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NOSTALGIA OF MUD
1982-1983
Westwood's horizons opened and expanded. With the help of McLaren, she devised new collections based on ethnic and primitive looks culled from National Geographic magazine. As McLaren put it: 'We want to get out of this island mentality, and relate ourselves to those taboos and magical things we believe we have lost.'
Their second collection was Savage (S/S 1982). It combined Native American patterns with leather frock coats, Foreign Legion hats worn back-to-front, 'petti-drawers' and shorts. Then came Nostalgia of Mud (A/W 1982), with its huge tattered skirts and sheepskin jackets in muddy colours. Punkature (S/S 1983) still had a raw feeling and an emphasis on pre-washed and over-printed natural fabrics. It played on the words 'punk' and 'couture', and carried images from Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner.
In March 1982, McLaren and Westwood opened a second shop. It was called Nostalgia of Mud and the fascia was covered by a world map. The interior was styled like an archaeological dig. Visitors descended on recycled scaffolding to an earth floor and a heaving 'mud' pond surrounded by voodoo-like artefacts. A V&A curator described the shop as 'astounding, totally unique in the retail world'.