Style Iconoclasts: Chris and Cosey

Initially I was going to make this a posting solely on ex-model/performance artist/musician/sex goddess Cosey Fanny Tutti, since she is so dynamic and so fascinating. But while going through all of my photos of her, it was hard to exclude Chris, her love, life partner and band mate, from this posting. Their love is so strong, so moving, I thought this would make a wonderful Valentine edition of Style Iconoclast(s).

Chris Carter was a handsome, sweet faced young man who worked as a TV sound engineer during the day. At night, he designed visuals for bands like Hawkwind.

Cosey Fanny Tutti (born Christina Newby) was an saucy ex-model/stripper/installation and performance artist who performed with the Coum Transmission, a Dada performance group, with her then lover Genesis P-Orridge



She and Orridge dabbled in taboos, early S&M culture and were notorious for pissing off the entire British Government with their performance pieces (that included nudity, blood and "mutilation").


Carter met Orridge and Tutti. They shortly formed Throbbing Gristle, one of the greatest bands ever.

Well, you can understand his attraction to her. I'd hit that too.


Love ensues during recording sections (can you imagine them slipping notes to each other between sets. I bet that's where "October Love Song" came from). The end of TG would fall when Tutti had to break with Orridge. He went ballistic and miserably tried to commit suicide.

Throbbing style (Cosey and her leather, vinyl, leggings and red polish. Chris and his charmingly dapper suits and sweaters). Genesis would move on to; form a cult, become transgendered and would get a boob job. Sleazy would form Coil, the Threshold HouseBoys Choir and would move to Thailand.

After Throbbing Gristle, these two love birds would create two babies; one being the Chris and Cosey music project (now called Carter Tutti) and the second would be a handsome boy named Nick (who would inherit both parents good looks)


One of the greatest documents of their love



Chris and Cosey are now in their mid-late 60s and it seems their love for each other is undying. For huge TG fans, or stalkers, here is Chris' flickr photostream for tour pictures he took, pictures of their cat Tizzy, and images capturing how much he is in love with Cosey.

Most photos taken by Chris Carter himself, TG images, random promotional stuff, Chris and Cosey image from their album Trance.