PRINCESS JULIA- U.K. CREATIVE ICON
KILLA KELA: If I was to define you and that the walks that I’ve seen you pass from punk through to the 80s new romantics era and beyond, I feel like the word curiosity would sum it up best. You love to discover things and find things; you seem to be always at the forefront of that.
PRINCESS JULIA: I do love hearing about what people are up to. I’m quite nosy but I’m very excited about people, making plans and if somebody comes to me with an idea of something, I’m the first one in the queue going come on then! go on! get it, get it!
KILLA KELA: You’ve transcended so many genres and you’ve just kind of kept going, it’s always been like this long-standing thing that you’re a part of the London scene. Talk to me about that.
PRINCESS JULIA: I am very much part of the London scene, but I also sort of see myself as part of the sort of global scene. I’ve always felt like I’m part of a a wider community of free-thinking. I feel like the world is a creative collective and everywhere I go in the world and in London I tend to gravitate towards people that are thinking in the same sort of way as I do, and I think it’s really exciting and enlightening. I get asked a lot about subcultures and I always think there’s the sort of threads of creativity spanning the decades so I never really tend to look back, although I will pay my respects and homage to legacies and realise that those people and moments are important. Ideas don’t spring out thin air, they’re coming from somewhere so I find that really interesting how things connect and how all those things meld together. There’s always something new, a different way of looking at something, a different way of doing something but with a reference to something that’s gone before and that makes life exciting.
KILLA KELA: Tell me about the New Romantics, Blitz Kids, late 70s era.
PRINCESS JULIA: I feel it’s very important that time is represented still. There was a group of people in the mid 70s that formed a collective, but I was just on the cusp of that really, I was just a little bit too young to be involved in the the punk scene although it was happening. By the end of ‘77 most of the punk bands had got signed up it was already going into another phase. There was also a very vibrant soul scene going on and disco scene so the blitz really or the new romantic scene was the sort of conglomeration of quite a few different scene. There was a rockabilly scene, there was a soul scene, there was a disco scene and then there was a punk scene, all in equal measure those were the collectives of people that were gravitating towards creating this little new romantic scene. The gay disco scenes were really important because a lot of the time in the punk scene the gigs would end at like 11 o’clock or something so there’d be nowhere to go and so the gay scene was the scene where we could all go and be welcomed.
The new romantics was very inventive of all the people in all the different scenes involved. It was something that wasn’t really planned too much, there was a spontaneity to it and really from my perspective it was it was all about getting dressed up and getting ready to go out and finding a space for us to have some fun. From that catalyst it spawned a sort of platform for the 80s to happen and it was mixture of you know pure bravado and instinctual passion to sort of explore all these creative outlets.
KILLA KELA: You navigate a lot of creative disciplines, knitting, djing, magazines etc. How do you view creativity as a whole?
PRINCESS JULIA: I think really if you’re creative you can navigate various creative disciplines and they are all connected in some sort of way. Being creative means you’re communicating and that’s what humans do they want to communicate with it with each other and on on various sort of levels.
KILLA KELA: You’re friends with Pam Hogg, Judy Blame rest in peace, all these people that you know are part of the landscape in the fashion world, right?
PRINCESS JULIA: I’m interested in fashion and because I’m not actually really in the fashion world as such but I because I love wearing it and I’m interested in it, I am around fashion and various fashion designers and creators, What I’m really interested in process and so I’m always really fascinated by how people go about creating different looks because each one’s different.
KILLA KELA: You also love Djing, What’s your favourite kind of music?
PRINCESS JULIA: Disco. I love dance music, house music and rave music but, it’s all disco to me its various forms. I really established myself in the mid to late 80s as a DJ because before that really djing wasn’t really a proper job, but it sorts of became one by the, I’ve enjoyed and still enjoy djing a lot actually.
KILLA KELA: What words of advice would you give the world right now?
PRINCESS JULIA: Stand your ground for what they believe in. Create things. Don’t be so upset about what other people think of you. Don’t let society’s conditioning get in the way of expressing yourself. There is a sort of sense of comfort in conforming, but I’ve never been one to conform to society’s rules. You don’t need to. Just be yourself.
This week we are digging deep into the archives of the London music scene with one of Soho’s first and original style Icon’s & DJ’s, PRINCESS JULIA. From her early beginnings in the London Music scene & being a part of the New Romantics movement, Julia witnessed the inception of the 80’s music scene and London’s new found sub cultures. From becoming a DJ and figurehead of the Soho scene, Julia became a feature in music video’s, fashion magazines, as well as a Magazine columnist – writing on various cultures across the 80’s, 90’s & 00’s. A figurehead in the fashion world, the gay scene, the LGBTQ+ movement, a pundit on everything 80’s synth, 90’s clubbing and beyond… This is Princess Julia’s Podcast, enjoy!