{"id":2053928,"date":"2026-07-21T11:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T08:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2053928"},"modified":"2026-07-21T11:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T08:31:00","slug":"pure-sex-photos-from-the-relaunch-of-the-cult-80s-goth-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2053928","title":{"rendered":"Pure Sex: Photos from the relaunch of the cult 80s goth brand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/0-615-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450052.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/fashion\/article\/70676\/1\/pure-sex-england-photos-relaunch-cult-80s-goth-brand-batcave-boy-london\" data-article-id=\"70676\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-portrait-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1280\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450052.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gia Jones<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-07-21T11:31:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"21 July 2026\"><span class=\"month\">July<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"21\">21,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - fashion\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\">Fashion<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\">Fashion<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Pure Sex: Photos from the relaunch of the cult 80s <span class=\"nowrap\">goth brand<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>The newly revived Pure Sex England has teamed with iconic club night Batcave, and we met the minds behind the next era <span class=\"nowrap\">of goth<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-07-21T11:31:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"21 July 2026\"><span class=\"month\">July<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"21\">21,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-07-21T11:31:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"21 July 2026\"><span class=\"month\">July<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"21\">21,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/PhoebeHennell\"><br \/>\nPhoebe Hennell<br \/>\n<\/a><\/span><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Photography\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Photography<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/GiaJones\"><br \/>\nGia Jones<br \/>\n<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"dazed-gallery has-14-images \">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<header>\n<div class=\"info\"><span class=\"heading\">Pure Sex England x <span class=\"nowrap\">Batcave launch<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumbs\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/0\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1526\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/352-421-2289-1526\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450049.jpg\" width=\"2289\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/1\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-578-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450053.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/2\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-615-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450052.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/3\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-443-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450057.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/4\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-765-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450059.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/5\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-848-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450061.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-footer\">Gallery \/ 14 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>At the Batcave in the 80s, no one knew what a goth was. \u201cBoys just wore makeup because girls liked boys with makeup,\u201d says Jon Klein, former Siouxsie and the Banshees guitarist and founder of the Batcave club night, Soho\u2019s cobwebbed birthplace of the London goth. Four decades later, and the goth aesthetic still permeates culture: \u2018whimsigoth\u2019 has become a popular Vinted search word, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/fecal-matter\"><span>Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales<\/span><\/a><span> has climbed to the top of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/pfw\"><span>Paris Fashion Week<\/span><\/a><span>, while a flourishing electroclash scene is populated by solid steel crucifixes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Back in 1982, word of the Batcave tore through the squatting scene with macabre gusto, until Nick Cave, Robert Smith and the band Bauhaus were among its attendees. Soon, Klein was selling Batcave t-shirts designed with BOY London, the cult punk label founded in 1976. But when Klein opened the Batcave at a strip club and propped up a coffin for the door, he didn\u2019t anticipate a petri dish that spawned a global aesthetic \u2013 he wanted a DIY hangout for his band Specimen to play on Wednesday nights and dress up. \u201cWearing black in bohemian poverty culture is an easy way to make everything match,\u201d he recalls, now 66 years old.