"Dedicated Follower of Fashion" is a 1966 song by British band

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...

. It lampoons the contemporary British

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion i ...

scene and mod culture in general. Originally released as a single, it has been included on many of the band's later albums. Musically, it and "

A Well Respected Man "A Well Respected Man" is a song by the British band the Kinks, written by the group's lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ray Davies, and originally released in the United Kingdom on the EP '' Kwyet Kinks'' in September 1965. The song was relea ...

" marked the beginning of an expansion in the Kinks' inspirations, drawing as much from British music hall traditions as from American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

, the inspiration for breakthrough Kinks songs like "

You Really Got Me "You Really Got Me" is a song written by Ray Davies for English rock band the Kinks. The song, originally performed in a more blues-oriented style, was inspired by artists such as Lead Belly and Big Bill Broonzy. Two versions of the song were ...

". While it was quite scornful toward them, many of the fashionistas the song mocks would later take its title to heart.

Background

In the mid-1960s

in Britain was becoming increasingly daring and outrageous, driven by the youth-oriented culture of Swinging London. Boutiques such as

Biba Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon. Early years Biba's early years were rather humble, with many of the ou ...

designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...

, and the television personalities like Cathy McGowan who popularised them became celebrated as much as the entertainers who wore their mod clothes. Fashion trends changed rapidly, and the

Carnaby Street 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 many independent fashion boutiques. S ...

shops did a brisk business from those trying to avoid seeming out of step with the latest craze.

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voc ...

saw all this and satirised the hypothetical extreme, a superficial dandy whose "''clothes are loud but never square / It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best ... He thinks he is a flower to be looked at ... In matters of the cloth he is as fickle as can be.''"Dedicated Follower of Fashion
at kinks.it.rit.edu, retrieved 3 May 2007.

Inspiration

Ray Davies claimed that the song was inspired by a fight he had with a fashion designer at a party: Davies claims he wrote the song in one sitting, typing the lyrics out on a typewriter, with no later revision. It was performed with Davies mostly accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, with the rest of the band joining in on the "It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best 'cause..." and echoing the "Oh yes he is" lines in the refrain. The song contains two lines from the 1905 English adventure novel ''

The Scarlet Pimpernel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...

''; "they seek him here, they seek him there". The band attempted recording the song a number of times, playing with the arrangement, lyric diction, and guitar sounds. Davies was never totally satisfied with the released version, and was angered that the song's production and release were rushed by the band's managers and

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...

. Specifically, he attempted the opening multiple times.

Pete Quaife Peter Alexander Greenlaw Quaife (born Kinnes; 31 December 1943 – 23 June 2010) was an English musician, artist and author. He was a founding member and the original bass guitarist for the Kinks, from 1963 until 1969. He also sang backing voca ...

said of these attempts: At least two of the alternative versions are available as bonus CD tracks and as bootleg recordings.

Reception

The British record-buying public enjoyed the jab at "the whole Carnabetian army" enough to put the song into the top five, reaching number four on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It became their first top five single since "

Tired of Waiting for You "Tired of Waiting for You" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks. It was released as a single on 15 January 1965 in the UK and on 17 February 1965 in the USA. The single reached number one in the UK and number six in the US. It then appea ...

", which reached number one in early 1965. It reached the top of the charts in

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and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In the US, however, it barely managed to crack the

Top Forty In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

, peaking at #36.Chart positions
, at kinks.it.rit.edu, retrieved 3 May 2007. The lyrics won Davies an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

for songwriting in 1966. Despite the praise for the song, Kinks guitarist

Dave Davies David Russell Gordon Davies (born 3 February 1947) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the English rock band the Kinks, which also featured his elder brother Ray Davies. He was in ...

described the song as "terrible", saying, " t wasthe one Kink record I haven't got." '' Billboard'' said the song had a "clever, music-hall melody and lyric in the bag of he Kinkssmash '

.'"

Legacy

Despite its commercial success, the song actually began to trigger some of the identity crises that would later plague Davies' personal life. He wrote later: In subsequent years many of those the song derided would later take its title to heart. Holly Brubach, fashion writer for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', borrowed the song's title for a collection of her essays. Outside of fashion, the song's title has remained a metaphor for slavish conformity,Urqhuart-Stewart, Justin A.; 4 March 2006
Are you a dedicated follower of fashion?
; retrieved from londonstockexchange.com 3 May 2007. but in a more positive sense as an analogy for the growth of online

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...

s.Kelly, Brian; 16 March 2007
I'm a dedicated follower of fashion
retrieved from ukwebfocus.wordpress.com 3 May 2007. In 1993, the song was included in the soundtrack of the

Jim Sheridan Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed two critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, '' My Left Foot'' and '' In the Name of the Father'', and later directed the fi ...

film ''

In the Name of the Father IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Indepen ...

''.

Personnel

According to band researcher Doug Hinman, except where noted: The Kinks *

lead vocal, acoustic

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

backing vocal, electric guitar *

bass *

Mick Avory Michael Charles Avory (born 15 February 1944) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and percussionist for the English rock band the Kinks. He joined them shortly after their formation in 1964 and remained with them until 1984, ...

drums Additional musician *

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

piano

Charts

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

The Official Ray Davies Web Site
{{authority control The Kinks songs 1966 singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Satirical songs Song recordings produced by Shel Talmy Songs about London Songs written by Ray Davies Pye Records singles Reprise Records singles 1966 songs