WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.180 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're tracing 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:06.860 the neon padded shoulder extravagance of the 00:00:06.860 --> 00:00:10.699 1980s back to a really unlikely starting point. 00:00:10.779 --> 00:00:12.580 Very unlikely. Right. Because, you know, when 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:15.259 you picture that era, the intense theatricality, 00:00:15.259 --> 00:00:17.879 that massive explosion of pop culture style that 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.399 basically defined a decade of fashion and music. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:23.359 It feels like a look that must have been, I don't 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:26.079 know, focus grouped in a massive corporate design 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:29.420 house in London or New York. Yeah. We tend to 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:31.600 assume it came from the top down. Exactly. But 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:33.960 we are pulling from a single Wikipedia page today 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:36.439 that unravels a very different history. We are 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:38.560 going to trace that iconic aesthetic all the 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:40.960 way back to a single boutique on Hearst Street 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:43.979 in Birmingham, England in 1976. We're looking 00:00:43.979 --> 00:00:46.640 at a fashion label called Conan Bell. And the 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:48.880 two women who essentially architected a global 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:51.060 movement from the ground up. Yeah. As we look 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:54.679 at the backdrop today, shifting from the gritty 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:58.640 DIY ethos of 1970s punk right into that bright 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:01.780 neon -soaked futurism of the 1980s, you really 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:04.159 have to recognize the mechanics behind that transition. 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.280 It didn't just emerge out of nowhere. No, somebody 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:08.480 had to build it. Right. And Con and Belle are 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.019 this brilliant lens through which to view this 00:01:11.019 --> 00:01:14.099 era because their story isn't just about garments. 00:01:14.299 --> 00:01:17.379 It is a highly revealing case study on the geography 00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:20.439 of cool. Oh, I like that phrasing. Well, it exposes 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.019 the intense media bias that, you know, dictates 00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:26.200 who gets canonized in fashion history. And it 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:29.510 explores the profound tension between. maintaining 00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:32.650 grassroots authenticity, and succumbing to commercial 00:01:32.650 --> 00:01:35.310 licensing. We are looking at what happens when 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:38.109 regional creators build an aesthetic empire, 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:40.989 only to find themselves completely at odds with 00:01:40.989 --> 00:01:42.790 the establishment that wants to commodify it. 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:45.400 OK, let's unpack this, because the founders themselves 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:47.859 are a fascinating study in creative synthesis. 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:49.560 We're talking about Jane Conn and Patti Bell. 00:01:49.659 --> 00:01:53.299 In 1976, they opened their shop and basically 00:01:53.299 --> 00:01:55.420 laid the groundwork for the new romantic aesthetic, 00:01:55.780 --> 00:01:58.280 setting the stage for that flamboyant theatrical 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:01.500 reaction to punk long before the London fashion 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:04.640 scene even caught on. But what strikes me when 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.959 looking at the sources is that their style wasn't 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.900 just loud or, you know, eccentric. It was this 00:02:09.900 --> 00:02:13.400 fiercely specific concoction. They were pulling 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:17.240 from Egyptian, African and Far Eastern art, and 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:19.159 then they were colliding his ancient aesthetics 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:22.439 with pure futurism and sci -fi fantasy. A massive 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:25.280 risk creatively. Yeah. How did they manage to 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.560 blend all of those disparate elements without 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:30.439 it just looking like a messy, chaotic costume? 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:33.360 What elevated this to high fashion? That is the 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:35.520 core of their genius, really, because to avoid 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.639 falling into the trap of mere fancy dress, you 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.060 need an incredibly rigorous understanding of 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:43.620 tailoring of silhouette and art history. Which 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:46.120 they had. Kahn and Bell possessed that in spades. 