Talk:Sheridan Barnett

Gaps to fill in

I'd be really grateful for any input about Sheridan Barnett – clearly hugely influential in his day and described by Sheilagh Brown as 'iconic' in the film made for the Design Museum. Note that there is some vagueness about Quorum and the way in which the solo and joint labels all worked – I put this down in part to it being the early 1970s when people were a bit more relaxed about stuff, but Vogue confirmed that Quorum closed in 1975. The Jan 1976 Vogue cover (Sheridan Barnett for Quorum) shown as an external link does not contradict this, as magazines work with a three month (typically) lead time. Back to Sheridan Barnett, it would be useful if we could infill any further biographical or career information. A picture would be marvellous! Libby norman (talk) 10:48, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure Quorum was still knocking about in the late 1970s. Vogue is not always the most reliable source for such things - it probably just means Quorum stopped being hip in 1975. Mabalu (talk) 10:53, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

Agree it's not always the most solid source – a bit more digging required. The Sheilagh Brown film is useful but doesn't shed much light. It seeems everything surrounding Quorum is rather vague (something to do with the times I suppose!). Would be useful to get more background...maybe Quorum needs its own page at some point? Libby norman (talk) 11:05, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

Further ref would appear to substantiate a 1975 closure – this one from Fashion Institute of Technology (Museum) in NYC – and I've added in the source. Will keep checking as myths often get repeated. Libby norman (talk) 12:20, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

Actually I'm not so sure on that either. I've seen quite a few Quorum labels done with the same style of REALLY distinctive label as Radley dresses from the late 70s/early 80s so I really doubt they closed in 1975. It's extremely possible, I guess, that the SHOP closed, but the label continued in production for a while longer, probably sold through outlets/boutiques. Mabalu (talk) 14:09, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

That sounds quite likely – from what I've read, Alfred Radley maintained rights to the Quorum name and was associated with Ossie Clark after the height of his design career. There's some quite interesting material on the attempted relaunch of the Ossie Clark brand in the 2000s. There was also some kind of attempt to take things more mainstream in the 1970s (ie diffusion lines). Happy to amend the page to say closure of the boutique in 1975 or take it out altogether if you think it's suspect info that needs further clarification. It's not cental to the Barnett piece. Libby norman (talk) 13:53, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

I am actually a bit of an expert on this area/era. The diffusion line was Ossie Clark for Radley in 1969, which continued until about 1976 when Ossie and Radley went separate ways - Alice Pollock also did a diffusion line for Radley but that was much more short lived, probably only 1969-71 or thereabouts. The trouble with a lot of these designers is that while they were very influential, as you've noted the records weren't really well kept in many cases... Mabalu (talk) 14:09, 7 August 2014 (UTC)