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Back then, goth was outr\u00e9 to the extreme. If a young person with a head of hairspray and a face as chalky as a Georgian socialite hailed a taxi, they would likely be turned away \u2013 possibly beaten up. But the movement was obscurely defined, Klein explains. \u201cThe Batcave had zero brand awareness,\u201d he remembers, fondly. Word spread by flyers that littered the floors of Kensington Market, the legendary alt shopping arcade home to the era\u2019s tattoo artists and maverick fashion labels, which got demolished in 2001.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"3b0f0f93-050b-475f-a619-b48e00c3942d\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450053.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450053.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Pure Sex England x <span class=\"nowrap\">Batcave launch<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gia Jones<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Now, in 2026, the Batcave merch worn by the first-ever goths makes a comeback thanks to a collaboration with the 80s postpunk brand Pure Sex, which was revived this year after a three-decade hiatus. Founded by Dave Darcy in the mid-80s after he vacated his position as director of BOY London, Pure Sex channelled fetish and zine culture in a way that, Darcy feels, BOY no longer did. The boutique, with its studded harnesses and vinyl dresses, became the new counter-cultural breeding ground. To them, true style began in struggle and in attitude. Last Saturday night at Aro Archive in Shoreditch, we met the minds behind its comeback: Gareth Emmett, director of BOY\u2019s 2012 revival, art director Joe Sangre and Darcy himself. For one week only, Aro Archive will host a pop-up exhibiting previously unseen Batcave archive garments and selling reproductions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>From the originals like Klein with their iconic tales, to a younger generation dressed in Pure Sex merch, all ages mix at the launch party. What becomes clear is that goth today is less a simulacrum of the past than a nod to it \u2013 each rendition adds a new layer without simply imitating it. The defining sound was once rock bands like Joy Division, but that\u2019s now superseded by electronic groups such as Molchat Doma. Young Londoners dance at darkwave night <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/70461\/1\/in-pictures-best-looks-london-vampire-ball-street-style-necropolis-festival\"><span>Necropolis<\/span><\/a><span> and art rave Inferno, without wishing they had been born earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere at the launch-turned-reunion, Blitz Club founder Rusty Egan is playfully hounding Batcave founder Klein. \u201cDidn\u2019t I get you signed?\u201d he jokes. \u201cDidn\u2019t I get you a record deal?!\u201d. Before the Batcave there was the Blitz Club, where Bowie-inspired New Romantics like Princess Julia danced to glam rock. Derek Ridgers, who at the time worked for <\/span><em><span>Time Out<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019s nightlife section, told us: \u201cHappening right after the New Romantic scene \u2013 which could certainly be a bit snooty and exclusive at times \u2013 the Batcave seemed to let anyone in. It was a very relaxed and friendly place, inclusive to everyone and not just the nascent goths.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"f536b9b3-7609-4245-9117-b48e00c39f33\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450058.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450058.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Pure Sex England x <span class=\"nowrap\">Batcave launch<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gia Jones<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Darcy shows us a photograph of a shop assistant in shimmery makeup and a red vinyl biker jacket perched on the leopard print counter. \u201cIt was more of a continuous party than a shop,\u201d he says of his old boutique in Kensington Market. An editor of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/37284\/1\/skin-two-the-mag-that-captured-the-zeitgeist-of-londons-fetish-scene\"><span>fetish magazine <\/span><em><span>Skin Two<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> and founder of a lasciviously named brand, Darcy confesses to having \u201clots of unhealthy interests.\u201d The postpunk scene was full of \u201cpeople who make their look, their style and their life a work of art,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAll I ever wanted was to wake up next to them in the morning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Logomania was in its heyday when BOY\u2019s confident graphic logo found prominence in the 70s. Darcy continues: \u201cWe were just trying to dress our friends. But I got scared of success. I remember seeing three arseholes in Birmingham wearing BOY, and I thought: I\u2019ve got to stop working for BOY. That\u2019s when I started Pure Sex.\u201d In his view, BOY had deteriorated into being tacky and commercial, void of its original provocative spirit. With the Pure Sex relaunch, he hopes to avoid that same fate. But to him, this isn\u2019t a revival: \u201cI\u2019m not looking to recreate the past. I\u2019m looking to take parts of it and use the ideology for the present.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou probably see the 80s as quite mythological now?\u201d a random man at the party asks wryly. \u201cPhones preclude anything underground from lasting now.