The design icon who helped inspire a generation

Tributes have been paid to “legendary and iconic” fashion designer Patti Bell following her death.

With business partner Jane Kahn, Bell opened the Kahn & Bell boutique in Birmingham in 1976.

Together they created a style that would be at the centre of the punk and new romantic scene in the city and beyond.

In the 1980s, she was "probably the most important person in Birmingham” in terms of culture, said photographer Richard Davis, who, along with hundreds of others, frequented her shop on Hurst Street.

Songwriter and singer Maggie K de Monde said: “They would make absolutely brilliant, fantasy creations, and everybody used to flock to that shop.

“It was the place to hang out with the most wonderful characters, and Patti was always so warm, friendly and funny."

The clothes they produced were “exquisite”, she added.

“She dressed so many of the bands”.

Responsible for styling Duran Duran in the band's early days, Kahn and Bell went on to work with many other musicians.

“I was in two Birmingham bands that had chart success, Swans Way and Scarlet Fantastic... and I wore many of her clothes on TV shows and in fashion shoots," said Ms de Monde.

“Everybody got their clothes from there. They really were ahead of their time.”

Often seen at Birmingham's Rum Runner club, known as the birthplace of Duran Duran, "the party was always with Patti," she added.

“Half the people in there would be wearing Kahn & Bell designs," said Ms de Monde.

“People always used to say she was the Queen Bee of the Birmingham scene, and she had such a fantastic entourage, you know.

"They looked like a bunch of peacocks."

The music scene in the city at that time was “great”, she added, with bands such as UB40, Dexys and Steel Pulse "just hanging out together".

"And you know they were bleak times, there was the Thatcher regime and the Handsworth riots, but I think to fight against it people would just dress up," she said.

"It was just so exciting.”

• Birmingham-designed punk jacket up for auction
• Duran Duran nightclub the Rum Runner to get blue plaque honour
• Exhibition traces history of Birmingham drag queen Twiggy

The musician’s late brother, Paul Edmond, had captured images of Bell and the shop, “iconising her with so many amazing photographs”, explained Ms de Monde.

Still a teenager and living just two doors down from the designer he was "always on the scene,” she said.

A series of three books containing his photography is set to be published later this year.

“So Patti’s legacy is going to go on, and also his legacy in all of these amazing photos,” she said.

After opening the shop in 1976, Kahn and Bell eventually went their separate ways in the 1980s.

Bell would also sell clothes at the Great Gear Market on Kings Road, London, and would later have a stall at Birmingham’s Rag Market.

Art photographer Gary Lindsay-Moore was 17 in 1977, and as a “fledgling little punk” remembers making the “momentous” journey to Kahn and Bell.

“It was not that easy to go and buy punk gear, and to actually have a shop in Birmingham that sold all these things that you could only see as drawings in the back of the New Musical Express was amazing,” he explained.

Bell had always been “so accepting and encouraging,” he said.

“If you felt like a bit of a freak or a weirdo, which is what I did when I was 17, it was great to realise that there was this quite cool scene that you could be part of”.

He described the outlet as being like the magical costume shop in the children’s series Mr Benn.

“You know when you walk through the doors your life can change, and yeah, it really did,” he said.

“She just helped find the me in me."

The partnership of the two designers was “just incredible” he said.

”They were just so inventive, and they lived it – they were a walking advertisement for Kahn and Bell wherever they were”.

Their effect on the fashion scene at the time was “just huge”, he added, influencing the look of artists such as Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Boy George, Bucks Fizz, Fashion and Shock.

“People have often said that they were the Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes of Birmingham, which I think is a pretty damn good accolade, is it not?” he added.

An exhibition of his photographs, inspired by Kahn and Bell, is currently on display at the Birmingham Back to Backs, close to the original Hurst Street shop.

Featuring original garments, they also include models that have a direct connection to the shop such as influential drag artist Twiggy who worked there as a teenager.

Also on show is an original tartan jacket, initially valued on BBC's Antiques Roadshow at £400 to £600.

“Apart from anything else, Patti was just the most amazing company,” added Mr Lindsay-Moore.

“She was very witty, she was just so inclusive, and people really gravitated towards her.

“That’s what she meant to me, just an absolutely wonderful woman.”

Photographer Richard Davis was also a Kahn & Bell regular.

Growing up in 1980s Birmingham, the shop meant “you could be different, feel at home and it was a safe environment,” he said.

“It’s only now you realise it absolutely shaped who I was in the 1980s.”

He said it was significant that Bell had stayed in the city, contributing to “a really good scene for people”.

“All of us growing up then, the new romantic scene, ex-punks, we’ve all really got so much to thank her for,” the photographer said.

“For those who knew her and for those who lived through that time in Birmingham she was absolutely iconic, massive.

“We didn’t have many big characters who would shout out about the identity of the city – that’s why Patti was so important.

“Probably one of the most important people in Birmingham in terms of culture, I would say.”

The city had lost a "piece of its musical and cultural identity," said Lyle Bignon, music consultant and night time economy ambassador.

“The designer and visionary - who married Birmingham rock royalty Steve Gibbons - was rock n roll through and through.

“My sincere and heartfelt condolences go out to Steve, her sons John, Dylan and Jake and Patti's wider family as well as her many friends and fans."

• A trilogy of photo books by Paul Edmond: Duran Duran en Scène - Music-Fashion-Club-Street (Birmingham 1979-1982) is set to be published by APS Publications.
• Gary Lindsay-Moore: It's Not Unusual can be seen at Back to Backs on Hurst Street, Birmingham until May.
• An associated exhibition, Twiggy - The Drag Market, can be seen at the same venue.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]