Dandie Fashions or sometimes referred to as Dandy Fashions was a London fashion boutique founded in 1966. The boutique was established following a chance encounter at the

Speakeasy Club The Speakeasy Club, also known as The Speak, was a club situated at 48 Margaret Street, London, England, and was a popular late-night meeting place for the music industry from 1966 to June 1978. The club took its name and theme from the speakeas ...

between

Freddie Hornik Alfred Charles Walter "Freddie" Hornik (19 January 1944 – 19 February 2009) was a Czech-born British fashion entrepreneur who bought the ailing Chelsea boutique Granny Takes a Trip at 488 Kings Road in 1969, and transformed it into a leading ...

and

Alan Holston Alan Holston was a British fashion entrepreneur, one of the co-founders of Dandie Fashions, a Chelsea, London, Chelsea boutique that was a key part of Swinging London. Career In 1966, following a chance encounter at the Speakeasy Club with Freddie ...

. They later teamed up with Australian

John Crittle Kenneth Malcolm John Crittle (15 December 1943 – 2 May 2000) was an Australian fashion designer and retailer, a co-founder of Dandie Fashions in 1966. Early life Kenneth Malcolm John Crittle was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. H ...

, the Guinness heir

Tara Browne Tara Browne (4 March 1945 – 18 December 1966) was an Irish socialite and heir to a part of the Guinness fortune. His December 1966 death in a car crash was referenced in the Beatles' song " A Day in the Life". Early life Browne was the yo ...

and Neil Winterbotham to launch the new business. Dandie Fashions opened its shop at 161

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

, Chelsea in October 1966. Prior to this, John Crittle had worked for

Michael Rainey Michael Sean O'Dare Rainey (21 January 1941 – 29 January 2017) was an Australian-born British fashion designer, best known for his 1960s London boutique, '' Hung On You''. Early life He was the son of Sean Rainey and Joyce Marion Wallace (1923� ...

in his boutique '' Hung On You''. Crittle and Tara Browne wanted to create a retail outlet for their new tailoring company, ''Foster and Tara''. However, in December 1966, tragedy struck when Browne died in a car crash, while he was on his way to discuss shop front designs with the graphic artist David Vaughan. Following Browne's death, Crittle bought his share of the business. In 1967,

Amanda Lear Amanda Lear (; born 18 June or 18 November 1939 or 1941 or 1946 or 1950) is a French singer, songwriter, painter, television presenter, actress and former model. She began her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s and went on ...

was arrested at the boutique for possession of drugs belonging to

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

. Five months after opening their

Apple Boutique The Apple Boutique was a retail store located in a building on the corner of Baker Street and Paddington Street, Marylebone, London. It opened on 7 December 1967 and closed on 31 July 1968. The shop was one of the first business ventures by th ...

on Baker Street (which ran from 7 December 1967 to 30 July 1968),

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

invested in Dandie Fashion, renaming it ''Apple Tailoring (Civil & Theatric)''. The band was attracted to King's Road by the presence of the clothing boutiques Dandie, along with ''

Granny Takes a Trip Granny is a term and nickname for a grandmother, a female grandparent Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexu ...

'' and '' Hung On You''. Apple Tailoring opened at the same 161 King's Road premises as Dandie on 23 May 1968, with Neil Aspinall and Apple's accountant Stephen Maltz serving as directors. John Lennon and George Harrison attended the launch party. However, it never made a profit and closed some months later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dandie Fashions Clothing retailers of England Clothing companies of England Clothing companies based in London Shops in London 1960s fashion Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom King's Road, Chelsea, London