Oh Bondage Up Yours

This is to introduce the latest addition to the Bondage boot range, the Elevated Bondage Boot.

Altogether there have been 6 versions in it’s evolution starting with the ‘Seditionaries Boot’ first produced in 1976 & sold in the shop ‘Seditionaries’ (the previous incarnation of World’s End). At this time there were two styles to choose from. A pointed toed full leather version with studs at the front & the canvas & leather mix version which is the one which has evolved over the years to the present day.

My mother has told me that she designed the boot whilst the shop was closed for it’s refurbishment from ‘Sex’ into ‘Seditionaries’ in 1977 & that she had thought it was so good that she had gone to see Grace Coddington the photo editor of British Vogue to see if she was interested in doing a piece on them. Grace’s reaction had been one of disinterest & nothing was done with the boot but ironically my mother noticed that at the time of her visit Grace was wearing a copy of the mohair jumper she had designed for the shop ‘Sex’. Just confirming really how ‘behind’ ‘Vogue’ has always been.

Also she mentioned that the boot was being worn by Malcolm’s new project The Sex Pistols at this early stage, they therefore were among the first people to wear them.

I have had a look on the internet to find any old photos of people wearing these first boots & I discovered one of Johnny Thunders in ‘The Heartbreakers’ wearing a pair (The Heartbreakers had been a support group to the Sex Pistols on the Anarchy Tour in December 76. Johnny had been in the New York Dolls before this). Johnny is the one on the right (See photo).

The first time that the design was revised was about 10 years ago for the s/s2002 Nymphs collection when a high heeled version was made with moulded toes at the front. This was called the Bondage boot for the first time.

In 2005 for the autumn/winter Propaganda collection a version was made with a rounder toe & the (Battersea) Power Station heel. Then for the s/s 2011 collection a similar version was shown but this time it had a very high heel & was called the ‘Skyscrapper’.

Back to the present day & the new additions to be available in World’s End this week.

The Elevated Bondage Boot will be available in 3 different colour ways of the squiggle print. Brown leather with brown squiggle,brown leather with navy squiggle & white leather with red squiggle (although this colour way will be in the shop a bit later, in about 3 weeks). These will retail at £465.

The Bondage (toe) boot & the Seditionaries boot (flat sole) already available in black leather with grey, red, khaki & black canvas are to be joined by a new colour way based on the original 1977 boot, tan leather with green canvas. These retail at £375 for the Bondage Boot & £355 for the Seditionaries Boot.