DAVID CABARET

Dressing up was a secret pastime when David grew up. Inspired by the prevalent New Romantic scene, he would put on the slap and wrap himself in curtains behind the bathroom door, then wash it all off in the bath. Other growing lads would do naughtier things. Still, it wasn't long until his strict Catholic parents looked upon him as an embarrassment and asked him to leave the suburban home at the age of 17. Landing in a bedsit in North London felt a mite lonely and miserable. He didn't mind, as he could at last do what he wanted when he wanted. Training for 2 years to be a hairdresser for £40 a week wasn't exactly the best first step up the social ladder. On the other hand, teaching himself to sew pointed him in the right direction. By then, clubbing had taken over his life and getting up in the morning for work was understandably out of the question. David's first nocturnal steps took him to The Bell, the now legendary Kings Cross pub. Clubwise, Taboo had already closed down, so it had to be The Camden Palace (by then without Steve Strange) and more importantly Pyramid (Wednesdays at Heaven). There was also The Mix, the fabulous Saturday all-nighter at The Scala (where I used to DJ). Then came Ascension, Anarchy, Amen and Roma, all enticing late '80s' nightspots. By the turn of the '90s, David had become some sort of clubland icon, thanks to the quite stunning looks he constantly worked. Fresh in people's memory are a yellow spiky canary, the infamous Blue Lady by Russian artist Tretchikoff, as well as the Mae West/Liechtenstein pop art look borrowed from Myra Breckinridge. Equally impressive were the Warhol-Marilyn look, in cerise pink foundation, bright yellow wig and the Seven Year Itch dress, not forgetting the more austere Queen Elizabeth incarnation. Then also the totally mental 'bumps' looks that David became synonymous with. Working as a 'stitch bitch', as he puts it, became a full-time occupation in the mid '90s. He got on the right track collaborating with Leigh Bowery and Nicola for the Michael Clark shows and with Pearl making corsets for Thierry Mugler, Galliano and Alexander McQueen. Moreover, designing with Dean Bright for the Erasure tours kept Cabaret on his toes. Also of note was costume-making with Mike Nichols for Taboo the Musical, as the pair painstakingly recreated all the original iconic '80s looks. David has carved an impressive career in movie costumes for himself, but he's stopped dressing up since the days of Matthew Glamorre's Smashing, the last club he patronized seriously. He feels that times have changed and he just doesn't have the time to sew for himself anymore. Still, he kept all the outfits in the loft, so a revival could always be on the horizon.