For his latest Fred Perry collection, Raf Simons used the photographs of Gavin Watson and George Plemper to capture the youthful energy of kids coming of age in ’70s and ’80 Britain. Drawing on details from his own label Simons printed their photos across classic Fred Perry silhouettes and trimmed each piece with a metal version of the Laurel Wreath logo. Fred Perry worked with Britain’s Museum of Youth Culture – available online only now with plans of open a physical space by 2023 – to edit and select a series of candid photos for the capsule.
By the age of 16, Gavin Watson amassed more than 10,000 photos of the racially inclusive, working class Skinheads and council estate residents of High Wycombe, on the borders of Greater London. George Plemper was a South London school teacher documenting working class Britain through the eyes of his students. His work centred around London’s new town of Thamesmead – a brutalist social housing estate – and the everyday occurrences of the kids that lived there. Plemper’s extensive photographic record of late ’70s life was exhibited only once, in 1979, before being hidden away in shopping bags for almost three decades. Around 2007 his work started resurfacing on photo sharing sites like Flickr and other social media outlets.
Fred Perry has long been a touchstone of British subcultures, across style tribes and generations. This relationship meshes perfectly with the intimate photographs of Gavin Watson and George Plemper – who captured the unstudied style of a subculture that changed fashion. Put these influences in the hands of Raf Simons, who’s work has explored youth and subcultural identities since his very first collection, and this collection seems inevitable.
Shop the Fred Perry x Raf Simons collection now at fredperry.com.
