Paul Gorman

Paul Gorman is a writer.

Journalism

From 1978, Gorman worked on weekly news for trade publications and in 1983 won the Periodical Publishers Association award for campaigning journalism for a series of investigative food industry articles. In 1990 was appointed west coast bureau chief of Screen International, based in Los Angeles.

Between 1993 and 1998, Gorman was contributing editor at Music Week, reporting on executives and artists such as Madonna's manager Freddy de Mann, Creation Records founder Alan McGee and U2 manager Paul McGuinness. Between 1994 and 1999, Gorman was contributing editor at Music Business International. During this time he contributed regularly to magazines such as Mojo and conducted the first published interview with the Spice Girls.^[1]

Gorman continues to contribute to magazines and newspapers includingGQ,^[2] the Daily Telegraph, Mojo and Vice.

Television/Film

In the mid-90s Gorman worked with production company Channel X on developing the trash culture TV series The Strip he created with partner David Knight for Channel 4.

In 1999 Gorman directed documentary Las Vegas Grind for Channel 4. This was hosted by Mexican-American artist El Vez, who Gorman subsequently signed to Alan McGee's record label Poptones, which released two El Vez albums and the single Feliz Navidad in the UK.

In 2012 Gorman produced and presented The Kings Road Music & Fashion Trail,^[3] a series of short films for Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea council on addresses which housed significant boutiques, including Mary Quant's Bazaar and Granny Takes a Trip.

Fashion

In 2008, Gorman launched fashion label The Look Presents through Topman with three collections based on artist and designers featured in The Look: T-shirts by Wonder Workshop; T-shirts by Granny Takes a Trip founder Nigel Waymouth; and Priceless – a menswear range by Antony Price, designer for Roxy Music and Duran Duran.

In 2011, Gorman collaborated with artists John & Molly Dove to present a special edition of their "Wild Thing" T-shirt, as worn by Marc Bolan and Sid Vicious.^[4]

Exhibitions/curating

In 2010 Gorman curated the exhibition Process: The Working Practices Of Barney Bubbles at London's Chelsea Space.^[5] The show attracted the largest attendance of any exhibition held at the gallery.^[6]

In 2011 Gorman consulted on, and sourced material for, the British exhibitions Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970–1990 ^[7] and Snap Crackle & Pop: British Pop Art Meets The High Street In The Swinging Sixties.^[8] In September 2011 Gorman staged a dedicated Barney Bubbles exhibit at Mindful of Art, a group show at London's Old Vic Tunnels.^[9]

In January 2012 Gorman curated the exhibition Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter, presenting the work of the London fashion retailer whose boutiques provided clothing for a variety of performers including Fred Astaire, George Michael, The Clash, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan.^[10]

Gorman consulted on and sourced material for British Design 1948–2012: Innovation in the Modern Age, which ran from March – August 2012 at the V&A.^[11]

In May/June 2012, Gorman curated The Past The Present & The Possible, a dedicated section presenting 300 artworks by Barney Bubbles as part of the group exhibition White Noise: Quand Le Graphisme Fait Du Bruit at Les Subsistances, Chaumont, Champagne Sud, France.^[12]

Gorman consulted on and sourced material for Glam! The Performance of Style, an exhibition about the visual, social and creative aspects of the 70s glam rock genre which opened at Tate Liverpool in February 2013^[13] and moved to Frankfurt's Schirn Kunsthalle in June 2013^[14] and Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz, Austria, from October 2013 to February 2014.^[15]

In August 2014, Gorman co-curated an exhibition about Malcolm McLaren's engagement in fashion with Young Kim of the Malcolm McLaren Estate. Staged as part of the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair, it was entitled Let It Rock: The Look Of Music The Sound Of Fashion.^[16] The exhibition was based around six sections dedicated to the retail outlets McLaren operated with Vivienne Westwood in the 1970s and 80s.^[17]

The exhibition received a positive response from the media. Financial Times fashion editor Charlie Porter noted "the hang of the garments is exceptional"^[18] while prominent style blogger Susie Bubble greeted the exhibition as "an incredibly detailed and well-put together overview specifically about McLaren's fusion of music and fashion".^[19]

In autumn 2014 Gorman was one of the curators of Art In Pop, an exhibition about the engagement between the worlds of art and popular music at the Centre National d'Art Contemporain gallery Magasin in Grenoble, France.^[20] Overseen by Magasin curator Yves Aupetitallot, Art In Pop included a large space curated by Gorman and Young Kim dedicated to McLaren's work and including clothing exhibits, a soundtrack and photographs of his student paintings executed in the late 60s. Marie France described it as "an invigorating exhibition not just to see but hear as well".^[21]

Plagiarism case against Vivienne Westwood, Ian Kelly and Picador

In October 2014, following the publication of the authorised biography Vivienne Westwood by the fashion designer and her co-author Ian Kelly, Gorman accused the authors and the publisher Picador of plagiarising substantial sections of material from his book The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion.^[22]

Gorman also described the Westwood biography as "sloppy" and "riddled with inaccuracies" and claimed it contained serious libels against two individuals, one of whom was pronounced to be dead by Westwood when in fact the individual was alive and practising as a therapist in west London.^[23]

Picador publisher Paul Baggaley told The Bookseller: “We always take very seriously any errors that are brought to our attention and, where appropriate, correct them." ^[24]

Books

• The Look: Adventures In Pop & Rock Fashion (Sanctuary Publishing 2001). Foreword by Malcolm McLaren.
• In Their Own Write: Adventures In The Music Press (Sanctuary 2001).Foreword by Charles Shaar Murray.
• Nine Lives with Goldie (Hodder & Stoughton 2002).^[25]
• Straight with Boy George (Century 2005).^[26]
• Blood & Fire: The Story Of UB40's Ali & Robin Campbell with Tim Abbot (Century 2005).
• The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion (Adelita 2006). Introduction by Paul Smith, foreword by Malcolm McLaren.
• Cry Salty Tears (Arrow Books 2007). Ghostwritten for Boy George's mother Dinah O'Dowd.
• Reasons to Be Cheerful: The Life & Work Of Barney Bubbles (Adelita 2008/second edition 2010).
• Mr Freedom: Tommy Roberts – British Design Hero (Adelita 2012). Foreword by Paul Smith.

"The Look: Adventures in Rock and Pop Fashion was named in the top ten fashion books of all time by The Independent.^[27]

Reasons to be Cheerful won Mojo magazine's Book of the Year in 2010.^[28]

Thames & Hudson is to publish Gorman's monograph of the British artist Derek Boshier in 2015. Entitled Derek Boshier: Rethink/Re-Entry^[29] it will be published in autumn 2015. Gorman's history of the style magazine The Face will also be published by Thames & Hudson, in spring 2016.^[30]

External links

• Paul Gorman Is blog
• Online home of the Barney Bubbles book
• The Look blog
• Accessed: 24 March 2008 Collected journalism at Rock's Back Pages

Notes