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King's Road, London

The King's Road in the Chelsea area of London was originally a private route used by Charles II to travel from London to his palace at Kew. It remained a route reserved for royal use until 1830. The King's Road is now most famous for its clothes shops, and particularly for its connections with fashion movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Coincidentally, fashion as we know it today has important roots during the reign of Charles II. Until the sixteenth century there was general resistance to people copying the fashions of society's leaders. Indeed laws were often in place to keep the clothing of royalty exclusive. But this changed in the seventeenth century. In October 1666 Charles decided to create a fashion that would make him distinctive. He chose a Persian inspired coat, over a long vest. In previous ages Charles's royal look would probably have been protected by law, but in this new age people started copying the royal outfit. We wear the descendents of Charles II's coat and long vest today, in the shape of an overcoat and a waistcoat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World's End - Vivienne Westwood's shop in the King's Road

Charles would have been pleased that his former royal road is now linked so strongly with fashion. In the 1960s there were many independent clothing designers selling their clothes in the King's Road. Mary Quant opened her first shop, Bazaar here in 1955. In the 1970s Vivienne Westwood, a frustrated school teacher, and her husband Malcolm McLaren, with a background in the East End clothing trade, opened a series of shops in the King's Road, starting with Let It Rock in 1971, Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die in 1973, SEX in 1974, and Seditionaries in 1976. Westwood and McLaren are famous for supplying punk fashions in the mid 1970s. As of 2010 Vivienne Westwood's shop World's End continues to trade in the King's Road. Don't expect to get in for a casual look round though. The door is locked and there's a doorbell. Punk seemed to reject fashion as an aspirational activity, where people would look at what Charles II was wearing and want to wear it to. Punk with its ripped clothes and accessories made from safety pins and razor blades aggressively rejected such notions. But aspiration is a powerful force, on which the entire edifice of fashion is actually built. Unsurprisingly a one time punk designer became as exclusive as the royalty that once used the King's Road as their own private route.

Although the amateurs and independents of the 1960s are not as much in evidence as they were, the King's Road is still a great place to go clothes shopping, with dozens of clothes and accessory shops.

The King's Road area also has links with popular music. In the 1960s it was home to members of the Rolling Stones. They would often use the Chelsea Drugstore, a combined pharmacy and record store, with a soda fountain on the second floor. The Chelsea Drugstore is mentioned in the Rolling Stones song You Can't Always Get What You Want. Sadly the Chelsea Drugstore, as of 2010, is a McDonalds restaurant. Another icon of the 1960s, Ian Fleming's character James Bond, lived in a square off the King's Road.

 

 

 

 

Shirts on display in a King's Road boutique

 

 

Directions: There is an Underground station at Sloane Square at the eastern end of the King's Road. Sloane Square is on the District and Circle lines, one stop away from Victoria mainline station. You could also take the river bus to Chelsea pier which is close to the eastern end of the King's Road. Click here for an interactive map centred on the King's Road.

 

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