About the Author

Derek Ridgers is an English photographer with a career spanning over thirty years. He is best known for his photography of music, film and club/ street culture - photographing everyone from James Brown to The Spice Girls, from Clint Eastwood to Johnny Depp - as well as photographing politicians (Tony Blair), gangsters ('Mad' Frankie Fraser), artists (Julian Schnabel), writers (Martin Amis), fashion designers (Vivien Westwood) and sportsmen (Tiger Woods). He has also photographed famous and sometimes influential British social scenes such as skinhead, fetish, club, punk and the New Romantics. Derek Ridgers's work has been exhibited internationally since the seventies in cities as far ranging as London, Paris, Moscow, Adelaide and Los Angeles, and in venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Museum of Modern Art, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Museum of London, Britart Gallery, Selfridges and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Reviews

In his new art book, Ridgers intimately documents the confluence of creativity born of the late-'70s/early-'80s London club scene of punks, new romantics, and skinheads--armed with safety pins and eyeliner--who took to the night to revel in its freedom and defy the drab conventions of the waking hours.-- "OUT Magazine"

In 1976, when, at the age of 26, Derek Ridgers began photographing London youth culture, he thought that he was far too old to participate in the scene. Despite his supposed dotage, though, he went on to spend the next decade haunting clubs with names like Billy's and the Blitz, capturing the madly creative fashion wonderland blossoming after dark.--L.Y. "Vogue"

These photographs captured across the span of ten years bridge the extremities of youth-culture; from punk through to the brith of acid house. The pictures serve not only as a fascinating document of UK style and culture but as a testament to the spirit of youth, lauding the subjects and their individuality. This book offers us the chance to see the changing faces of fashion, music and culture through individuals and influential social scenes in a time of DIY attitudes.--Alex Nicholson "Juxtapoz"