Cool Britannia
In the 1990s, British creative arts struck a seam of success that coalesced around the idea of ‘Cool Britannia‘. Union Jacks were proudly and patriotically flown, spurred on by England hosting football’s Euro ’96, until the whole concept was somewhat hijacked by politicians and then it faded away, indelibly associated in hindsight with Prime Minister Tony Blair of the Labour Party.
In many ways it paralleled the Swinging ’60s with the usual pushing of barriers by youth culture. In music there were the Spice Girls, Oasis and Blur leading the way; in fashion it was designers Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, with model Kate Moss; art had the weird creations of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin; films like ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ stormed the box office; and literature saw sensational success with the Harry Potter series, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ and ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’.
Edinburgh-born Sir Anthony Charles Lynton (“Tony”) Blair (1953-) became Labour leader in 1994 and his comparative youth chimed perfectly with a public desire for something different after 18 years of Conservatism. Blair used the Cool Britannia vibe in his campaigning and his so-called ‘New Labour’ government was elected in 1997. Britannia was then quietly dismissed for a while.
(Image: Peter Barwick at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)