John Sutcliffe

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This article is a Biography


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This article is part of 'The Legends Project'

As part of the "Legends Project", John Sutcliffe has been recognized as an BDSM Icon
for the work they have done to make the BDSM/LGBT/Leather communities what they are today and awarded a

Certificate of Appreciation

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Information from
www.atomage.co.uk/AtomageHistory.html website

Updated: 2001

From The Atomage Magazine Appreciation Site - http://www.atomage.co.uk

John Sutcliffe
with Ms Antoniette of
Versatile Fashions

John Sutcliffe was a modest and self-effacing man, having graduated from the College of Aeronautical Engineering in Chelsea he later became chief inspector of engines with the pre-war British Airways, he also designed a cigarette packet sized wireless receiver and enjoyed repairing antique china. However throughout his life he had a special attachment for leather, it was something he tried hard to suppress, sadly this led to a breakdown and the collapse of his nineteen year long marriage. After trying unsuccessfully to get a job as an aircraft engineer he looked for alternative ways of earning a living including driving a mini-cab and taking wedding photographs (although surprisingly very few pictures of John exist as he preferred to be behind the camera rather than in front of it). As his life came back together John purchased a motor bike and one evening took a lady friend out, unfortunately it was raining and she got rather wet, John soon discovered that leather motorcycle clothing for small ladies was very hard to find so the ever resourceful John decided to make an outfit for her, when her friends saw what John had created they all wanted one just the same.

In 1957, John Sutcliffe started AtomAge magazine as "a manufacturer of weatherproofs for lady pillion riders" the business was located in a back room in Hampstead and had a secondhand sewing machine that John adapted himself to cope with leather and vinyl, he taught himself dressmaking. After ten years the business had moved to 10a Dryden Street off Drury Lane, London, previously the premises had been a hay loft for livery stables. By 1967 John had experimented with the then new materials of PVC and rubber, he invented a new method of bonding rubber, creating a new glue and modifying a travel iron to seal the seams, this lead to him producing his first rubber garment.

The quality, cut, fit and style of the AtomAge motorcycle leathers were far superior to anything available in the shops, John's designs soon got noticed and he was asked to produce leather and vinyl outfits for the stage and screen, some of his most famous creations can be seen in The Avengers TV series, although John did not design the Avengers costumes but they were made by him in the AtomAge workshops. In 1967 the Granville Chemical company (makers of protective polish and anti-freeze for cars) were looking for something to attract customers to their stand at the Motor Show, so they hired a female model and commissioned John Sutcliffe to create a special outfit (with the emphasis on protection), the advertising slogan which went with the lady wearing the suit was "She has leather protection. Has your car the protection of our chemical products?", the outfit was an instant success with photographs appearing in newspapers such as the Daily Mail. One of John's most famous designs was a one piece cat suit complete with high heeled boots, this outfit John called the AtomAge Bootsuit, AtomAge regularly produced one off and specially commissioned outfits, including leather outfits for female customers who "wore them for professional reasons.....".

John soon found that a quarter of the garments produced in the AtomAge workshops never went out in public, the outfits were worn in private just for pleasure, having experienced the failure of his own marriage because of his leather fetish he was aware of the problems that can occur when a female is asked to dress in leather by her partner. John understood that a female is someone to be loved and cared for and that males have a primal attraction to leather, all the male want to do is wrap the person he loves to protect her. In the winter of 1972 John started AtomAge magazine at the suggestion of Helen Henley who was a regular customer of AtomAge, John hoped to use the magazine as not only a showcase for his new designs but as a means of explaining to females the reasons why males want to see them dress in leather clothes. Helen Henley was given a regular column in the new magazine, the magazine also featured the "AtomAge Correspondence System" (ACS) where readers could contact each other, the readers were actively encouraged to provide pictures and stories for inclusion in the magazine.

