Tommy Roberts (born Thomas Steven Roberts February 6, 1942) is an English design and fashion entrepreneur who has operated several prominent British retail outlets, including the pop-art boutique Mr Freedom and 1980s homewares store Practical Styling.
With commissioned designs in the Victoria & Albert Museum's permanent collection, Roberts was the first fashion business executive to license images from Walt Disney Co (in 1969) and the first fashion retailer to establish an outlet in London's Covent Garden (in 1972).[1]
Roberts has many music business connections: Mick Jagger wore Roberts designs onstage at the Rolling Stones performance at Altamont Speedway in 1969; Elton John wore Mr Freedom clothes for his breakthrough appearances in the US in 1970; and David Bowie wore suits from Roberts' store City Lights Studio in the mid 70s. During this period, Roberts was the manager of the pub-rock group Kilburn & the High Roads, fronted by the late Ian Dury.
Latterly, through his central London outlet Tom-Tom (in the 90s) and his son Keith's shop Two Columbia Road, Roberts has promoted sales of collectibles, artefacts and furniture, particularly of the mid-century modern variety.
Contents |
Roberts was raised in Forest Hill and Deptford, south-east London. In the late 50s he attended Goldsmith's art college and in the early 60s operated espresso bars while collecting antiques and vintage clothing.
In 1966 Roberts’ opened the boutique Kleptomania in Kingly Street, parallel with Carnaby Street in the centre of Swinging London. Selling Victoriana and military-wear, his customers included Jimi Hendrix and The Who. His associates included John Paul of I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet and Trevor Myles. In 1967 a branch of Kleptomania opened in Carnaby Street.
In 1969, Roberts acquired the lease of 430 King’s Road in World’s End, Chelsea from Michael Rainey and Jane Ormsby-Gore, who had operated the store as Hung On You.[2]
With Myles, Roberts developed a Pop Art concept [3] using bright colours and tongue-in-cheek designs by young talents including Dinah Adams, Diana Crawshaw, Pamla Motown,[4] Jim O'Connor and Chris Snow. The shop manager was the colourful Gerald Tilling. Of similar stature to Roberts, the pair sometimes dressed identically to add to the store's showmanship.
The name of the store was taken from William Klein's film Mr Freedom and the interior was given a neon fit-out by design collective Electric Colour Company.
Mr Freedom stocked such items as slogan t-shirts, velvet hot-pants, jersey maxi-dresses, dungarees, accessories and notably O'Connor's winged shoes, as worn by Elton John. These and other items from this period are in the V&A’s permanent collection, while the playful designs impressed such visitors to the store as the designer Yohji Yamamoto.
With backing from John Paul, Roberts shifted Mr Freedom in December 1970 to a four-storey outlet in neighbouring Kensington Church Street. This mini-department store continued to sell comic-strip clothes along with kitsch homewares, pop furniture designed by Jon Wealleans and Michael Haynes and textiles by Jane Wealleans and others. In the basement was a restaurant/diner called Mr Feed’Em. This served food in dyed colours, and was designed by Wealleans with letterhead, menu and graphics by George Hardie.[5]
Trevor Myles departed after four months and returned to 430 King's Road where he opened Paradise Garage in May 1971.
Mr Feed ‘Em was the subject of a feature in the July 1971 issue of Design magazine ( "Waiter! There's a Pop movement in my soup!" [6]) and Cecil Beaton featured Mr Freedom garments in the same year's V&A exhibition Fashion: An Anthology.[7]
Later Roberts played a key role in Vivienne Westwood’s story when he provided advice and a lawyer after she and Malcolm McLaren had taken over Paradise Garage from Myles and occupied 430 King’s Road, the premises from which she continues to operate her boutique Worlds End 40 years later.[8]
Mr Freedom closed in summer 1972. Roberts dissolved his partnership with John Paul and became the first fashion retailer to open in London's fruit and veg market Covent Garden with City Lights Studio (with new partner Willy Daly) in November 1972.
This contrasted with the Mr Freedom aesthetic by adopting fine tailoring - with menswear designed by Derek Morton - and sombre colours. Among customers was David Bowie, who wore City Lights suits on the sleeves of his 1973 album Pin-Ups [9] and 1975's David Live.
When City Lights closed in 1974, Roberts made the links between fashion and music overt by managing Ian Dury’s eccentric art-rock band Kilburn & The High Roads, providing the model for Malcolm McLaren to manage musicians such as the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols within a couple of years.
In 1975 Roberts moved into private art and design dealing and collecting on behalf of himself and celebrity clients.
In 1981 Roberts opened home-wares and furniture outlet Practical Styling with partner Paul Jones off Tottenham Court Road in London's West End.
Identified as pioneering "hi-tech" design, this caught the post-modern spirit of the times as exemplified by Memphis Group and fused it with British kitsch and American hardware, selling day-glo coloured metal dustbins, diner crockery, luncheonette fittings and rolls of carousel flooring as well as yellow/black vinyl stools, palette-shaped coffee tables and plastic poodle lamps.[10]
In the 90s Roberts moved into original art and design collectibles with the store Tom-Tom,[11] where he pioneered interest in furniture from the past, in particular those of the mid-century modern era. He also dipped his toe back into fashion with collaborations with the London fashion label Maharishi and streetwear guru Michael Kopleman.
In the early 00s Roberts' son Keith opened Two Columbia Road in Shoreditch,on the corner of London's weekly flower market. This is an international shopping destination for furniture and all manner of artefacts.
Designs sold through Roberts' boutiques - in particular Mr Freedom - are highly collectible and feature in contemporary design auctions such as Christie's 2008 sale Resurrection: Avant Garde Fashion.[12] Marc Bolan's Mr Freedom jacket was featured in Christie's popular culture/entertainment sale of June 2011.[13]
In 1990 the French-born Los Angeles-based Christophe Loiron launched vintage clothing business Mister Freedom. That the name was a tribute to Roberts' boutiques rather than the film was made explicit by displays of original Mr Freedom garments in his retail outlet in West Hollywood.[14]
Roberts resides on England's south coast where he continues to collect art, writes and paints.
A book about Roberts' life and career is being written by Paul Gorman for publication spring 2012.
Gorman features Roberts' reminiscences and anecdotes on his website.[15]