Mr Freedom (fashion)

Mr Freedom was a clothing boutique in London which sold "pop art" fashion by a number of young designers commissioned by the owner Tommy Roberts and his partner Trevor Myles. Celebrities such as Mick Jagger, Elton John and Peter Sellers wore designs from the shop which was at 430 King's Road in Chelsea from 1969–70 and then at 20 Kensington Church Street in Kensington 1970-72.

Mr Freedom was part of the counter-culture "Swinging London" scene around King's Road in 1960s' London. It followed the cult success of Roberts' earlier boutique, Kleptomania, which he had opened in 1965. Roberts bought the lease to the King's Road boutique, at number 430, in 1969 from Michael Rainey, who had owned another boutique with a cult following at that location, Hung On You. At Myles' suggestion, Roberts named the shop after the 1969 William Klein film Mr. Freedom, which was a spoof of the anti-war movement.

Roberts' designs featured styles now considered typical of the era: broad-brimmed hats, close-fitting maxi dresses, silk-screened cartoon character images on jersey tops, and winged shoes. Bright colours were also characteristic of the clothing. Rather than continuing with the homespun hippie style popular among the youth during the 1960s, Roberts veered away from nostalgia. Mr Freedom carried styles that were "brash, pop art fashion", such as satin ties for men, satin jackets, T-shirt dresses with appliqued "satin stars, thunderbolts, and ice-cream cones". A dose of 1950s retro was added to the mix of influences by 1972.

Roberts produced clothes for the boutique in collaboration with a number of other young avant-garde designers, "many of them gathered in from outside the pale of the fashion trade". The shop was described as having an "unquenchable enthusiasm for all things bright and in outrageously bad taste". In 1970, Elton John hired Roberts to design several concert outfits before he set out on an American tour. Roberts designed a "yellow boiler suit" with a piano appliqué on the back, and "white boots with green wings". The shop was known for kitschy design as much as the clothes themselves. An inflatable sex doll was used as a mannequin.

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