The boutique was the brainchild of two young Londoners, Nigel Waymouth and Sheila Cohen, who were looking for an outlet for Cohen's ever-increasing collection of antique clothes. Waymouth, a freelance journalist, came up with the name and was offered the premises at 488
Kings Road,
Chelsea, London, a previously unfashionable part of the road known as the
World's End. In the summer of 1965, John Pearse who had trained as a tailor on
Savile Row, agreed to join them in the venture. The shop opened in early 1966. By the spring of 1966, the shop had achieved worldwide renown, including a feature in
Time magazine "London: The Swinging City". They paved the way for many of the designer boutiques that followed, such as Mr. Freedom, Alkasura, Let It Rock, and later the more ambitious enterprises of
Malcolm McLaren and
Vivienne Westwood and
Paul Smith. Over the next eight years the shop clothed London's fashionable young men and women, including many major rock performers. A constant stream of people visited the shop, especially on Saturdays during the weekly King's Road Parade. Initially the ambience was a mixture of New Orleans
bordello == Acquisition by Freddie Hornik and opening of US outlets ==