Stars on Carnaby Street 1965

From Swinging London's Fabulous Magazine 23/10/1965 a piece by Sheena McKay on starspotting around Carnaby Street. The beginnings of a new celebrity culture. 30 years before this type of piece would be full of Lords and Countesses. Sheena Mckay may or may not be the Booker shortlisted novelist...


 If the stars don't come to you, the next best thing is to go to them. And the best place to find them is about 11 o'clock in the morning while they're doing their shopping in London's Carnaby Street, the centre of all clothes lines. 
OOOH, smashin' a whole morning out of the office wandering round Carnaby Street with Fab photographer Fiona looking for groups looking for gear! What cooud be lovelier, eh?
There is only one place for a man to get the right sort of clothes - from the many little boutiques scattered in and around the narrow little lane just behind Regent Street. 
Pete Townshend walked into Lord John's boutique drinking a pint of milk which he'd borrowed from his manager's doorstep. He'd had no breakfast. Half a dozen assistants scuttled around pulling out different jumpers, coats and trousers for The Who to try on. Their efforts were rewarded as Pete left with thee pairs of trousers and a shirt, John with two pairs of trousers and two shirts, and Roger a three-quarter chorduroy coat, a crew necked sweater, an order for a suit made to measure and six pairs of special trousers. Over £100 - just like that! Keith Moon was in Bournemouth but I'm sure he'll make up for his absence next time he's in town. 

 Ayshea was downstairs in Lord John's trying on loads of sweaters but couldn't find anything she liked so she trotted down to John Stephen's largest boutique at the other end of the street and tried on some hats instead. It just wasn't her day and she didn't find anything she particularly liked. 
Outside John Stephen's store we ran into Graham Nash
, leader of those fab Hollies, besieged by autograph hunters. One enterprising young lady even photographed the seat of his pants! She wanted to get a picture of the Levi's label on Graham's white jeans. Some people! Graham was making up for his lack of breakfast by eating carrots, peaches and raw peas from Berwick Street Market just round the corner.    Just then Jimmy Tarbuck dashed past, yelled "Hello" to Graham who replied with "Congratulations on your new job" and kept on eating his carrots, etc. 
With John, Roger and Pete of The Who we trudged back down the street to a shoe shop, Topper, for John to try on some casual light coloured shoes. 
Just going into the shop when a car roared past - heads popped out of the windows and yelled to John - it was Jeff Beck and Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds with their manager. 
Autograph hunters converged on the three Who and two Yardbirds and we didn't see them for another ten minutes. Roger and Pete sneaked off and John dived into the shoe shop, arranging to meet all the Yardbirds in the boutique next door. 
Next door we found Keith Relf being fitted for a pair of dark grey trousers, Jim trying on a coat like the one Roger had just bought, Chris Dreja trying on several pairs of grey tight fitting trousers while Jeff and Sam just sat - watching and laughing. 
As this was where we came in, more or less, Graham and Ayshea staggered out laden with carrier bags which they'd collected from a sale at one of the boutiques. Graham couldn't resist looking at a shop called Gear which had a wonderful table that he fancied very much. Ayshea went for a specially bright red kettle. We thought they'd be browsing for hours so we left. 
Crossing the road I just happened to glance round and see John Stax and Dick Taylor of The Pretty Things at Pallisades Boutique accompanied by Kiki Dee. They were really having a ball, but by now Fiona and I were so tired with toting cameras and carrier bags that we just waved feebly and staggered down the road to the nearest tube station. Oh, to get back to the office and put our feet up!