The AtomAge magazine proved extremely popular, it was A5 in size priced at £2 per copy and was only available by private subscription directly from AtomAge, initially the magazine only featured outfits in leather but gradually rubber garments became more prominent, slowly bondage started to be featured in the magazine, this lead to displeasure from some readers so in 1976 edition 13 came with a special supplement. This supplement was a separate magazine that contained only the bondage, the main magazine then returned to concentrating on the normal AtomAge fetish clothing, a reader could opt to receive the bondage supplement which was not available for sale separately from the main magazine. AtomAge magazine concentrated on the most modern leather and rubber fashion of the day including reports from the various fashion shows that took place during the year, it was a true enthusiast magazine, it was run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, you had the feeling that John really enjoyed what he was doing and that profit came second. John also turned his hand to film production, his most memorable work is a short film entitled "Under Three Layers".

In 1980, after 32 A5 sized issues of AtomAge and 20 issues of the bondage supplement, John decided to review the strategy of the business, the magazine did not have a large circulation but there was growth potential being at the forefront of what today we call the "fetish" scene so John decided build on his reputation and success so he restructured the magazines. "AtomAge International" was launched (to succeed the A5 AtomAge magazine and concentrate on the leather clothing), he renamed the bondage supplement "AtomAge Bondage" and launched a new magazine "AtomAge Rubberist" which catered for the rubber fetish scene. International distributors were found for the three magazines, they were to be truly world-wide publications. AtomAge also sold books and other publications dedicated to the fetish/bondage scene, unfortunately a member of the public referred a copy of the book "The Story Of Gerda" to the police and in November 1983 the AtomAge premises were raided and all the published material on the premises was seized. John was informed that he would not be prosecuted for publication of the AtomAge magazines if he allowed his entire back stock of magazines and printing plates (valued at £50,000) to be destroyed, unfortunately he was not so lucky with the Gerda books, for these publications he was fined £1000. In December 1983 AtomAge moved to Unit 3A, 98 Victoria Road, Park Royal, London, NW10.

Sadly, John died in his office one Sunday afternoon in September 1987, whilst working at his desk, one of his intentions was to bring in to the open the idea that people have fetishes, today he is considered one of the patron saints of the world wide rubberist community.

Information from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sutcliffe_(designer) website

Updated: 2001

The British fashion designer and fetish photographer John Sutcliffe (died 1987) was famous in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s as a designer of clothes for aficionados of leather, rubber and PVC fetishism, with an emphasis on rubber and leather catsuits, cloaks, and gas masks.

After service in the RAF, he set up a workshop at 10a Dryden Street in London.

It is a popular misconception that he designed the leather outfits for The Avengers. He did not. They were designed by Michael Whittaker for Honor Blackman and by John Bates for Diana Rigg, although they may have been made in John's workshop. He did design some costumes for the stage version of the Avengers which appeared later.

At one time he designed a boot suit, which comprised a pair of thigh-length boots, which carried on to join at the crotch, and then upwards to become an entire catsuit with a hood.

He was also the publisher of the fetish magazine AtomAge, which featured many of his clothing designs.

AtomAge was, by today's standards, a fairly harmless publication. It had two sister publications, The Rubberist and Dressing For Pleasure, both of which are now published by Dave Watson of G & M Fashions.

Regrettably, AtomAge attracted a certain amount of attention when the Police decided to prosecute the publisher, John Sutcliffe, in the mid-1980s, for obscenity. Despite vigorous exhortations from both fetishists and defenders of civil liberties alike, Sutcliffe meekly pleaded guilty. His stock and photos were seized and destroyed and the publications temporarily closed. The shame may well have contributed to his death.

Sutcliffe was anything but a pornographer. He was a mild-mannered gentleman who made a number of unjustifiably persecuted people feel normal. His legacy is the booming fetish clothing industry in Britain, Germany, the USA and many other parts of the world, the wide range of fetish events, such as the yearly Rubber Ball in the UK, and the large numbers of people who enjoy dressing up in exciting ways without fear of prosecution.

Watson was himself prosecuted some years later once he had revived two of Sutcliffe's magazines, but he pleaded not guilty. The jury agreed.

In his final years, John shared a workshop in West London with Moira and Keith who now run Cocoon in Kidderminster.

External links

Also see: John Sutcliffe Legends of Dominance article

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