Boy London 80’s Sid Vicious Heroin Muslin

BOY LOGO PRINTED IN SILVER UNDER SID GRAPHIC.

(BOY HISTORY) Acme Attractions was a London clothing store on Kings Road, Chelsea, London, that in the early 1970s provided a place for many punk and reggae musicians and scenesters to hang out. Shop assistant and manager Don Letts described Acme Attraction as a place "where the interaction between the different factions became more important than selling merchandise, even though at that age it was a deadly combination". Acme Attractions was inspired by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's Fifties-inspired boutique Let it Rock (revamped in 1972 and renamed Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die), ironically Prior to conceiving BOY, Stephane had been selling 50s clothing to Malcolm Mclaren at his shop ‘Let it Rock’ before opening the his legendary style outlet ‘Acme Attractions’ - which counted punk DJ and filmmaker Don Letts,. In spring 1974, a radical change saw the shop become Sex: selling fetish wear and Westwood's innovative designs. Acme's owner, John Krivine, decided to venture into clothing with Steph Raynor.In 1974, Acme Attractions initially opened as a stall in the antiques market Antiquarius on the King's Road, Chelsea. While it was owned by Krivine and Raynor its public face was Don Letts who says that Acme was selling, "electric-blue zoot suits and jukeboxes, and pumping dub reggae all day long". Acme would actually have to move to the basement, after complaints about Don Letts's pounding dub reggae. By the mid 70s, Acme had quite a scene attracting the likes of The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde, Patti Smith, Deborah Harry, Boy George and Bob Marley. Letts remembers that "Marley ... come by because he knew he could get a good draw from the thriving black-market action that also went on in Acme." The scene created by the shop also led to the formation of Generation X, which launched the pop music career of Billy Idol. The Acme accountant, Andrew Czezowski, seeing the potential in the crowd the store attracted, started up The Roxy, the first punk-rock venue in London, so that people could go from the store and have some place to party. Letts was the first house DJ.

Chelsea, a band, formed in August 1976 and were originally managed by John Krivine and Steph Raynor, was in direct competition with Malcolm McLaren's SEX and Sex Pistols.
Seeing the success of punk and how a new market was created for punk related clothing and merchandise John Krevine and Steph Raynor closed Acme Attractions to create Boy London. While Don Letts opened the new store, he soon quit, "It was the bastard child of Acme, created to capitalize on the tabloid punk and although I opened and ran the joint it just weren't my speed. I quit to manage the Slits and headed off on the White Riot tour with The Clash."
Vivienne Westwood licensed designs to Boy, who issued them, some with alterations, over the next eight years. Mr Krivine sold the company in 1984.

There's a lot of history at 430 King's Road in London's Chelsea district.  'Seditionaries' t-shirts are just a few of the many designs that originated from the various incarnations of the address in the 1970s.

In 1971 the King’s Road location was known as Paradise Garage and future Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and partner Patrick Casey manned a little rock memorabilia stand located in the back of the store. When the owners of Paradise got evicted McLaren and Casey took over the entire venue and named it Let it Rock expanding their inventory with clothing that was designed by McLaren’s school teacher girlfriend Vivienne Westwood.

In 1972 the shop was re-named Too Fast To Live, To Young to Die and focused on early 1960s rock culture and fashion. This incarnation’s moniker was self-fulfilling prophecy – not even two years later it was no longer living. McLaren and Westwood decided to close up shop because of thievery and threats from the infamous Teddy Boy gang.


    In 1974 the shop was gutted, renovated and re-opened under the name SEX. The store specialized in fetish and bondage gear as well as numerous t-shirt designs that caused an uproar by depicting taboo imagery, e.g., gay cowboys, swastikas, etc.

 In 1975 McLaren began to manage a band called The Strand that would become the Sex Pistols and Johnny Rotten actually auditioned for the band in the store.  In 1976, the shop was once again re-named to Seditionaries and the inventory reflected the surging popularity of the Sex Pistols who were decked out in designer Seds duds from the get-go. And with Sid Vicious reportedly banking hours as an employee, shoplifting was most likely at an all time low. Malcolm also sold Seditionaries t-shirts through ads in the Melody Maker.


    McLaren and Westwood’s relationship eventually deteriorated, they split and closed the Seditionaries store in September of 1980. In 1981 the venue underwent its final make-over and began operating as World’s End.  The location is still in operation and, amazingly, the name has survived two decades and appears to have stuck. The once mom and pop operation is now in the hands of their son, Joe Corre.

 To see the Seditionaries shop as it was in the 1970s, watch the documentary film 'Punk Rock Movie'.  This landmark film shot by Don Letts in 1977-1978 provides an amazing glimpse into the London punk rock scene.  In the film, there is a brief tour of the inside of the Seditionaries store with Vivienne Westwood and team working behind the counter and a view of the clothes that were sold there at the time

Towards the late 70's VIVIENNE WESTWOOD licensed some of her graphics from the SEX/Seditionaries period ( 1974 to 1980 ) to BOY. This is why SEDITIONARIES label/labels are present on BOY clothing, or BOY labelled clothing designed by VIVIENNE WESTWOOD.

BOY and BOY LONDON is a clothing label and store founded by Stephane Raynor in 1976. BOY was the punk clothing store to be found halfway down the King's Rd. Raynor briefly lent his hand to opening another famed store, PX, in 1978, where under his guidance the scene surrounding him and his enterprises (led by Visage’s Steve Strange and DJ Rusty Egan) came to be known as the infamous ‘Blitz Kids’ (the original club kids), before returning his full focus to BOY LONDON in the 1980's. The 'BOY' label was used in the 1970's and early 1980's. The word 'LONDON' was added to the store and clothing label in the early 1980's.

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