Thomas Steven Roberts (6 February 1942 – 10 December 2012) was an English designer and fashion entrepreneur who operated prominent independent

retail outlets Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

including pop art boutique, Mr Freedom, and the 1980s decorative arts and homewares store, Practical Styling. In 1969, Roberts was the first fashion business executive to license images from Walt Disney Productions, Ltd.,Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero by Paul Gorman. Publisher: Adelita 2012. and in 1972, he was the first fashion retailer to establish an outlet in London's

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. Roberts's shops sold designs worn as stagewear by

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

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 ...

, Mick Jagger and David Bowie. In the mid-1970s, he was the manager of the

pub rock Pub rock is a rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particu ...

group Kilburn & the High Roads fronted by Ian Dury. Later in life, Roberts promoted sales of collectibles, artefacts and furniture through London outlets Tom-Tom and Two Columbia Road.

Early life

Roberts was raised in

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and Deptford, London, UK, and attended Goldsmiths Art College. In the early 1960s, he collected antiques and operated espresso bars.

Boutiques

In 1966, Roberts opened a store called Kleptomania on

Kingly Street Kingly Street is a street in London's Soho district. It runs north to south from Liberty's and Foubert's Place to Beak Street, in parallel to, and between, Regent Street and Carnaby Street. It was known as King Street until 1906. The Bag O'N ...

, Soho, with partner Charlie Simpson. The shop sold Victoriana and military wear. Customers included

and The Who. In 1967, a second Kleptomania store opened on Carnaby Street. Tommy was a natural publicist and to open the Carnaby Street store, he hired a dustcart to go down the street, ridden by the Kleptomania beautiful people. In 1969, Roberts took over a hippy outlet called Hung on You, operated by the fashion designer Michael Rainey at 430 King's Road in

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, Chelsea. With

Trevor Myles Trevor Myles is a British former fashion entrepreneur and designer who ran the Mr Freedom boutique at 430 King's Road, Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 ...

, Roberts reopened the premises as Mr Freedom with a pop art concept using bright colours and designs by a team including Pamla Motown. In December 1970, Roberts and Myles moved Mr Freedom to larger premises in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, selling comic-strip clothes with kitsch homewares and "fun furniture". In the basement was restaurant Mr Feed'Em. In 1971, Cecil Beaton included Mr Freedom garments in the exhibition Fashion: An Anthology. After the closure of Mr Freedom in 1972, Roberts opened the boutique City Lights Studio in Covent Garden. Among its customers was David Bowie, who wore a City Lights suit in photographs included in his 1973 album, '' Pin-Ups''. Around this time, Roberts provided advice and a lawyer to

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

and

Malcolm McLaren Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...

, who had taken over 430 King's Road and opened a store called Let It Rock.

Music management

In 1974, Roberts and partner Willy Daly moved into music management, handling the careers of 1960s star Arthur Brown and the art-rock band Kilburn & The High Roads.

Antiques, furniture and collectibles

In the late 1970s, Roberts operated in the antique trade. In 1981, he and partner Paul Jones opened a homewares and furniture outlet called Practical Styling at

Centre Point Centre Point is a building in Central London, comprising a 34-storey tower; a 9-storey block to the east including shops, offices, retail units and maisonettes; and a linking block between the two at first-floor level. It occupies 101–103 ...

on St. Giles High Street, Central London. Identified as pioneering "high-tech" design, Practical Styling caught the post-modern spirit of the times as exemplified by Memphis Group and fused it with British kitsch and American hardware, selling day-glo-coloured metal dustbins, diner crockery, luncheonette fittings and rolls of carousel flooring as well as yellow and black vinyl stools, palette-shaped coffee tables and plastic poodle lamps. From 1995, Roberts sold original art and design collectibles at his store, Tom-Tom. In 2001, Roberts opened Two Columbia Road in Hackney, east London, selling contemporary furniture and artefacts. He retired in the middle of the same decade.

Legacy

Design products sold through Roberts's boutiques – in particular Mr Freedom – have become collectible and have appeared at various auctions. Marc Bolan's Mr Freedom jacket was featured in a

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

popular culture and entertainment sale in June 2011.

Paul Smith Paul Smith or Paul Smith's may refer to: Music * Paul Smith (composer) (1906–1985), American film music composer * Paul Smith (pianist) (1922–2013), Los Angeles jazz pianist * Paul Smith (rock vocalist) (born 1979), vocalist and songwriter of ...

contributed the foreword to a book about Roberts's life and career, ''Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero'', by Paul Gorman, published in July 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Tommy Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London British designers English businesspeople in retailing 1942 births 2012 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople