Fashion Records

Lore & Background

Fashion Records was the brainchild of John MacGillivray and Chris Lane, reggae disciples and acolytes, and was a spin-off from MacGillivray's Dub Vendor record store. The first Fashion record release, Dee Sharp's 'Let's Dub It Up', reached the top of the UK reggae chart in 1980. For the next decade, both British reggae musicians and Jamaican citizens travelling in Britain recorded for the label, including Keith Douglas, Carlton Manning, Alton Ellis, Carlton Lewis, and Johnnie Clarke.

In 1982, in the basement of the new Dub Vendor store in Clapham Junction, Fashion Records opened a four-track studio, which was Lane's 'A-Class' dub-cutting facility upgraded. The label became a pivotal point for the emergence of British MC culture, providing an outlet for MCs such as Papa Face, Laurel & Hardy, Pato Banton, Bionic Rhona, Macka B, and Asher Senator. Smiley Culture had a big reggae success in 1984 with 'Cockney Translation', and his follow-up 'Police Officer' climbed to number 12 in the UK singles chart in 1986, leading to an appearance on BBC's Top of the Pops.

By 1988, the label opened a new 16-track set up at A-Class Studio in Forest Hill, London. The following two years brought further reggae chart success, with Janet Lee Davis's 'Two Timing Lover' and Cutty Ranks's 'The Stopper' both hitting number one. A crossover onto the UK singles chart was Louchie Lou & Michie One's cover of the Isley Brothers' 'Shout', licensed to London Records. In early 1997, the A-Class Studio was relocated and rebuilt, and the label continued working on new singles and albums with artists including Janet Lee Davis, Starkey Banton, Alton Ellis, and others.

Reader's Guide

Fashion Records holds significance as one of the few British reggae labels to operate its own recording studio, enabling it to produce and release records that shaped UK reggae from the 1980s onward. The label was instrumental in the emergence of British MC culture, providing a platform for artists like Smiley Culture, whose 'Police Officer' achieved mainstream chart success. Fashion also supported the shift toward ragga and dancehall genres in the mid-1980s, with Barry Boom's 'Wicked Shall Fall' becoming a sought-after dubplate on the Jah Shaka sound system. The label's influence extended into the 1990s with UK reggae chart hits and crossovers into the UK singles chart, as well as supplying vocals to the UK garage hit 'RipGroove'. After becoming inactive from 2000, Fashion Records relaunched in the 2010s with a re-release schedule, making its back catalogue available again through Believe Digital.

Did You Know?

• Fashion Records was a spin-off from John MacGillivray's Dub Vendor record store.
• Fashion Records supplied vocals to the UK garage hit 'RipGroove' by Double 99 featuring Top Cat.

Origins: From Record Shop to Reggae Powerhouse

Born from the shelves of a record shop, Fashion Records emerged in the mid-1980s as the creative offspring of Dub Vendor, a London reggae store run by John MacGillivray. Together with his collaborator Chris Lane, MacGillivray transformed their shared devotion to the genre into a full-fledged independent label. Their debut single, Dee Sharp's "Let's Dub It Up," shot straight to the top of the UK reggae chart in 1980, announcing the imprint's arrival with undeniable force. What set Fashion apart from the handful of other British reggae operations was its commitment to in-house production — a rarity that gave the duo direct creative control over every recording. Over the following decade, the label became a magnet for both homegrown British artists and Jamaican musicians passing through the country, capturing performances by names such as Keith Douglas, Carlton Manning, Alton Ellis, Carlton Lewis, and Johnnie Clarke. This dual focus on local and international talent established Fashion as one of the more commercially successful UK-based reggae labels of its era.

The Clapham Junction Studio and the Birth of British MC Culture

In 1982, the basement of the newly relocated Dub Vendor shop at Clapham Junction became the birthplace of Fashion's four-track recording studio, built around an upgraded version of Chris Lane's A-Class dub-cutting rig. That modest space would go on to play a defining role in the birth of British MC culture, providing a creative home for a generation of vocalists including Papa Face, Laurel & Hardy, Pato Banton, Bionic Rhona, Macka B, and Asher Senator. The dub-cutting facility also attracted high-profile visitors: Paul Robinson of One Blood, working under the alias Barry Boom, scored several Fashion hits, while Maxi Priest became a regular presence. Lane contributed guitar and percussion to Priest's backing band Caution and engineered her 1985 debut album, You're Safe. The studio's technical staff also grew into the wider industry — engineers Gussie P and Frenchie each went on to launch their own production labels, Sip-A-Cup and Maximum Sound. By the mid-1980s, Fashion sat squarely at the centre of the genre's shift toward ragga and dance-hall, with Barry Boom's dubplate "Wicked Shall Fall" (also known as "Crack of the Whip") becoming a staple on the Jah Shaka sound system.

Chart Breakthroughs and Crossover Ambitions

By the mid-1980s, Fashion had moved beyond the reggae-specific charts and into the broader UK singles landscape. Smiley Culture's 1984 hit "Cockney Translation" set the stage, but it was his follow-up "Police Officer" that broke through to number twelve on the UK singles chart and earned him a slot on BBC's Top of the Pops. The label's momentum carried into the late 1980s, when it had expanded to a sixteen-track setup at A-Class Studio in Forest Hill. That period produced back-to-back number-one reggae chart hits: Janet Lee Davis with "Two Timing Lover" and Cutty Ranks with "The Stopper." Crossover ambitions paid off commercially when Louchie Lou & Michie One's cover of the Isley Brothers' "Shout" was licensed to London Records, and General Levy's catalogue followed a similar path. Into the 1990s, Fashion's roster — which included Peter Hunnigale, Sanchez, and General Degree — continued to generate hits in the UK, Jamaica, and the US, while the studio also contributed vocals to the UK garage track "RipGroove" for Double 99 featuring Top Cat.

Dormancy, Revival, and a Lasting Footprint

From 2000 onward, Fashion Records fell quiet, with no new projects undertaken for several years. Yet the imprint's catalogue never fully disappeared. A planned re-release programme eventually materialised, with the first batch of albums appearing on 19 March through the digital distributor Believe Digital. That initial wave comprised nine classic Fashion albums alongside a new compilation, Fashion in Finestyle – Significant Hits Volume One. The relaunch generated fresh critical attention, with features in Dummy Mag, Echoes, The Wire, and United Reggae, while MacGillivray and Lane sat in for a session on David Rodigan's Kiss FM show to discuss the label's history and spin their favourite tracks. In April 2012, a limited-edition twelve-inch on Nice Up! Records, titled "Inna Nice Up!", offered new life to the catalogue through a Serial Killaz remix and a Dub Pistols remix. The label's footprint also extended through its subsidiary imprints — Fine Style, Top Notch, and Arthur D — under which artists like Michael Gordon, Nerious Joseph, and Winsome released material, ensuring Fashion's influence rippled well beyond its own name.