Pam Hogg, Famed Fashion Designer and Icon of the London Underground, Has Died

Pam Hogg, the daring Scottish fashion designer known for dressing some of rock’s biggest stars, has died. Her family confirmed the news on Wednesday. Hogg will be remembered for her impact on the London fashion, nightlife, and music scene. A musician herself, contributing to the punk, noise, and acid house genres, Hogg was also part of the famed London “Blitz Kids” scene of the ’80s. Her Lycra catsuits and colorful psychedelic designs helped to bolster British fashion’s reputation for the adventurous and avant-garde.

“The Hogg Family is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our beloved Pamela,” reads an Instagram caption announcing the news. “We are grateful in the knowledge that her final hours were peaceful and surrounded by the loving care of cherished friends and family...Pamela’s creative spirit and body of work touched the lives of many people of all ages and she leaves a magnificent legacy that will continue to inspire, bring joy and challenge us to live beyond the confines of convention. Pamela will continue to live in our hearts and minds. A glorious life lived and loved.”

We don’t know the designer’s exact age, as she never revealed it, but we do know she was born in Paisley, a town not far from Glasgow, Scotland, and went on to study fine art and printed textiles at the Glasgow School of Art. There, she was recognized for her talent early on, winning honors including the Newbury Medal of Distinction. She went on to gain her Master’s of Arts at the Royal College of Art in London. Hogg also became interested in music, joining her first band, Rubbish, in 1980, and opening up for the Pogues. Around that time, she began to frequent Blitz nightclub, becoming a regular at the establishment—known for enforcing an outlandish dress code. She began designing her own looks to get in the door.

In 1981, when she was in her 20s, Hogg launched her first fashion collection, initially selling her designs at Hyper Hyper, a then-popular market for young designers, on Kensington High Street, and later opening a shop in London's West End. She was known for her unique and progressive collection names, including “Wild Wild Women of the West” and “Best Dressed Chicken in Town.”

At the same time, she continued pursuing music, working with British acid house band The Garden of Eden, and performing in Nashville as part of the industrial noise band Pigface. In 1993, she got the opportunity to perform as a supporting act for Debbie Harry, leading her to form the band Doll just five days ahead of the show.

Hogg also contributed to cinema, creating the fashion film Accelerator, which starred Italian-German actress Anita Pallenberg and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie. In 2009, she returned to the runway and eventually made her debut at Paris Fashion Week in 2012. In her more recent collections, she worked heavily with PVC, tulle, and leather to create dresses and catsuits that combined aspects of the BDSM subculture with hyper-feminine silhouettes. In 2014, she presented “Future Past,” a collection inspired by war and peace, featuring designs made entirely of recycled materials and reworked archival pieces, including one apron dress embossed with the words “The soils of war.”

Her passions for music and fashion combined when she got the opportunity to design for Siouxsie Sioux's world tour in 2004. Sioux continued to wear Hogg’s designs for many years. Throughout her career, Hogg has dressed numerous famous women within both the music and fashion industries. She created the looks for Kylie Minogue’s “2 Hearts” music video and designed pieces for Lady Gaga, Rihanna, longtime friend Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and more.

In 2014, when asked about her placement within the fashion industry, she said, “I’m not mainstream, I don’t create for commercial success; I create because I can’t not.” She continued, admitting that some sense of commerciality needs to exist for upkeep, but in general, she designs “the pieces that I’d want to wear, pieces that I can see other people wearing.”

On her website, Hogg is described as “the antithesis of high fashion, provocative and original, brimming with humor and audacity.” She always had shocking yellow hair, further proof of her disinterest in blending in. Due to her many endeavors throughout her life, she considered herself a “creator” more so than any other title. “I capture these fragments that float around my head, tiny shards that collide and eventually fall into place like a jigsaw,” she said.