If you’re into your punk music, or have been a punk at one point in your life, you’re bound to know about the 100 Club. Buried in the underbelly of London’s Oxford Circus, this basement bar has played host to some of the genre’s most seminal bands. From The Clash and the Sex Pistols, to Siouxsie and the Banshees, these hallowed halls were a breeding ground for punk history in the making.
Celebrating the club’s 75-year history, Fred Perry has teamed up with publishing house Ditto to release a book packed with anecdotal stories from the musicians who have played there, the bar staff who pulled the pints and the punks who flocked to the venue weekly to see their favourite bands throughout the 1970s.
Packed with diary entries and scrapbooks, 100 Club Stories is a fantastic insight into those days when punks ruled the streets of Soho, as told by the people who lived it. The book is so good, in fact, that menswear titan Raf Simons decided to use its pages to decorate his latest Fred Perry collab.
Continuing his on-going exploration of British subculture, Simons has darted the classic Fred Perry pique polo shirt with digitally printed scans from inside the book, detachable with a special edition Raf Simons-branded pin. There are a series of standout pieces, including oversized shirts, heavy overcoats and khaki parkas with removable fleece lining. Get your dad’s favourite Buzzcocks records down from the loft, punk’s truly not dead.
Fred Perry x Raf Simons is available online and in select stores September 17.
