14 Marvelous Black and White Photos of Carnaby Street in the 1960s

Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in Soho in the City of Westminster, Central London. Close to Oxford Street and Regent Street, it is home to fashion and lifestyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques.

The first boutique, His Clothes, was opened by John Stephen in 1958 after his shop in Beak Street burned down and was followed by I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet, Kleptomania, Mates, Ravel, and others.
By the 1960s, Carnaby Street was popular with followers of the mod and hippie styles. Many independent fashion boutiques, and designers such as Mary Quant, Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin, Lord John, Merc, Take Six, and Irvine Sellars had premises in the street and various underground music bars such as the Roaring Twenties opened in the surrounding streets. Bands such as the Small Faces, The Who, and Rolling Stones appeared in the area to work (at the legendary Marquee Club round the corner in Wardour Street), shop, and socialise, it became one of the coolest destinations associated with 1960's Swinging London.

February 1964: Tailor John Stephen, with his Rolls Royce outside his shop.

7 January 1968: A boutique owner holds up Union Jack shirts.

12 May 1966: ‘Living mannequins’ in a shop window.

December 1967: Christmas decorations on the street.

4th April 1966: Tom Jones has a fitting in Gear boutique.

circa 1967: Two young women walk down the street.

12 December 1967: A taxi offering free rides to Carnaby Street.

circa 1968: Pop singer Long John Baldry being fitted with a wig at the John Stephen wig centre.

14 October 1966: A young couple coming out of Mates boutique, which sells both men’s and women’s clothing.

1 August 1967: Two young men walk down Carnaby Street.

24th January 1967: Cat Stevens (later Yusuf Islam) leaps a bollard.

8 April 1968: A Triumph Spitfire GT6 parked outside Pop boutique.

May 1964: A ‘Mod’ girl gets measured for a suit.

December 1966: A shop assistant helps a customer in a fashion boutique.