00:02:46.180 --> 00:02:48.199 They weren't just throwing rhinestones on vintage 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.500 dresses. They were constructing garments with 00:02:50.500 --> 00:02:53.469 serious architectural intent. When you combine 00:02:53.469 --> 00:02:56.229 the sharp geometric lines of Egyptian art with 00:02:56.229 --> 00:02:59.030 the exaggerated proportions of 1980s futurism, 00:02:59.129 --> 00:03:01.930 you need flawless execution. The foundation has 00:03:01.930 --> 00:03:05.729 to be solid. Exactly. The cuts had to be immaculate. 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:08.340 They used heavy, structured fabrics to ground 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:10.580 the fantasy elements, ensuring that when someone 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:13.259 walked into a room wearing con and bell, they 00:03:13.259 --> 00:03:14.819 didn't look like they were wearing a costume. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:16.439 It looked like they had arrived from a different 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:18.840 dimension. Beautifully put, yes. And there is 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:21.780 a review from a design magazine called Blueprint, 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:25.240 published later in 1988, that paints a really 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:27.879 vivid picture of what that dimension looked like. 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:29.819 Oh, this review is incredible. It really is. 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:32.259 The writer describes a scene at the Zanzibar 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:35.099 Club, which was this legendary underground venue. 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:38.590 The lights are low. The music is pulsing. And 00:03:38.590 --> 00:03:40.909 holding court in the center of the room are Kahn 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:43.370 and Bell themselves. Total command of the space. 00:03:43.650 --> 00:03:46.270 Total command. The article describes them as 00:03:46.270 --> 00:03:48.849 resplendent in leopard skin and padded shoulders, 00:03:49.229 --> 00:03:53.009 dripping in diamante. And then the wildest detail, 00:03:53.289 --> 00:03:55.770 they had these leather devil's tails hanging 00:03:55.770 --> 00:03:58.689 down between their legs. It is such a jarring, 00:03:58.729 --> 00:04:01.229 aggressive image. What's fascinating here is 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:03.870 the specific critical language the Blueprint 00:04:03.870 --> 00:04:06.319 Review uses. to contextualize that aggression. 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:09.020 Right. They don't just call it weird. No. The 00:04:09.020 --> 00:04:11.060 writer notes that on good nights, Khan and Belle 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:13.800 looked like Egyptian queens or ancient Babylonians. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:16.439 But on the not -so -good nights, they resembled 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:19.879 Brassai's Momabijou. Unpack Momabijou for us. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.399 So for context, Momabijou was a famous, heavily 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.779 jeweled, Parisian eccentric photographed by Brassai 00:04:26.779 --> 00:04:30.879 in the 1930s. A figure of faded... ghostly glamour 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:34.220 wow yeah and then the reviewer brilliantly describes 00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:37.740 conan bell as fugitives from baudelaire's bad 00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:41.000 dreams that is quite a label to compare someone 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.389 to baudelaire A poet who was all about finding 00:04:43.389 --> 00:04:46.149 visceral beauty in the grotesque, the macabre, 00:04:46.250 --> 00:04:48.529 and the decaying urban landscape shows. They 00:04:48.529 --> 00:04:50.689 weren't just making pretty party dresses. They 00:04:50.689 --> 00:04:53.110 were creating walking, breathing art installations 00:04:53.110 --> 00:04:55.009 that deliberately challenged the viewer's comfort 00:04:55.009 --> 00:04:57.610 zone. Fugitives from Butler's Bad Dreams is such 00:04:57.610 --> 00:05:00.149 a haunting, evocative way to describe a fashion 00:05:00.149 --> 00:05:02.250 label. It makes me want to ask you, the listener, 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:04.029 what stands out to you about a style that is 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:06.750 simultaneously ancient and futuristic? It's a 00:05:06.750 --> 00:05:09.279 great question. Does pulling from antiquity make 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:11.939 a futuristic vision feel more grounded in human 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:15.540 history? Or does injecting sci -fi elements make 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:18.819 the ancient world feel distinctly alien? It's 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:21.500 a profound juxtaposition. Khan and Bell were 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:23.699 walking a brilliant tightrope with it, and it 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:25.980 clearly resonated far beyond the walls of the 00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:28.680 Zanzibar club. Because here's where it gets really 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:32.699 interesting. This avant -garde, highly intellectualized 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:35.439 style caught the eye of the music industry. Yeah, 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:37.660 so the big crossover. Conan Bell actually became 00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:40.759 the go -to designers for massive bands, including 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:44.120 The Group Shock and, most notably, Duran Duran. 