Michael Fish (fashion designer)

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Michael Fish is a British fashion designer^[1] famous for designing many of the notable British looks of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the kipper tie.^[2]

[edit] Career as fashion designer

Fish apprenticed in shirtmaking, and by the early 1960s was designing shirts at prominent design boutique Turnbull & Asser of Jermyn Street. His designs reflected (and to some extent brought on) the "Peacock Revolution" in men's fashion design, which was a reaction against the dull conservatism of men's dress. His shirts were floral in pattern and often included ruffles and other adornments.^[3] By the mid 1960s he had opened his own boutique in Picadilly, Mr. Fish, on Clifford Street.^[4] Fish became known for designing flamboyant, attention-getting clothing for notable celebrities of the 1960s and 1970s such as The Rolling Stones^[5] and David Bowie^[6] .

Fish's designs set fashion trends, one example being the polo neck sweater look which proved a major success in New York and London in the winter of 1967.^[7] Perhaps the most controversial of Fish's designs was the "dress" designed to be worn by men, which was occasionally worn on stage by such rock stars as David Bowie and Mick Jagger.^[8]

[edit] Film work

Fish's designs could be seen in films in the mid 1960s to early 1970s as well, such as in Modesty Blaise, in which Terence Stamp wore Fish's fashions, and in Performance, in which Mick Jagger wears one of Fish's man's dresses.^[9] Fish was credited as a costume designer for the successful Peter Sellers film There's a Girl in My Soup.^[10]

[edit] References