Robert Elms, the gent who began his career by writing the suitably poetic liner notes to “Journeys To Glory” by Spandau Ballet, will be at the Design Museum in London. The museum is currently hosting a must-see exhibition “Blitz: The Club That Shaped The 80s” which started on Sept. 20th and will continue through March 29th, 2026.

ROBERT ELMS BLITZ DISCUSSION

We are continually entranced by the confluence of music, art, design, fashion, and media that spawned this scene that still inspires new generations of Club Kids to make something of themselves in the face of cultural indifference. Robert Elms has had a distinguished career as a writer and broadcaster after being one of those Club Kids in the late 70s who were drawn to this magnet for misfits that began as Bowie Nights at Billy’s in Soho and quickly blossomed into its proper pomp as The Blitz Club on a formerly dead Tuesday night in Covent Garden.

Mr. Elms will be attending a separate speaking event at The Design Museum this Thursday, November 27th from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. with Museum Director Tim Marlowe in conversation as they discuss the the book by Elms, “Blitz: The Club That Created The 80s.” There will be a signing afterward of the book and I have to admit that my circumscribed music library is whispering in my ear that I should probably have a copy of this tome in it. Tickets for the event [if available] are £12.00/students £11.00. DJ hit that button!

ROBERT ELMS BOOK – BLITZ: THE CLUB THAT CREATED THE 80S

Sporting a Steve Strange cover photo, and very proper Eurostile Bold Extended text, the book was published in the UK in September to coincide with the opening of the exhibit of the same title. I have a couple of crucial New Romantic books, and a handful of “New Sounds New Styles” magazine which were obtained at great cost 30 years or more ago, but with all due respect to the earlier efforts, this really does look like the New Romantic scene book that I have been audibly pining for as written by one of the movement’s linchpins.

The movement can almost be seen as the moment that post modernism became a part of British youth culture, with Edwardian dandies rubbing shoulder pads with astronauts and gender benders. It looked forward and backward at the same time, allowing everything as inspiration and sought to stand apart from the mainstream in any fashion that it could. Exactly what the generation raised on Roxy Music and David Bowie should have achieved.

That this small club could be a flashpoint for so many creators in the worlds of fashion, music, and art in what was a run of less than two years is a staggering authentication of its potency. Bands who were birthed there like Visage and Spandau Ballet were soon climbing the charts. And if their cloak room attendant [Mr. George O’Dowd, to you] could sell 50 million records worldwide, it wasn’t just something in the water.

The book is definitely available in the UK currently and it looks to be crossing the pond to America in the new year judging from US booksellers. It’s priced sensibly to read without heavy white gloves, even though it is literally about the art of parties. Blitz Night was a working-class party that eventually crashed the penthouses from its beginnings at street-level. The Design Museum is currently offering the book in its online shop for an agreeable £20.00/$27.00. so DJ hit that button.

BLITZ: THE CLUB THAT CREATED THE 80S EXHIBITION

For anyone in the UK reading this posting within spitting distance from London, the actual exhibition at The Design Museum must be New-Romantic catnip of the highest order. Especially as it is built around an artistic re-creation of the actual club itself to allow visitors to get a feel for how that the environment could have felt like in an immersive fashion. With video projections and a virtual Rusty Egan in residence adding to the ambience.

The required array of cultural artifacts that fed into the New Romantic movement are also exhibited. Posters from proto-New-Ro cinematic touchstones like Fosse’s “Cabaret,” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” and “The Night Porter” make their impressions felt here. As did the array of magazines, artworks, fashions, and of course, the records that flowed from the movement.

The call went out to all of the Blitz Kids who then provided the artifacts on display here. Many had not been publicly displayed in the better part of 40 years. With many items having been rediscovered for the curation of this show. Stephen Jones provided his design sketches for the millinery empire that grew out a space in Helen Robinson’s New-Ro fashion shop PX following seed money planted by Steve Strange himself.

The exhibition is open through March 29th, 2026 at the following hours.

• M-TR: 10-5
• F: 10-6
• S: 10-8 [Blitz exhibition only open past 6]

Tickets are available online and for visitors on Thursdays who break out their fashion finery to attend in their best New Romantic garb there is a discount code “BLITZBESTDRESSEDTHURSDAYS” which will see their online tickets are priced at a 20% discount. Surely anyone reading this would take pains not to attend in a t-shirt and Crocs®, yes? DJs hit that button!

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