WINGS WHEELS & ROCK 'n' ROLL by Rintaro Tanaka with Derek Harris

Lewis Leathers was founded in 1892 making this its 125 year, the company began its journey in London's Great Portland Street, selling ready-to-wear men's clothing. Post WW1 it gravitated towards warm clothing for the Aviators and Motorists who frequented the street in its burgeoning new role as centre of the London motor car trade. WW2 saw the company supplying the RAF and, in the absence of civilian pilots, concentrated on clothing for motorcyclists. Post WW2 the company increasingly catered to their two-wheeled clients and became known as the most famous motorcycle clothing brand in the UK, if not the world.

The mid-50's saw the company change tack and target the younger set of Ton Up Boys -who went on to become the Rockers, renowned for their battles with the Mods on the beach fronts of Brighton, Margate and Southend in 1964.

During this period adverts were run in the music press such as Jazz News, NME and Melody Maker which prompted music fans and makers to visit the central London store. The connection with music and fashion has continued to date and the brand name has subsequently been seen on road, racetrack, street and stage ever since.

Derek Harris became the 6th owner in 2003 and has spent the past 25 years researching the brands history and building an archive of vintage products, many of which are featured in this book. Rintaro Tanaka approached Harris about a book five years ago, Tanaka photographed, compiled and edited the book with Harris' research and English text.

The book covers Lewis Leathers' first 60 years and the result is this stunning 240 page, hardback volume, printed in Japan on the latest equipment at 283 lines per inch, making it one of the highest resolution books in the world.

About author

Rintaro Tanaka lives in Los Angeles where he is famous for his books on the vintage clothing scene My Freedamn along with his yearly vintage clothing convention InspirationLA.

Derek Harris was born in Sussex, England in 1958. He moved to London in 1981 where he worked at Better Badges before designing and Printing his own t-shirts which were sold at his shop on Portobello Road until 1989. After a 2-year hiatus, he spent 3 months in Japan, returning in August 1991 sourcing clothing brands for a Japanese retailer. One brand was Lewis Leathers which, after 12 years of researching and developing the range he then bought. He continues to run the company in London

Reviews

"If a book ever deserved to be bound in soft, supple, deep black leather, then this is it! Open its pages and, just like the Jumanji board game in the 1995 film of the same title, all kinds of wonderful things fly out...the whiff of Castrol R, the sound of the jukebox at the Ace Cafe and the smell of brand new racing leathers. Printed in Japan to the very highest standards, and written in both English and Japanese, this superb square-format hardback contains numerous evocative black and white images from the rock and roll years reproduced on the highest-quality glossy paper I have ever felt! Written by Rin Tanaka with the help of Lewis Leathers Director Derek Harris, the book also uniquely features scores of historic items from the Lewis Leathers clothing range which Derek has painstakingly put together over 25 years. These range from 1920s-40s flying and motoring kit to the leather jackets and racing suits so fondly remembered from the golden era of the 1950s and 60s and beyond. Rarely have I seen such outstanding photographic reproduction as has been attained in this 242-page coffee table masterpiece but it doesn't tend there, for there are innumerable old advertisements; colour sections showing everything from the evolution of zips from the early-to-mid 1930s to the mid-to-late 1960s; the covers of old catalogues; vintage labels and patches; Aviakit wear; helmets; a wonderful spread of colourful 1960s front covers from Motor Cycle and Motor Cycle Mechanics; metal brooch badges for jacket customisation; and a 22-page colour section about the 59 Club entitled A Rocker s Diary, 1967-1968. Lewis Leathers Wings, Wheels and Rock n Roll Volume 1 also contains some great photos of the D Lewis Ltd shop in Great Portland Street, London, one of them from our own Mortons Archive showing a very young Mike Evans of Motor Cycle being skilfully measured up in the basement by the well-remembered store manager Bill Keating in 1967. Our archive has provided many other wonderful full-page shots, including one of Les Graham (AJS) in 1950; John Surtees (MV Agusta) making a refuelling stop at the TT in the late 1950s; Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, Ken Redfern and John Cooper on the starting grid at Mallory Park; and another of Mike the Bike on the Senior Honda four, with his boots taped to his suit, in the pits during the historic clash between himself and Giacomo Agostini in 1967."

- Cafe Racer Magazine April/2017 "Lewis Leathers Vol.1: Wings, Wheels and Rock ‘n’ Roll (English and Japanese Edition), a fine-grained exploration of the esteemed Lewis Leathers, the oldest motorcycle clothing company in Britain, ‘since 1892’. His book benefits directly from decades of research by Derek Harris, the current owner of Lewis Leathers, who has obsessively archived the designs and advertising materials of the company he purchased in 2003. Since 1991, Harris had been sourcing vintage Lewis Leathers jackets to satisfy demand for the Japanese market; at the time, the company had none of its vintage patterns to hand, and Japan wanted the company’s designs from the 1950s and ‘60s. Harris would purchase and disassemble old LL jackets to make patterns, and have the old designs replicated, down to the correct labels and zippers used in the originals. Harris is an archivist extraordinaire for this single subject, having spent 25 years pulling together the intellectual property of this 125-year old company. Lewis Leathers and its various side brands – D. Lewis, Aviakit, etc – have gone through countless cycles of popularity with different groups, from aviators, motorcycle racers, and in later days to punks and fashionistas. ‘Lewis Leathers: Wings, Wheels, and Rock&Roll! Vol. 1’ is an extraordinary compendium of the clothing, advertising materials, and period photographs documenting the early history of the company. With 1600 photographs, the book shows how Lewis Leathers became an absolute icon of racer/rocker/punk/fashion history. This book is a must-have! You’ll spend hours poring over the photos, which are really terrific. Rin also produced books in collaboration with Harley-Davidson (The Harley-Davidson Book of Fashions), Steve Mcqueen’s 1963 ISDT ride – Steve McQueen 40 Summers Ago….Hollywood Behind the Iron Curtain (Cycleman Books), a general history of leather jackets (Motorcycle Jackets: A Century of Leather Design), and even helmets (The Motorcycle Helmet: The 1930s-1990s)!"

- Paul d'Orleans / thevintagent.com