Alfred Charles Walter "Freddie" Hornik (19 January 1944 – 19 February 2009) was a Czech-born British fashion entrepreneur who bought the ailing

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

boutique

Granny Takes a Trip Granny Takes a Trip was a boutique opened in February 1966 at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, by Nigel Waymouth, his girlfriend Sheila Cohen and John Pearse. The shop, which was acquired by Freddie Hornik in 1969, remained open until the mi ...

at 488

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

in 1969, and transformed it into a leading brand in

Swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...

Early life and education

Hornik was born in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...

, on 19 January 1944. As an infant he traveled with his widowed mother and his grandmother to Austria on the refugee "death marches". He lived in poverty in Vienna until 1947, when together they went to live with relatives in south London. Hornik's education at Streatham Grammar School was interrupted when he contracted tuberculosis, necessitating long stays in hospital.

Dandie Fashions

At the instigation of his Polish stepfather, Hornik trained as a tailor and made rapid progress, having "learnt to make a suit in 10 days for eight guineas". In the mid-1960s, following a chance encounter at the

Speakeasy Club The Speakeasy Club, also known as The Speak, was a club situated at 48 Margaret Street, London, England, and served as a late-night meeting place for the music industry from 1966 to June 1978. The club took its name and theme from the speakeasie ...

with Alan Holston, they got together with John Crittle and the Guinness heir

Tara Browne Tara Browne (4 March 1945 – 18 December 1966) was a London-based Irish socialite and heir to the Guinness fortune. His December 1966 death in a car crash was an inspiration for the Beatles' song " A Day in the Life". Early life Browne was ...

, and launched

Dandie Fashions Dandie Fashions or sometimes Dandy Fashions was a London fashion boutique founded in 1966, following a chance encounter at the Speakeasy Club between Freddie Hornik and Alan Holston, who then got together with Australian John Crittle, the Gui ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

invested in the firm in 1968 and for a short while it became the bespoke menswear supplier Apple Tailoring.

Granny Takes a Trip

In 1969, Hornik took over the legendary boutique

. This purchase was in a partnership with

Gene Krell Gene Krell is an American fashion entrepreneur, designer, and journalist. Krell is the international fashion director for the Japanese editions of Vogue and GQ, the creative director for the Korean editions of Vogue, Vogue Girl, and W, as well as ...

and

Marty Breslau Granny Takes a Trip was a boutique opened in February 1966 at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, by Nigel Waymouth, his girlfriend Sheila Cohen and John Pearse. The shop, which was acquired by Freddie Hornik in 1969, remained open until the mi ...

, both from New York, and together they expanded the business, adding shops in New York and Los Angeles.Granny Takes A Trip
Kaitlyn, ''Born Late'', 2 May 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2014. Granny Takes a Trip bespoke creations were taken up by the leading rock stars of the time. In 1972,

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

wore a Granny's suit in black velvet and rhinestones on the cover of his album, ''

Transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

''. Also that year, Mick Jagger chose a Granny's tartan velvet jacket on the inside cover of ''

Exile On Main St. ''Exile on Main St.'' is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for ''Sticky Fingers'' a ...

'' from the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

, and Todd Rundgren wore Hornik's sequined bolero jacket on the reverse side of the ''

Something/Anything? ''Something/Anything?'' is the third album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972. It was his first double album, and was recorded in late 1971 in Los Angeles, New York City and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock. Three quarte ...

'' gatefold sleeve. In 1973, for the front cover of The Isley Brothers' album '' 3 + 3'',

Ronald Isley Ronald Isley (; born May 21, 1941) is an American recording artist, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers. Early life Born in 1941 to Sally ...

sported a Hornik jacket. In 1974, for the front cover of his album ''

Caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

'',

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

wore a tiger-stripe jacket which had a Granny's label, allegedly sewn on by Hornik's assistant Roger Klein, who had acquired the item elsewhere secondhand. However, by the mid-1970s, Hornik, who by now had a "penchant for drugs", Krell and Breslau were feuding with each other, and the business failed, with the London boutique closing in late 1974.

Later life

In his later years, Hornik drove a mini-cab but more ill health forced him to retire to South London. He never married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornik, Freddie 1944 births 2009 deaths 1970s fashion British fashion British businesspeople in retailing Czechoslovak emigrants to England People from Streatham Businesspeople from London 20th-century English businesspeople