The Brighton Contingent
By
Simon Webster Hair
The Brighton Contingent is Simon Webster Hair’s most recent collection, shot in March during the raising anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic and just days before the UK lockdown; the last blowout before this group of musicians, musos, artists, and agitators went their separate ways.
Inspired by The Bromley Contingent, a crew of creative teens who listened to Roxy Music, borrowed ideas from Bowie, and became the entourage that followed the Sex Pistols in the 70s, helping to popularize the fashion of the UK punk movement.
They customized their clothes and style, appropriating design and iconography, ripping up and remaking, making beautiful-ugly a cultural movement that dominated its era. And with it, characters like Billy Idol, Sioxsie Sioux, and Soo Catwoman revolutionized social groups, impacted politics, and shifted public opinion.
Times of unrest and upheaval resonate through art, music, and fashion. They provoke reinvention and innovation, defiance and energy, creativity and change.
This is the Brighton Contingent…