OUT OF FASHION E12 | KARLO STEEL | The Face 1984 - 1985 | Ray Petri | Jamie Morgan

Stylist Ray Petri and photographer Jamie Morgan's Buffalo aesthetic change the way men dressed. Ray Petri was the reason why I got into fashion. Before becoming aware of him, I had no idea that styling was an actual profession. That January 1984 issue of The Face opened up an entirely new world for me. The cover seemed so fresh and vibrant (Neville Brody's art direction made everything dance), light years away from GQ or Esquire. Brother Nick and Barry Kamen were Petri’s star models and I fell in love with them. But Simon de Montford, Wade Tolera and especially Tony Felix stole my heart as well. I found them impossibly cool. After seeing the November 1984 issue, I wore an American flag as a skirt and was nearly arrested for it when the car I was in skidded off the road and the police arrived. I bought my first MA-1 bomber in 1986 to complete my Buffalo look and occasionally sported an small Band Aid on my right eyebrow in nightclubs. I wanted to be in Petri’s world. I was devastated when I learned of his death in 1989. I felt cheated. His last editorial “The Long Goodbye” (Arena, Nov 1989), with Nick and Barry Kamen in black suits and biker boots, remains one of my favorite fashion stories of all time, a sombre epilogue for all the dizzying stylistic changes the 1980s presented us with. The fashion world, and myself, would have to face 1990s without Petri, but his influence would prove to be eternal.