“Last week we lost Roger K. Burton. Roger was the founder of The Horse Hospital and the quiet magician behind 31 years of chaos and strange magic. In the wake of this immense loss, we’re resolved to carry his legacy forward, keeping this place alive as a home for the DIY, the counter-cultural, the outsider, the unfashionable. We know Roger’s death is a huge loss for many of you as well as ourselves, and we will be inviting you all to gather here at HH in the coming months for celebrations of his work and life. Stay tuned – watch this space… In the meantime, Roger’s spirit shines on in our ongoing programme of end-of-summer events… See you soon”, The Horse Hospital

We really should say something here before it is too late, we owe Roger K. Burton rather a lot of thanks, Roger K. Burton, the fashion curator and founder of London’s countercultural venue, The Horse Hospital (and yes it can rightly be called that), has left us.

Roger K. Burton came into fashion through Mod culture, amongst other things he provided the original clothing for the The Who’s 1978 film Quadrophenia. A year later he was asked by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren to design their shop Worlds End, the successor to the punk fashion outlet Sex, and went on to provide art direction for the pair’s Nostalgia of Mud in 1981. Burton’s Contemporary Wardrobe Collection in Bloomsbury housed 20,000 items amassed over his career, and formed the basis for numerous exhibitions, including the current The In Crowd: Mod Fashion and Style 1958-66 at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.

Probably his finest moment was in the founding (and saving of) the Horse Hospital in 1992, it housed the headquarters of the Contemporary Wardrobe Collection, and has hosted exhibitions and events for far too many left-field artists, alternative film makers, writers and more. We’ve been to so many significant events at the Hospital (we’ve sold many many copies of Organ at the Horse Hospital), we really had to just pay our respects and add another voice to the many tributes that have been made over the last couple of weeks. The Horse Hospital‘s own statement says it all really. We just wanted to just add our own voice to the many celebrating his life and positive legacy… R.I.P Roger K. Burton.