\u201d Gen Z\u2019s nostalgia is far from baseless romanticisation. Subcultures, and the fashion that shaped them, thrived in an era when DIY spaces, like the Batcave and Kensington Market, were still abundant. By looking back in time, we\u2019re reminded of the existential threat fast fashion and property development pose to identity-making. You can buy a mass-produced grunge outfit from Shein in seconds, but you can\u2019t ship an entire scene to your doorstep. The Batcave t-shirt is a relic from when merch was for repping your own club night, or supporting your friend\u2019s band \u2013 not part of an industry that rips motifs from the underground and sells the aesthetic back to us.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. 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Culture<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">Is this the most corrupt World Cup ever?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/70666\/1\/duppy-caribbean-magazine-jawaraa-alleyne-photography-diaspora\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Duppy (2026)\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/0-0-2851-1901\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/9\/1449886.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Art &amp; Photography<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">The book preserving the Caribbean\u2019s radical creative history<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"dazed-gallery has-14-images \">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<header>\n<div class=\"info\"><span class=\"heading\">Pure Sex England x <span class=\"nowrap\">Batcave launch<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumbs\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/0\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1526\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/352-421-2289-1526\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450049.jpg\" width=\"2289\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/1\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-578-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450053.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/2\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-615-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450052.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/3\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-443-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450057.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/4\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-765-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450059.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/gallery\/37251\/5\/pure-sex-england-x-batcave-launch\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-848-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450061.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-footer\">Gallery \/ 14 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>At the Batcave in the 80s, no one knew what a goth was. \u201cBoys just wore makeup because girls liked boys with makeup,\u201d says Jon Klein, former Siouxsie and the Banshees guitarist and founder of the Batcave club night, Soho\u2019s cobwebbed birthplace of the London goth. Four decades later, and the goth aesthetic still permeates culture: \u2018whimsigoth\u2019 has become a popular Vinted search word, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/fecal-matter\"><span>Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales<\/span><\/a><span> has climbed to the top of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/pfw\"><span>Paris Fashion Week<\/span><\/a><span>, while a flourishing electroclash scene is populated by solid steel crucifixes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Back in 1982, word of the Batcave tore through the squatting scene with macabre gusto, until Nick Cave, Robert Smith and the band Bauhaus were among its attendees. Soon, Klein was selling Batcave t-shirts designed with BOY London, the cult punk label founded in 1976. But when Klein opened the Batcave at a strip club and propped up a coffin for the door, he didn\u2019t anticipate a petri dish that spawned a global aesthetic \u2013 he wanted a DIY hangout for his band Specimen to play on Wednesday nights and dress up. \u201cWearing black in bohemian poverty culture is an easy way to make everything match,\u201d he recalls, now 66 years old.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Back then, goth was outr\u00e9 to the extreme. If a young person with a head of hairspray and a face as chalky as a Georgian socialite hailed a taxi, they would likely be turned away \u2013 possibly beaten up. But the movement was obscurely defined, Klein explains. \u201cThe Batcave had zero brand awareness,\u201d he remembers, fondly. Word spread by flyers that littered the floors of Kensington Market, the legendary alt shopping arcade home to the era\u2019s tattoo artists and maverick fashion labels, which got demolished in 2001.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"3b0f0f93-050b-475f-a619-b48e00c3942d\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450053.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450053.