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Soo Catwoman

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Soo Catwoman
Born
Susan Lucas

United Kingdom
Occupation(s)Actor, model

Susan Lucas, better known as Soo Catwoman, was a member of London's early punk subculture.[1] Lucas was active in the London punk scene between 1976 and 1978, where she became a muse of photographer Bob Gruen and befriended the members of the Sex Pistols. Her distinctive, cat-influenced hairstyle is an iconic image within punk, and has led to her being featured in publications including the Guardian and News of the World. Her image has influenced other pop culture figures such as Keith Flint, and fashion designers including Junya Watanabe, Chanel, Obey and Mugler.

Biography

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She began developing her distinctive hairstyle in 1972, when she began to spike up the sides of her hair in reference to Bride of Frankenstein, while also having a pink-striped fringe. Displeased with always having to style this hair, in 1976 she had the middle of her head shaved in an Ealing barbershop.[2] She used Vicks VapoRub to style this cut.[3] This haircut led to her and Marco Pirroni being approached by a woman in summer 1976 to join Club Louise,[4] a lesbian club on Poland Street, where she befriended the members of London's early punk scene.[5] It was also at the club that she also met photographer Bob Gruen, whom she soon became a muse for.[2]

In the following years, Lucas became an increasingly prominent figure within the scene, being featured on the front cover of punk zines Society Today and Society Today, bands' t-shirts, record sleeves, posters, flyers and was used by some mainstream news publications as an example of punk's effect on the youth.[2] One prominent example of this was a few weeks before the 100 Club Punk Special, when Lucas along with Simone Thomas, Debbie Wilson and Big Sharon were approached on Park Lane by a photographer and paid £15 to be photographed. These photos were then published in a Sunday issue of the News of the World as a part of a moral panic article claiming the four were prostitutes.[6] She was particularly close with Sex Pistols members John Lydon and Sid Vicious,[4] sharing a flat with Vicious during this period.[2] Lucas was frequently pictured by Ray Stevenson posing with members of the original fans of the Sex Pistols known as the Bromley Contingent such as Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin and Billy Idol.[7] While she was also associated with the Bromley Contingent by all the journalists, she later claimed not to have been a member.[8] By 1978, she was a mother of two, leading to her becoming less involved in the scene.[2]

Influence

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As punk enter mainstream knowledge, Lucas became one of its most iconic images,[9][10] with NME crediting her as one of the creators of punk fashion.[11] In The Filth and the Fury, John Lydon singles her out among the early London punks, citing her "skill, style, and bravery".[12] She appeared in the Sex Pistol's 1980 mockumentary the Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, she was portrayed by Judy Croll,[13] and in the FX miniseries Pistol (2022), portrayed by Iris Law.[14]

Lucas's fashion style has been referenced by fashion boutiques and designers including Junya Watanabe, Chanel, Obey and Mugler.[2] Her distinctive hairstyle influenced the Prodigy's Keith Flint to adopt a similar haircut in the 1990s, which in turn briefly became popular during 2021 under the name "hair horns".[15]

Filmography

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Appearances

Portrayals

References

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  1. ^ Gorman, Paul (9 April 2020). The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren: The Biography. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 329. Anarchy in the UK No. 1 used exclusive images taken by Ray Stevenson of the Pistols as well as The Clash and Suburban Sect in performance at the 100 Club. Most striking was a sequence shot of revels at the St James's apartment of Sex customer and dominatrix Linda Ashby featuring members of the Bromley Contingent. These resulted in the front-cover portrait of the young Pistols superfan Susan Lucas, known as Soo Catwoman for her feline haircut.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rodgers, Daniel (22 March 2021). "Soo Catwoman: the legendary punk icon behind Junya's AW21 collection". Dazed. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. ^ Marshall, Bertie (31 October 2007). Berlin Bromley. SAF Publishing Ltd. p. 68. The other person who thought she was a part of the Bromley Contingent was someone called Sue Cat Woman [sic]. What could one say about such a creature? Well, she fucked everyone's boyfriend and, like Philip, barged her way into the milieu. Rotten apparently thought she was interesting - his faux pas - she thought she could replace Jordan but didn't have the charisma or the originality, she was in the right place at the right time with that one look. She used Vicks mentholated rub on her hairdo, so she stank
  4. ^ a b Andrews, Stef (26 January 2009). "An interview with Soo Catwoman, part 1". Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  5. ^ Gorman, Paul (9 April 2020). The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren: The Biography. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 332. Gruen broke the return to the US from a visit to continental Europe with a stay in the British capital. Eager that his American friend should document the burgeoning social scene around the Pistols, McLaren found Gruen a place in a rooming house in west London and took him directly to Club Louise, the Soho lesbian bar which had been adopted by the group and their followers – including Jordan, Siouxsie, Soo Catwoman, Marco Pirroni and Philip Sallon – as a late-night haunt.
  6. ^ Marko, Paul (2007). The Roxy London Wc2: A Punk History. Punk 77 Books. p. 332. A few week before the 100 Club thing Soo, Debbie Wilson, big Sharon and Simone (who is the black girl with the peroxide hair on the Grundy thing) were paid fifteen quid by the News of the World to have their photos taken standing about on Park Lane pretending to be hookers which was used in a Sunday shock horror piece by the papers. None of them were hookers at the time but Debbie and big Sharon became streetwalkers later on. No one was shocked as it was quite normal for girls on the scene to dabble in this "looking for Trade down the Dilly" is what they did after Louise's.
  7. ^ "The Bromley Contingent". Punk77.co.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  8. ^ Oh, and I also need to say this: I never was a member of the so-called Bromley Contingent, I just knew them, I have never claimed, nor do I have any connections whatsoever with Bromley – either of them... Soo Catwoman on Myspace
  9. ^ Bushell, Garry (26 April 2010). Hoolies: True Stories of Britain's Biggest Street Battles. John Blake. p. 47. Soo Lucas, better known as Soo Catwoman, whose self-created hairstyle became punk's most distinctive female look"
  10. ^ Baddeley, Gavin (29 June 2015). Street Culture: 50 Years of Subculture Style. Plexus Publishing Limited. Soo Catwoman, one of the original icons of punk.
  11. ^ Shutler, Ali (4 April 2022). "Punk legend Jordan – aka Pamela Rooke – has died". NME. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  12. ^ The Filth and the Fury (2000, dir. Julien Temple, VHS/NTSC)
  13. ^ Trivedi, Dhruv (June 2022). "Where is Soo Catwoman Now?". Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  14. ^ Gregory, Elizabeth (31 May 2022). "Pistol on Disney+: A guide to the real-life punks who brought anarchy to the UK". Evening Standard. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  15. ^ Reidy, Tess (29 August 2021). "The devil's in the detail: hair horns become summer's hot new trend". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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