The Many Looks of John Lennon

Like many people, I'm a big fan of the BBC TV show A Life in Ten Pictures. It's always fascinating to watch how people evolve, especially those in the public eye. A Life in Ten Pictures: Lennon was one of the most popular episodes, for a good reason. We all still love and miss John, even some four decades after he was cruelly taken from us too soon.

 

People in my life understand I was lucky enough to be friends with John, so whenever there's a rerun of A Life in Ten Pictures Lennon enthusiasts get in touch and ask me to share some of my memories. The most frequent question I get asked, especially by those that know that I am a fashion designer, is, "how would you have derived John Lennon's style?" The answer to that question is always, "it depends when you mean."

 

You see, John was the embodiment of a fashion chameleon. That's probably why he remains regarded as a style icon within the realms of male sartorial correctness. John Lennon never stuck with the same image long enough for it to become unfashionable. As he grew and changed as a human being, so did his appearance and wardrobe.

 

When John and I first met as teenagers at the Liverpool College of Art, he was rocking a Teddy Boy look. Bear in mind that this was the late 1950s, so he was pretty much on point with the fashion of the time! I sketched John back then – you can see this on my webshop under the banner "My Buddy John." The title came from the fact that he wore Buddy Holly glasses!

 

However, as is evident to anyone watching A Life in Ten Pictures, Lennon changed up his look quite regularly. After the Buddy Holly years came the cheeky-chappy mop-top look that he sported with the rest of The Beatles. I will never forget John's look from the Help! era, with his iconic leather Baker boy cap – and not just because I designed that headwear and had to make constant replacements as it kept getting stolen by fans! 

 

Many of us will associate John Lennon with his appearance later in life. The round glasses, the long hair, and talisman of the Sargent Pepper era, or the shaggy hair of his solo years. That's the beauty of John Lennon and the Life in Ten Pictures concept. John crammed so many lives into his 40 years that he constantly changed and kept us all guessing as to what his next move would be.