A new exhibition looks at how the legendary London club spawned acts such as Spandau Ballet and Boy George – but also provided a petri dish for fashion and style to grow
F
or a nightclub that existed for less than 18 months, the Blitz – which opened at 4 Great Queen Street in Covent Garden, London, in February 1979 and closed in October 1980 – had an outside influence on UK culture.
Set up by scenester Rusty Egan and aspiring pop star Steve Strange, who went on to have a Top 10 hit, Fade to Grey, with his band Visage, the Tuesday night party in a 200-person capacity space swiftly became the place to be seen if you were young, cool or creative. Famously, it spawned era-defining pop stars including Spandau Ballet, Sade and Boy George. Equally, though, fashion was central to its success.
A new exhibition at the Design Museum, Blitz: the Club That Shaped the 80s, attempts to unpack its cultural and sartorial history, featuring clothing, photography, magazines and even an Instagram-friendly recreation of the bar complete with beer bottles and a projection of Egan “playing” music.