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:46.500 The connection to the music industry is absolutely 00:05:46.500 --> 00:05:48.560 critical to understanding their cultural footprint, 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:51.680 especially in an era that was just on the precipice 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:53.899 of the MTV revolution. The dawn of the music 00:05:53.899 --> 00:06:10.939 video. Exactly. The 1980s became the... They 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:14.180 were dressing the revolution. And the ultimate 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:16.439 musical tribute was paid to them by Simon Le 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:20.000 Bon. The frontman of Duran Duran actually wrote 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.839 the song Kanada, specifically about Jane Kahn. 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:25.680 That is the ultimate flex. Right. When a frontman 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.360 for one of the most visually iconic bands of 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:31.220 the decade writes a song about you, you have 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:33.959 crossed over from designer to cultural muse. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:37.120 It completely shifts the power dynamic, doesn't 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:39.040 it? It does. You usually think of the musician 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:41.839 as the primary mastermind, the one driving the 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:43.720 culture forward, and the designers just brought 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.399 in as a hired gun to make them look good. But 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:49.000 in this scenario, Khan and Bell are pulling the 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.600 strings. They're the architects. They are providing 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.100 the actual... visual architecture that allowed 00:06:54.100 --> 00:06:56.959 bands like Duran Duran to fully realize their 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:58.860 artistal identities. They were co -authors of 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:01.879 the movement. The new romantic sound, which was 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:04.360 theatrical, synth -driven, and highly ambitious, 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:08.160 required a wardrobe that matched that exact frequency. 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:11.170 You couldn't just wear jeans. No. A band couldn't 00:07:11.170 --> 00:07:13.410 get on stage playing futuristic synthesizers 00:07:13.410 --> 00:07:16.170 while wearing ripped jeans and safety pins left 00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:18.329 over from the punk era. It would have visually 00:07:18.329 --> 00:07:21.149 clashed. They needed garments that broadcasted 00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:24.589 opulence, romance, and forward momentum. Khan 00:07:24.589 --> 00:07:27.110 and Bell supplied that. They gave the music its 00:07:27.110 --> 00:07:30.290 physical form. So we have this design duo with 00:07:30.290 --> 00:07:32.910 a brilliant... highly intellectual aesthetic. 00:07:33.089 --> 00:07:36.509 They have rock star clientele and they are literally 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:38.790 writing the visual rulebook for the upcoming 00:07:38.790 --> 00:07:41.529 decade. A powerhouse. Logically, they should 00:07:41.529 --> 00:07:43.750 have been universally celebrated as fashion royalty 00:07:43.750 --> 00:07:46.529 across the UK. You would think. But this brings 00:07:46.529 --> 00:07:50.189 us to the central friction of their story, the 00:07:50.189 --> 00:07:53.269 geography of cool. Birmingham versus London. 00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:55.470 The Great Divide. Despite being the vanguard 00:07:55.470 --> 00:07:57.790 of this movement, Con and Bell received shockingly 00:07:57.790 --> 00:07:59.509 little credit from the fashion establishment 00:07:59.509 --> 00:08:02.449 in the capital. The geographical bias was staggering, 00:08:02.629 --> 00:08:05.290 and it is explicitly documented in the sources. 00:08:05.529 --> 00:08:08.730 A 1981 piece in the new romantic journal New 00:08:08.730 --> 00:08:11.810 Sounds New Styles pointed out this exact injustice. 00:08:12.189 --> 00:08:14.050 What did they say? The journal observed that 00:08:14.050 --> 00:08:16.569 Con and Bell were frequently one step ahead of 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:19.800 the designers in London. However... Due to the 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:22.079 intense London -centric nature of the fashion 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:25.000 press, when London eventually caught up and began 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.360 producing similar collections, the immediate 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.819 assumption published in the magazines was that 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:33.059 Birmingham had copied London. That is wild. It 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:36.000 was a complete inversion of reality, driven entirely 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.580 by a systemic prejudice against regional cities. 