Pet Shop Boys' Visual Legacy Explored Through Artist and Photographer Perspectives

A 600-page publication examines the groundbreaking visual identity of Pet Shop Boys, including their costumes, album sleeves, and music videos. In 1988, artist Wolfgang Tillmans tore down an A0 poster advertising the duo's album Introspective from a Hamburg building site, impressed by its abstract colored bar design. Around the same period in Doncaster, teenager Alasdair McLellan admired keyboardist Chris Lowe's style, particularly noting his cap, striped T-shirt, and Issey Miyake glasses on the Suburbia single cover. The Pet Shop Boys discuss their approach of 'side-stepping the pop-star thing' in the book. Their visual presentations sometimes faced censorship, such as EMI having to censor a naked trampolinist. The duo also recall snubbing the queen and an incident where Barbara Windsor smacked their bottoms. Tillmans, now an established artist, reflects on how the group's aesthetic felt 'one level more abstract' for its time. McLellan, who became a prominent fashion photographer, considered Lowe 'the best-dressed man of the 80s.' The publication celebrates these visual elements that defined the band's cultural impact beyond their music.