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Pure Sex England x <span class=\"nowrap\">Batcave launch<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gia Jones<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Now, in 2026, the Batcave merch worn by the first-ever goths makes a comeback thanks to a collaboration with the 80s postpunk brand Pure Sex, which was revived this year after a three-decade hiatus. Founded by Dave Darcy in the mid-80s after he vacated his position as director of BOY London, Pure Sex channelled fetish and zine culture in a way that, Darcy feels, BOY no longer did. The boutique, with its studded harnesses and vinyl dresses, became the new counter-cultural breeding ground. To them, true style began in struggle and in attitude. Last Saturday night at Aro Archive in Shoreditch, we met the minds behind its comeback: Gareth Emmett, director of BOY\u2019s 2012 revival, art director Joe Sangre and Darcy himself. For one week only, Aro Archive will host a pop-up exhibiting previously unseen Batcave archive garments and selling reproductions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>From the originals like Klein with their iconic tales, to a younger generation dressed in Pure Sex merch, all ages mix at the launch party. What becomes clear is that goth today is less a simulacrum of the past than a nod to it \u2013 each rendition adds a new layer without simply imitating it. The defining sound was once rock bands like Joy Division, but that\u2019s now superseded by electronic groups such as Molchat Doma. Young Londoners dance at darkwave night <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/70461\/1\/in-pictures-best-looks-london-vampire-ball-street-style-necropolis-festival\"><span>Necropolis<\/span><\/a><span> and art rave Inferno, without wishing they had been born earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Elsewhere at the launch-turned-reunion, Blitz Club founder Rusty Egan is playfully hounding Batcave founder Klein. \u201cDidn\u2019t I get you signed?\u201d he jokes. \u201cDidn\u2019t I get you a record deal?!\u201d. Before the Batcave there was the Blitz Club, where Bowie-inspired New Romantics like Princess Julia danced to glam rock. Derek Ridgers, who at the time worked for <\/span><em><span>Time Out<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019s nightlife section, told us: \u201cHappening right after the New Romantic scene \u2013 which could certainly be a bit snooty and exclusive at times \u2013 the Batcave seemed to let anyone in. It was a very relaxed and friendly place, inclusive to everyone and not just the nascent goths.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"f536b9b3-7609-4245-9117-b48e00c39f33\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450058.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pure Sex England x Batcave launch\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450058.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Pure Sex England x <span class=\"nowrap\">Batcave launch<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gia Jones<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Darcy shows us a photograph of a shop assistant in shimmery makeup and a red vinyl biker jacket perched on the leopard print counter. \u201cIt was more of a continuous party than a shop,\u201d he says of his old boutique in Kensington Market. An editor of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/37284\/1\/skin-two-the-mag-that-captured-the-zeitgeist-of-londons-fetish-scene\"><span>fetish magazine <\/span><em><span>Skin Two<\/span><\/em><\/a><span> and founder of a lasciviously named brand, Darcy confesses to having \u201clots of unhealthy interests.\u201d The postpunk scene was full of \u201cpeople who make their look, their style and their life a work of art,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAll I ever wanted was to wake up next to them in the morning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Logomania was in its heyday when BOY\u2019s confident graphic logo found prominence in the 70s. Darcy continues: \u201cWe were just trying to dress our friends. But I got scared of success. I remember seeing three arseholes in Birmingham wearing BOY, and I thought: I\u2019ve got to stop working for BOY. That\u2019s when I started Pure Sex.\u201d In his view, BOY had deteriorated into being tacky and commercial, void of its original provocative spirit. With the Pure Sex relaunch, he hopes to avoid that same fate. But to him, this isn\u2019t a revival: \u201cI\u2019m not looking to recreate the past. I\u2019m looking to take parts of it and use the ideology for the present.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou probably see the 80s as quite mythological now?\u201d a random man at the party asks wryly. \u201cPhones preclude anything underground from lasting now.\u201d Gen Z\u2019s nostalgia is far from baseless romanticisation. Subcultures, and the fashion that shaped them, thrived in an era when DIY spaces, like the Batcave and Kensington Market, were still abundant. By looking back in time, we\u2019re reminded of the existential threat fast fashion and property development pose to identity-making. You can buy a mass-produced grunge outfit from Shein in seconds, but you can\u2019t ship an entire scene to your doorstep. The Batcave t-shirt is a relic from when merch was for repping your own club night, or supporting your friend\u2019s band \u2013 not part of an industry that rips motifs from the underground and sells the aesthetic back to us.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/70676\/1\/pure-sex-england-photos-relaunch-cult-80s-goth-brand-batcave-boy-london&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/0-615-2000-1333\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1450\/0\/1450052.jpg&#8221;] Photography Gia Jones July\u00a0 21,\u00a0 2026 Fashion \/ Feature Fashion \/ Feature Pure Sex: Photos from the relaunch of the cult 80s goth brand The newly revived Pure Sex England has teamed with iconic club night Batcave, and we met the minds behind the next era of goth July\u00a0 21,\u00a0 2026 July\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-2053928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2053928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2053928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2053928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2053928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}