Dr. Fred Vermorel

Associate Professor of Communication

Fred Vermorel was awarded his BA from Westminster University, his MA from the University of Sussex, and his PhD from Kingston University. He has also studied at the Sorbonne and the Royal College of Art.

His writing and teaching is interdisciplinary and aims to fuse studio-based and academic interests. It draws on his experience in the music industry, and in fashion and design related journalism. One of his main interests is the process and function of creative research in the arts and academia.

Courses Taught

Mass Communication and Society COM 316
Senior Seminar in Communication COM 491
Fashion and Mass Media

Book Publications

Reissue of Starlust, Faber, 2011 (Electronic book), http://www.faber.co.uk/work/starlust/9780571280766/
Addicted to Love: the Kate Moss Story, Omnibus Press, spring 2006 – revised and updated edition, June 2007
Sex Pistols: documentary CD, LTM Publishing, April, 2003
From Couture to Chaos, Encyclopaedia of Fashion, (Ed.) Paul Smith, Politikens Forlag, Denmark, (12 entries), 2002
Fashion and Perversity, Bloomsbury, 1996, Overlook Press/Penguin USA, 1997
Jon Savage and Hanif Kureshi (Eds), Faber Book of Pop, (One chapter) 1997
“Glimpses inside the Fan Factory,” In Lisa Lewis (Ed), The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, Routledge 1992
Simon Frith & Andrew Goodwin (Eds), On Record, (One chapter) Pantheon New York 1990
Fandemonium, Omnibus 1990
Starlust, WH Allen 1984, (made into BBC2 documentary, book is contracted for update)
The Secret History of Kate Bush, Omnibus, 1983
Malcolm Poynter, Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, 1980
Sex Pistols: The Inside Story, WH Allen 1978, Omnibus/Music Sales 1981 – still in print, translations in Japanese, Italian, German, Russian and French

Broadcasts since 2006

Consultancy and appearances on TV and radio related to Kate Moss biography, an ITV series on Punk Rock, a TV documentary for Dutch public broadcasting TV on Kate Bush and her fans; a documentary for TV and DVD distribution about Depeche Mode and its current global audience; TV, radio and print interviews relating to 30th anniversary of punk; ditto, relating to the death of Malcolm McLaren.

Books in Progress

Anti-Christ: Origins of the punk aesthetic, 1975-76, (commissioned by Solar Books, due for 2012)
Chapter in Mark Duffett (Ed), Popular Music Fandom: Identities, Roles and Practices, Routledge, (due for 2013)
The Body of Miss Jean Townsend: 1950s London and its bohemian subcultures, (being negotiated by Artellus Ltd, proposed for 2013)

Current Research Projects Near Completion

Handbook on researching and writing, commissioned by the Centre for Research into Human Communication and Learning, (updated from 1996 publication)
Untitled book on the popular reception of psychoanalysis
Inappropriate Communications: cultural history of celebrity and fanhood from the 19th century to the present