More than 16 years have passed since Malcolm McLaren's death, and even longer since his anarchistic heyday managing the Sex Pistols. Yet the impresario of punk, fashion designer, artist, and music producer is still causing chaos—or at least his death mask is.
The Death Mask Controversy
The mould was taken from McLaren's body at a London funeral parlour shortly after he died of cancer in 2010, aged 64. Cast in a mixture of bronze powder and resin, it appeared last month at Bonhams' 50 Years of Punk auction with an estimated price of £4,000 to £6,000. Since then, the deeply dysfunctional McLaren family has been fighting bitterly.
Stuart Edwards, McLaren's elder brother and a former black cab driver now in his 80s, put the mask up for sale—along with a Cartier watch and what he claims is Malcolm's childhood cricket bat—after what he calls 'a bit of a cupboard clear out.'
Joe Corre, McLaren's only son with Dame Vivienne Westwood and the Agent Provocateur entrepreneur, was cut out of his father's will but insists he commissioned and paid for the mould and death mask. Specialist sculptor Nick Reynolds—son of Bruce Reynolds, reputed mastermind of the 1963 Great Train Robbery—made and cast at least three, possibly more, sculptures from the mould.
Young Kim, 54, the Korean-born American writer who was McLaren's partner for the last 12 years of his life and his sole beneficiary, says she commissioned the mould but never gave permission for a cast to be made or sold. 'I just thought it was the sort of romantic 19th-century thing that might appeal to Malcolm,' she explains. 'And when the funeral home suggested it, I knew if we'd ever want one in the future, this was the only time to make the mould.'
Accusations of Cashing In
Young accuses McLaren's family of treating him as a 'cash cow.' 'Stuart already sold all their childhood photos and wouldn't even let us see them. He'd be happy to sell anything of Malcolm,' she says. She is also furious with Bonhams, claiming they were 'squeezing every last drop of blood' from his legacy and didn't check the mask's provenance—a claim the auction house disputes.
'This sale was like someone dragging his body through the streets,' Young says. 'It was very, very upsetting. Obscene. Grotesque. And the worst thing is no one will tell me how many more masks are hanging around.'
Family Dynamics and Past Grievances
Young is particularly critical of Joe Corre, alleging he was cruel to Malcolm. 'He'd curse at him on the phone and call him "a dirty old Jew."' Joe denies this, calling the comment 'so disgusting it's laughable.' Young also claims Joe pushed Malcolm down the stairs, which Joe calls a 'fabrication.' She adds that Joe sold T-shirts at Malcolm's funeral for £40 or £50, claiming they were for charity, but she doubts it.
Young loathed Vivienne Westwood, dismissing her as someone with no direction or education who lived on Malcolm's creative coat tails. 'Without him, she'd have been someone's housewife, if she was lucky. He created her.'
Meeting Malcolm
Young met Malcolm in 1998 at a Vivienne Westwood after-party in Paris and fell instantly in love. At 25, she was 27 years his junior and unaware of his chaotic past with the Sex Pistols. Under his 'cash from chaos' ethos, he pushed the band to extremes until it imploded, with Sid Vicious dying of a heroin overdose and the band suing McLaren for unpaid royalties.
Despite his difficult nature—'Right from the beginning, he was always trying to get rid of me, testing me, winding me up, being nasty'—Young adored him. She attributes his struggles to a dysfunctional childhood: his father left when he was two, and his mother neglected him. At age three, after falling from his cot and breaking his wrist, no one visited or collected him from hospital, and he ended up in an orphanage until his grandmother tracked him down.
Marriage and Estrangement
McLaren met Vivienne Westwood when he was 19 and she was five years older, already with a son. Young claims Westwood 'trapped him and ruined his life' by becoming pregnant. McLaren didn't bond with Joe and sent him and Ben off to boarding school as soon as possible. 'Malcolm should never have been a father. He needed to come first,' Young says, explaining why they never had children.
Relations with Joe deteriorated further by 2008, when McLaren accused his son of selling 'fake' punk clothing, which Joe denied. The alleged stairs incident occurred two years before McLaren's death, after which he didn't see Joe until his final hours in a Swiss hospital in April 2010.
Death and Aftermath
McLaren was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer possibly caused by sheet asbestos in his shop SEX, which he smashed open. Even on his death bed, the family couldn't be civil, arguing about when to announce his death and his last words. Joe insisted they were 'Free Leonard Peltier!'—a cause celebre for Vivienne—which Young says is a lie.
They also rowed over the will, which Joe contested, claiming his father was not of sound mind, but lost. 'They think I'm just the bimbo girlfriend,' Young says. 'But I am not. I don't enjoy the fight, but I do enjoy the win.'
Ongoing Battles
Young has been battling institutions like the V&A, Saatchi, and the Met in New York over proper credit for McLaren's creative input. Last year, she won a case against Sony music over sampling of one of his hits. The death mask fight has been the bitterest yet. 'Why would anyone want it on their wall? It is too sad,' she says.
After Young and her lawyers kicked up a public stink, Bonhams removed Stuart's mask from the sale. Stuart defends his actions: 'My wife thought [the death mask] a bit macabre... but as Joe had given it to me, I didn't want to disrespect him. She allowed me to keep it in the cupboard for 16 years. As we are now getting older, it's time to sort out the house.'
Joe says of Young: 'The woman won't let it go. She's become his perfect last victim. She believes all the wild lies he told.'
What a miserable mess. Will any of them ever be at peace?