00:08:38.940 --> 00:08:41.820 That level of institutional gaslighting has to 00:08:41.820 --> 00:08:44.899 be infuriating. Imagine inventing the future, 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:47.419 watching the people in the capital city finally 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:50.200 catch on months later, and then having the glossy 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:52.700 magazines accuse you of stealing the capital's 00:08:52.700 --> 00:08:55.080 ideas. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:08:55.259 --> 00:08:57.679 we have to look at the underlying mechanics of 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:59.779 why the fashion press operated that way. It's 00:08:59.779 --> 00:09:02.720 about money, isn't it? Always. In the late 70s 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:05.000 and early 80s, London wasn't just a city, it 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.470 was an economic machine. The major fashion magazines, 00:09:07.830 --> 00:09:10.889 the PR agencies, the high -end boutiques in Soho, 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:13.470 the international advertisers, they were all 00:09:13.470 --> 00:09:15.730 geographically concentrated in London. So they 00:09:15.730 --> 00:09:18.789 protected their turf. Yes. The establishment 00:09:18.789 --> 00:09:21.889 press needed London to remain the undisputed 00:09:21.889 --> 00:09:24.730 center of the universe, to justify their own 00:09:24.730 --> 00:09:27.070 relevance and maintain their economic power. 00:09:27.580 --> 00:09:30.559 Birmingham, at the time, was widely viewed by 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:33.639 the Southern elite as an industrial, working 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:36.639 -class hub. A completely different world. Right. 00:09:36.740 --> 00:09:39.840 The London establishment simply couldn't fathom, 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:41.919 or perhaps couldn't afford to admit, that the 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:44.879 most avant -garde, forward -thinking, high -glamour 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.580 designs in the country were being born on Hearst 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:50.000 Street in Birmingham. To acknowledge Kahn and 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.379 Bell's primacy would be to admit that the London 00:09:52.379 --> 00:09:54.850 tastemakers were falling behind. And dealing 00:09:54.850 --> 00:09:57.169 with that constant lack of recognition while 00:09:57.169 --> 00:09:59.909 trying to maintain their phenomenal output inevitably 00:09:59.909 --> 00:10:03.090 takes a massive toll. A huge physical and emotional 00:10:03.090 --> 00:10:06.509 toll. This brings us back to that 1988 Blueprint 00:10:06.509 --> 00:10:08.970 review, which touches on the grueling psychological 00:10:08.970 --> 00:10:11.850 reality of their lifestyle. The review contains 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:14.330 this incredibly poetic description of their existence, 00:10:14.610 --> 00:10:17.110 stating that for Kahn and Bell, identity was 00:10:17.110 --> 00:10:19.230 a trick of the light. A trick of the light is 00:10:19.230 --> 00:10:22.269 a profoundly revealing phrase. It suggests that 00:10:22.269 --> 00:10:24.929 their entire persona This magnificent aesthetic 00:10:24.929 --> 00:10:27.850 they had built was an illusion they had to actively, 00:10:28.029 --> 00:10:30.350 physically maintain. It wasn't just natural. 00:10:30.649 --> 00:10:33.490 No, it wasn't effortless. It required an extreme, 00:10:33.710 --> 00:10:35.870 continuous performance to keep the fantasy alive 00:10:35.870 --> 00:10:39.429 in a world that was often gray, industrial, and 00:10:39.429 --> 00:10:42.330 dismissive of their origins. The review spells 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:45.230 out the reality of that performance. It ignites 00:10:45.230 --> 00:10:47.509 the severe risk of burning out when you sold 00:10:47.509 --> 00:10:49.629 clothes all day in the boutique and then actively 00:10:49.629 --> 00:10:51.889 promoted them all night in the underground clubs. 00:10:52.129 --> 00:10:54.460 Working around the clock. And the survival mechanism 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:57.000 the writer describes is striking. They wrote, 00:10:57.080 --> 00:11:00.019 you simply let the flames lick over you and turned 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:03.240 the ashes into coal. Wow. Taking the literal 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:06.100 ashes of your own burnout and using it as makeup 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:09.279 to fuel the aesthetic. It is a stunning metaphor 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:12.120 for turning exhaustion into art, but it also 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:14.659 sounds completely unsustainable for a human being. 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:18.600 It was a recipe for immense friction. which leads 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:20.779 us directly into the pivotal business decisions 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:23.740 they made, decisions that explain why they aren't 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:25.919 a household global name today. Let's get into 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:28.759 that. When fashion historians debate why Khan 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:30.559 and Bell aren't mentioned in the same breath 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:33.399 as legacy fashion houses, the sources point to 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:37.279 three specific choices. First, they refuse to 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.480 license their brand. Which is how you make the 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:42.059 real money. Exactly. In the fashion industry, 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:44.980 licensing is the lifeblood of a global empire. