13.1
 jan 2002


king of clubs
K Savage (left, outside his Savage London store) creates 'T-shirts and clubwear for the connoisseur'. Celebrity wearers include Sophie Ellis Bextor (who wore a 'Peckham' tee the day she beat Posh to number One)

13.2
issue #4

During the early 80s Savage was attending university knuckling down hard for his phd in genetic engineering. but not happy with the virtues of the greedv commercial sector such as swallowing up all the timely research that he had slaved over Savage's 'leftie' mind set told him he had to get out of there. Sometime later from a Kilburn bedsit Savage started making apparel which he would sell at a stall in Camden Market alongside the likes of the then infant Body Shop. Scrimping and saving allowed Savage to set up shop in Covent Garden. After changing the name of his clothing company twice in fourteen years he has finally decided on Savage London.
Savage has worked for and supplied a varied assortment of personalities and stars over the years like Guns & Roses, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osborne, Mike Oldfield, Marc Almond, (the) Don King, Sinead 0'Connor, Iggy Pop, Dr Fox, Gail Porter, Mel B from Spice Girls, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Vic Reeves, Skunk Anansie, Apollo 440, Lenny Henry, Honeyz and the cast of Big Breakfast, Big Brother and East Enders over the past two decades. But Savage's latest design endeavour is what we're more interested with here.
Taking on the theme of 'UK Ghettos' you can now wear with pride your "hood turf or patch" emblazoned on the front of quality tshirts and hoodies. Already in the line are Angel, Brixton, Camden, Da Bush, Da Hill, Da Grove, Dalston, Hackney, Holloway, Hoxton, Soho and Peckham. If none of those appeal to you represent the wider area with a 'Norf', 'Souwf', West and East London or if you don't want to sport the 'Ghetto' line then you can choose to personalise your own garments choosing to have the location of your choice revealing the pride of your local neighbourhood.
How did the idea for the 'Ghetto' line come about?
"It's for the street culture. I'm very, very pro-London and pro-English in attitude not in a nationalist way because I'm not from here, my background is not 100% Anglo-Saxon but this is what I know and I always try and define London as a place where artistically and musically we are always ahead of everybody else out there. They might have the odd one over in America but we have shit loads of talent in this country who remain unknown half the time but are extremely valid.
So I figured we've got our own ghettos and you know the areas that I've used barring Peckham I've all lived in or worked from and squatted in, like Dalston, I used to squat in Dalston when I was at University. In Hackney I had a factory and I've now got a factory in Brixton, t live up the road from Brixton so I have a personal experience of these areas and they're some proper shit holes. I'd rather see London kids doing London things."
Who are the latest celebs to have sported the savage gear?
"Famous people that have been doing the Savage thing recently include Sophie Ellis Bextor and Kelis. The thing is it's consistent and it's not pretentious. It's like you get some of these skater shops trying so hard to be cool and it's not cool! We're not skaters, we're not surfers, we just like our music and our London life style. That seems to click because it works and then they come in, I don't know how or why they end up here and in our clothes."
When's usually the first time you spot someone famous sporting Savage?
"Normally it's a friend who calls me and says 'you're in Loaded' or 'you're in GQ' or 'you're in the Evening Standard'. I'm always the last one to know! So that shows I don't start off what I'm doing to get a hook on the press. I start off with what I'm doing and stick with that and if it pleases the press because it's a celebrity or whatever that's your game...nothing to do with me. The other thing that is important is unless they are specific mates of mine, celebrity wise, they do not get shit for free. If I don't know them but recognise their face I still won't give it to them for free... I mean they get paid a lot more money than I do!"
Go to www.savagelondon.com where you can see the entire range of Savage clothing and if you like you can purchase on-line (that includes the custom T's) or check out the official store in Newburgh Street (just of Carnaby Street) inthe West End. Failing that you can now buy the Savage product in most Top Shop/Top Man stores nationwide from now.

http://www.lexiconmag.co.uk/