Sign of the Times – Again?

me and Fiona photo by Nick Ensing

Savage girls in Ts mingling photo by me me me

Sign of the Times hall of fame photo by me me me

Flowers , all in the detail photo by me me me

Knickers , I think I watched to much Benny Hill in early years photo by me me me

Mr DJ Brandon Block , great name, great man photo by Nick Ensing

Smile photo by Nick Ensing

Sin ballroom , the venue , no more photo by Nick Ensing

“The time is right for a reunion” Fiona Cartledge said on the phone one Saturday afternoon last August. The founder of legendry Sign of The Times boutiques and parties from the early 90s. She told me how she had been asked by Backstage Sluts to revive the Sign of The Times club night again? How a group had been started on face book that had 300 members already. By a funny fashion coincidence I had been delving into the past myself. Relooking at my t shirt prints from the early 90s, and working towards reissuing classic prints, from back in the day, on ethical t-shirts - very today! It was all feeling fresh again and enough time had passed to remember the good bits about it all. Excitedly I offered my event dressing and design services that I had picked up from a stint of freelance event work in the early noughties.
From then on in, updates from Fiona about DJs, venues and old friends kept coming thick and fast. Everyone coming together for the first time in 12 years, all a little bit older wiser and maybe wilder? People flying in from all over the world just for the party! Then it dawned on me that all I could think about at weekends these days was Gardeners World on a Friday and the Antiques Road Show on a Sunday. Clubbing till dawn seemed a world away, how an earth was I going to reconnect with my club kid -inner child again?
The reunion design ideas started to flow, budget was mini and most people were involved for the love, so 90s. The venue was Sin on Tottenham court road, being demolished early this year, which added another level of nostalgia to it all. A shabby grand dame of a venue, the main ballroom (don’t you just love the word Ballroom, so elegant, not for long) had lots of mirrors in guilt frames that shouted out put a slogan on me misses! So swearing mirror slogans it was, bl**dy beautiful and f***king fantastic, (thanks Little G Printing) feel good factor was cranked up. The ballroom had fab chandeliers’ and don’t ask me why but I had always wanted to style chandeliers’ with knickers as if they had been slung off all around the room. A nod to the brilliant burlesque acts performing on the night, arranged by Debora Deluxe (who was a trooper helping with the decor) of Peek-a-boo. The entrance walls where pasted with photos from the face book page like a clubbing hall of fame. At the top of the entrance stairs My “Seen It All Before “print seemed apt on a large poster greeting the returning ravers. The staff were dressed in Savage reissue t-shirts It was great to see them in that environment again after all this time.
On the party night, 29th November the club was full of 700 people majority over 40 years old raving the night away. The new club kids came and commented on how friendly everybody was. I loved the mix of people young to old 25 -60, straight to gay and suburban to urban it was all going on. The DJs were fantastic and I was waving my hands in the air on the stage a lot to Mark Moore and shaking my bones to Don Letts. It was the type of club night you could walk around by yourself and make new friends and catch up with old ones. At times the catching up was overwhelming and there are still a handful of people I didn’t get to catch up with. The true success of this party is that it was a cool skool reunion not a friends reunited school and the crowd was up for it, big time. You should have seen the mass waving of blow up smiley flowers would have made your heart melt.
I left at 5pm (good going on 3 drinks all night) and Brandon block was still spinning until 7am. The coming year is looking gloomy so they say; expecting to see more of these feel good party reunions happening to ease the dullness. Fiona has already been badgered by the FB group into doing another party and I have just joined the Full Circle face book group. What the hell Gardener’s World can wait! I got catch up TV anyway.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22556207720&ref=ts
http://www.nickensing.com/