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:48.620 When a designer licenses their name for perfumes, 00:11:48.740 --> 00:11:51.659 sunglasses, or mass market department store lines, 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:55.559 they generate massive, passive wealth. It is 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:57.460 how you transition from a respected designer 00:11:57.460 --> 00:12:01.019 to a global corporation. And Kahn and Bell said 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:03.779 no to that money. They turned it down flat. Turning 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:05.779 down licensing is wild when you think about the 00:12:05.779 --> 00:12:07.200 sheer amount of capital they were leaving on 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:09.480 the table. It is the ultimate rejection of the 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:12.059 corporate fashion machine. Second, they flat 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:15.490 out refused to relocate to London as a duo. They 00:12:15.490 --> 00:12:17.669 stayed anchored to Birmingham when the entire 00:12:17.669 --> 00:12:19.830 industry was demanding they move to the capital 00:12:19.830 --> 00:12:22.490 to be taken seriously by the international buyers 00:12:22.490 --> 00:12:25.129 and the press. Sticking to their roots. And third, 00:12:25.350 --> 00:12:27.889 they unequivocally would not compromise their 00:12:27.889 --> 00:12:30.870 unique style. They didn't water down their designs 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:33.029 to make them more palatable for a mainstream 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:35.710 commercial audience. They held their ground, 00:12:35.870 --> 00:12:38.909 maintaining their creative purity at the expense 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:42.490 of global ubiquity. I want you, the listener, 00:12:42.629 --> 00:12:45.590 to pause and consider your own career, your own 00:12:45.590 --> 00:12:49.149 art, or your passions. Would you be willing to 00:12:49.149 --> 00:12:52.409 trade your unique, uncompromising style and your 00:12:52.409 --> 00:12:54.850 hometown roots for global commercial success? 00:12:55.350 --> 00:12:58.070 It's the classic artist dilemma. If an investor 00:12:58.070 --> 00:13:00.870 handed you the keys to a global empire, but the 00:13:00.870 --> 00:13:02.870 catch was that you had to dilute your vision 00:13:02.870 --> 00:13:05.149 and move to a city that had previously mocked 00:13:05.149 --> 00:13:07.090 or ignored you, would you sign that contract? 00:13:07.789 --> 00:13:10.200 Most people would sign it in a heartbeat. But 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:12.840 Kahn and Bell chose their roots. But that intense 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:15.519 dedication, combined with the grueling lifestyle, 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:19.120 eventually fractured the partnership. The sources 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.179 note that the duo went their separate ways in 00:13:21.179 --> 00:13:23.779 the 1980s. The immense pressure of sustaining 00:13:23.779 --> 00:13:26.039 that trick of the light, perhaps combined with 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:28.320 differing visions for how to navigate their future, 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:31.179 led to their split. It's understandable. It is. 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:34.200 And the pads they took both split serve as a 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:36.740 fascinating coda to the Birmingham versus London 00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:38.950 dynamic we've been discussing. Right, because 00:13:38.950 --> 00:13:41.129 Jane Conn's path actually took her down south. 00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:44.330 She did end up relocating to London on her own 00:13:44.330 --> 00:13:46.549 after the split, and she did find a measure of 00:13:46.549 --> 00:13:48.730 success there. But there's a catch. There is 00:13:48.730 --> 00:13:51.610 a really poignant creative caveat in the sources. 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:54.830 While she was successful in the capital... She 00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:58.370 was never quite able to recreate that truly inspirational 00:13:58.370 --> 00:14:01.230 lightning -in -a -bottle look that the Kahn and 00:14:01.230 --> 00:14:04.169 Bell partnership possessed. Highlights a crucial 00:14:04.169 --> 00:14:06.870 truth about creative collaboration. Yeah. The 00:14:06.870 --> 00:14:09.429 friction, the shared history, and the specific 00:14:09.429 --> 00:14:12.090 environment of Birmingham created an alchemy 00:14:12.090 --> 00:14:13.789 between the two of them that couldn't simply 00:14:13.789 --> 00:14:16.330 be packed up in a suitcase and manufactured by 00:14:16.330 --> 00:14:19.250 one person in a London studio. The magic was 00:14:19.250 --> 00:14:21.429 in the partnership and the place. The context 00:14:21.429 --> 00:14:24.529 mattered. Meanwhile, Patti Bell's path is an 00:14:24.529 --> 00:14:27.330 incredible testament to stubborn, beautiful dedication 00:14:27.330 --> 00:14:29.970 to her roots. Her story is amazing. After the 00:14:29.970 --> 00:14:32.490 split, she remained a fiercely grassroots designer. 00:14:33.049 --> 00:14:35.509 She kept her home and her base of operations 00:14:35.509 --> 00:14:38.710 in Birmingham. But rather than retreating, she 00:14:38.710 --> 00:14:41.830 found a new, highly direct way to reach her audience. 00:14:42.149 --> 00:14:44.690 A very hands -on approach. Every single weekend, 00:14:44.809 --> 00:14:47.009 she would travel down to London's Camden Market. 