John Sutcliffe (died 1987) was a British fetish clothing designer and publisher of the fetish magazine '' AtomAge''. In the 1950s he was divorced because his feelings about leather had led to him being diagnosed as mentally ill and treatment failed to change him. He began his AtomAge fetish clothing business in 1957, registering it as a “manufacturer of weatherproofs for lady pillion riders”. He was an influence on the leather catsuits worn by Emma Peel in '' The Avengers'', and created the leather catsuit worn by

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...

in the 1968 film '' The Girl on a Motorcycle''. Sutcliffe published '' AtomAge'' magazine, a fetish magazine that was an offshoot of his fetish clothing business. The magazine has been called the "underground bible of leather, rubber and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

fetish wear throughout the 1970s" and documented Britain's S/M scene. The first AtomAge clothing catalogue was published in 1965 and it expanded into a magazine in 1972. The magazine ended in 1980. Sutcliffe's work helped inspire Sex, a

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

run by Vivienne Westwood and her then-partner Malcolm McLaren at 430 King's Road, London between 1974 and 1976, which specialized in clothing that defined the look of the punk movement. In 1982 Sutcliffe published a novel by Jim Dickson called ''The Story Of Gerda'', about bondage and fetishism. A copy of it was sent to the police, and to keep from being prosecuted Sutcliffe agreed to have all stock and AtomAge magazine plates destroyed. He created a sewing needle for

that improved the ability to stitch and work that material, and a method for attaching a muslin-type fabric to

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

, which after that could be securely sewn. He also created a sewing machine specifically for leather and asked

Singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

to manufacture it, but as remembered by his friend Robert Henley, "Singer were so horrified, they called the police."

Legacy

In 2023 he was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Atomage Magazine Appreciation Site
(A private, non-commercial site featuring the history and work of John Sutcliffe and his Atomage fetish clothing business)
Dressing For Pleasure, the book of Atomage imagery, history and readers letters

(in German) 1987 deaths British fashion designers Fetish clothing manufacturers Leather subculture Sexual fetishism Year of birth missing {{fashion-bio-stub

Legacy

Further reading

References

External links