20/09/2022
Gay pop stars Boy George and the late Steve Strange were amongst characters featured in the documentary “Blitzed” on Wednesday night last. Aired on the Sky News Channel, the acclaimed independent film charts the rise of the New Romantic movement in the late seventies and early nineteen eighties, from a post punk underground clubbing experience to being literally, top of the pop charts. The New Romantics, with their eccentric costumes, make up and hair, had an impact on mainstream culture during the eighties and was part of the gender bending look of the period. The movement, although it eschewed open political statements, was, like punk rock, a rejection of the drab early Thatcher years and celebrated individual rebellion against conservative values and gender self expression as well sexual diversity. The New Romantics were a little piece of queer history writ large and highly influential across society.
