Whilst the idea of Liam Gallagher
designing a line of clothes and being seen as some sort of style icon struck me
as being about as appropriate as Wayne Rooney opening an institute for the
study of molecular biology (or, indeed, as appropriate as Liam Gallagher
opening an institute for the study of molecular biology) I did actually go into
his boutique, Pretty Green, once. But with justification: there was an
exhibition about the Who’s Quadrophenia taking place downstairs.
But as soon as I’d got in there, I was
struck by something profoundly odd: everyone working in there (or at least all
the men) seemed to be Liam Gallagher clones; it appeared that the chief requirement
of anyone seeking employment there was to already hold him up as the greatest
style icon the world has ever known, so monkey-style basin haircuts and
predictable mod clothing were the order of the day.
I was quite surprised by this; did
Liam really insist that anyone in his shop had to ape his sense of style? Or
were they given makeovers upon being recruited? Or was it a ‘Boys from Brazil’
type cloning experiment, where Liam Gallagher had undertaken scientific
research (probably with quite a lot of help) to breed a new generation of
Mini-Mes to help staff his shop?
Startled, I rushed straight down to
the exhibition and although I haven’t been back since I do walk by
occasionally. It’s changed now, and there’s a slightly different range of
people working in there, not all of whom look like Liam Gallagher. Still, I
like the idea of shops where you have to dress or act the same as its founder
or designer. For example, Virgin Megastores could have insisted their workers
sported a beard and wore a chunky sweater. Or if The Kooples do another
collaboration with Pete Doherty they can insist that none of their shop
assistants report for work until they’re so drugged up to the eyeballs that
they can barely stand.
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