In 1985, the esoteric art monster known as Leigh Bowery inaugurated a new club night at disco bar, Maximus, in Leicester Square. It lasted about a year and a half. But during that year and a half, the club night, known as Taboo, became the only place to be seen in London past midnight.

The legacy of Taboo far exceeds the relatively short time that it existed. It became a haunt for every slightly strange club kid who trekked to London for their first experience of true freedom. George Michael, Judy Blame, Princess Julia, and Michael Clark were all regulars. Boy George even wrote a whole musical about it in the early 2000s. Now, the legacy of the legendary club night is the basis for a new exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum.

Titled Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London, the exhibition is the first to explore the range of designers and creatives associated with Taboo, many of whom have been forgotten or died tragically young. Aiming to “bring to light a creative community of people who together influenced and changed the landscape of British popular culture in the mid-1980s,” the exhibition will feature several outfits that all made their debuts on Taboo’s dance floor, along with recreations of the squat where Leigh Bowery lived, and the legendary dancefloor itself.

Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London will run at the Fashion and Textile Museum from 4th October 2024 until 9th March 2025