00:14:47.549 --> 00:14:50.129 She bypassed the elite fashion press, the glossy 00:14:50.129 --> 00:14:52.909 magazines, and the high -end Soho boutiques entirely, 00:14:53.269 --> 00:14:56.590 and took her outlandish, thought -provoking collections 00:14:56.590 --> 00:14:59.350 straight to the streets. The imagery of that 00:14:59.350 --> 00:15:01.990 is phenomenal. Picture the visceral, chaotic 00:15:01.990 --> 00:15:05.210 energy of Camden Lock in the 80s and 90s, and 00:15:05.210 --> 00:15:07.690 right in the middle of it is a designer who had 00:15:07.690 --> 00:15:10.470 dressed Duran Duran and architected the new romantic 00:15:10.470 --> 00:15:12.909 movement, selling her garments directly from 00:15:12.909 --> 00:15:15.210 a market stall. It's so punk rock, honestly. 00:15:15.490 --> 00:15:17.610 It really is. And this raises an important question 00:15:17.610 --> 00:15:19.769 about how we define success in the creative arts. 00:15:19.850 --> 00:15:22.490 Because the profound irony of Patti Bell's path 00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:25.009 is that she still achieved incredible international 00:15:25.009 --> 00:15:27.649 reach. Absolutely. The sources show she cultivated 00:15:27.649 --> 00:15:30.110 a dedicated base of clients and customers who 00:15:30.110 --> 00:15:32.090 had traveled to see her from all over Europe, 00:15:32.169 --> 00:15:35.110 from Southeast Asia, and from Japan. People were 00:15:35.110 --> 00:15:37.450 crossing oceans to find her in Camden Market. 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:40.740 Yes. She achieved global reach without a global 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:43.480 sellout. She maintained complete control over 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.220 her aesthetic, bypassing the gatekeepers, and 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:48.399 she did it entirely on her own terms right up 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:50.759 until she passed away very recently in January 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:54.899 2024. Her passing marks the end of a very specific 00:15:54.899 --> 00:15:58.419 era of grassroots design. She proved that you 00:15:58.419 --> 00:16:00.799 can sustain a profound international artistic 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.940 impact without ever bending to the demands of 00:16:03.940 --> 00:16:06.279 the corporate fashion capitals. So what does 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:08.779 this all mean? When we look at the complete story 00:16:08.779 --> 00:16:11.059 of Conan Bell, we are looking at the brilliant, 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.440 uncompromising architects of a defining era in 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.340 pop culture. True pioneers. They prove that true 00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:19.360 innovation, the kind of world -building aesthetic 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.919 that defines a generation, doesn't require the 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.039 permission of the establishment. It happens in 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:26.100 the regional towns, in the small, fiercely independent 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:28.759 boutiques, born out of the sheer willpower of 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.179 artists who refuse to blend in. And their legacy 00:16:31.179 --> 00:16:33.919 indoors. They may have been dismissed and gaslit 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:36.500 by the London press, but their legacy outlived 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:39.399 the critics. It lives on in the music we listen 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:42.580 to and the enduring, globally recognized imagery 00:16:42.580 --> 00:16:45.500 of the 1980s. They leave behind a blueprint for 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:48.600 absolute creative purity. And looking at their 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:51.100 story through a modern lens, it leaves you wondering. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:53.840 In today's hyper -connected world, where every 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.279 localized trend is instantly filmed, uploaded, 00:16:56.460 --> 00:16:58.580 and globalized on social media within hours, 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:02.240 is it even possible for a truly underground local 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.279 scene to incubate the way Kahn and Bells did 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:07.980 in 1970s Birmingham? That's a great question. 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:10.640 Or has the internet effectively made us all residents 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:12.720 of the capital, stripping away the geographic 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:15.319 isolation that once allowed such fiercely unique, 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.599 unapologetic creativity to develop unseen? Does 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:20.700 the internet destroy the very isolation that 00:17:20.700 --> 00:17:23.460 allows genius to grow? That is a brilliant point 00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:25.619 to leave on. Thank you so much for joining us 00:17:25.619 --> 00:17:27.859 on this deep dive into the archives today. We 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:29.460 hope you walk away looking at the history of 00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:31.519 fashion and maybe even your own creative choices 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:34.460 with a fresh perspective. Have a fantastic rest 00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:35.759 of your day and keep exploring.