Edwige Belmore & Mathematiques Modernes

Another French legend passes, with the death of Edwige Belmore, style icon of late 70s Paris punk chic scene and half of new wave duo Mathematiques Modernes.

She was a central figure in late 70s France, in a scene that centred around Le Palace nightclub in the 9th arrondisement.  It was a club that mixed the street punk and the jet set, where celebrities like Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Grace Jones and Yves Saint Laurent could go, but were style and attitude were more important than who you were.

It would enter legend like New York's Studio 54, a place where fashion, music and style collided and sparked something new.

Much of what we think of as the style of the 1980s came from this scene, where she was a central figure.

Belmore was an inspiration for the likes of Pierre et Gilles and  Helmut Newton, her style particularly influencing Jean Paul Gaultier.

Her musical career might have been brief, but again it was remarkable.

Mathematiques Modernes released a single Disco-rough in 1980 . It was produced by Jacno,  former member of French punks Stinky Toys and later electro-pop pioneer as a solo artist and as half of Elli and Jacno. Needless to say it's a classic piece of post-punk minimal electro.

They released one album,  Les visiteurs du soir, in 1981. While very much of its era, it's the kind of treasure that has an appeal that has endured.

In 2013, Yelle covered their track A+B=C. The same year, Les visiteurs du soir was re-issued. It quickly sold out.

Rétro: Stinky Toys - Birthday Party

A great clip from a French punk bank from the late 70s. Stinky Toys were from Rennes, and were around from '76 to '79, and were one of the prime movers of the French punk scene.

Like a lot of French punk it doesn't seem to fit our preconceptions of the genre, it doesn't seem aggressive or particularly angry, and more stylish than street.

But the band were right there from the start playing in London at the punk festival at the 100 club in London in 1976, apparently coming across the channel without any instruments or equipment and borrowing their gear from other bands on the bill.

Those other bands included The Clash, Sex Pistols and the Damned and the Buzzcocks. A legendary event that set the agenda for popular music in the UK and abroad for decades.

The band had come into contact with Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren during his time in Paris, and its thought that Stinky Toys singer Elli inspired the punk movement adopting the safety pin as a fashion statement after she wore an outfit adorned with then.

Its strange how contemporary the music clip seems. Kate Moss would be a dead ringer for the singer Elli, while the band sound more like a 2010s indie band than a 70s punk act.

Stinky Toys managed to release two albums during their original career, a self-titled album later re-titled Plastic Faces came out in 1977, but a lack of critical support led to it facing apathy from the record company who did not release it outside France. A second album came out in 1979.

Elli and guitarist Jacno worked as a duo in the 80s after the end of Stinky Toys, both then having solo careers. Elli continues to release music and has a career as an actress, while Jaco died of cancer in 2009.

It's a great clip of the band in their prime, and while the dancing seems to be a little bit less choreographed than we expect these days, I suspect it might be more down to avoiding a wardrobe malfunction than anything else.