were perhaps a tad more tame and opulent than the wild, inventive designs of Granny’s. Rainey claimed that the store did not specifically “tailor” clothing, though if approached with a worthy design idea they would certainly work a piece to one’s liking.
Hung On You’s clothing was beyond doubt expensive, though the store had no trouble finding buyers as rock stars such as (again) the Beatles, Stones, and the Who made the place a must-see and shop for their followers — those inspired by the artists’ blending of extravagant style with their unconventional music.
The boutique moved from its original Chelsea location to the more popular Kings Road in 1966 — the street was becoming known as the heart of the hip fashion scene at the time. The business, however, began to crumble. Relocating proved to be costly for Rainey and his team, and the store’s new location seemed difficult to find for its original patrons. The high costs necessary to maintain Hung On You’s luxurious look and quality led to its closing in 1968, when Rainey and his wife sold the store and moved out of the country.
The Apple Boutique, Granny Takes a Trip, and Hung On You captured the essence of the liberative sixties with their original and fresh designs, tackling long-lasting values of the fashion industry and order. The stores’ use of artistic and technical freedom defined the counterculture of the London elite as excessive yet elegant clothing found a growing popularity among the young crowd. Musicians’ visiting of the stores led to their one-of-a-kind clothing falling hand-in-hand with the unprecedented types of music that arose in the late ’60s. Psychedelic clothing grew to represent the evolution of rock and roll music and vice-versa, creating an unbreakable bond between the two. If one asks a dedicated follower of ’60s culture, they will likely associate the two aspects of sixties culture as interdependent. Hopefully you will now be able to better connect the two as well to form a clearer image in the mind of those crazy, hazy, groovy, trippy days.
Writer’s after-thought: Wow!! One of the most interesting topics I’ve researched, finding all this information was super fun and eye-opening. The downside is, I now desperately wish I could visit each of these stores and buy something from them. Imagine going to Apple Boutique and getting their spectacular clothes for FREE. I hope you enjoyed these stories and photographs as much as I did. I absolutely adore the energy I get just from reading about and seeing the people, clothes, and designs of these places. I’m considering doing a part 2 on this, either with more London shops of the ’60s or with American ones instead, let me know your thoughts!
As always, I appreciate any feedback I can get, so feel free to reach out to me and let me know what you liked, what you wanted to know more about, and/or what you had questions on. Thanks, Parmis. :)
Sources used:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/12/07/the-apple-boutique-opens/
https://agnautacouture.com/2016/05/08/the-apple-boutique-only-lasted-eight-months/
http://dandyinaspic.blogspot.com/2011/07/hung-on-you.html
https://flashbak.com/hung-on-you-a-look-around-the-1960s-chelsea-boutique-40348/
https://sweetjanespopboutique.blogspot.com/2019/06/on-boutique-beat-hung-on-you-pygmalia.html
https://tvsimages.co.uk/hung-on-you/
https://pleasekillme.com/rock-stars-wearing-granny-takes-a-trip/
https://agnautacouture.com/2012/12/16/granny-takes-a-trip-a-boutique-everybody-wanted-to-be-seen-in/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/11/07/heavy-threads
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