Exactly four decades ago, the lens of cult photographer Derek Ridgers captured the island&rsquo;s most wild and wonderful ensembles. L'OFFICIEL IBIZA revisits his iconic 1984 images in time for Halloween.

Derek Ridgers' photographs of Ibiza&rsquo;s KU Club in 1984 captured a vibrant, surreal, and avant-garde nightlife that went far beyond typical club scenes. KU, a sprawling open-air venue with unique features like a swimming pool and a waterslide, became an international draw for unconventional, daring costumes. Revelers&mdash;particularly at <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/find-the-perfect-halloween-costume-in-ibiza-luna-menta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Halloween</a> - wore eclectic attire that blended punk, glam, and theatrical styles&mdash;some flaunting bold makeup, metallic accessories, and mesh, while others adopted personas that leaned into fantasy or art deco inspirations. These outfits and the venue&rsquo;s atmosphere represented the liberation and hedonism that defined the era&rsquo;s nightlife and foreshadowed Ibiza&rsquo;s influence on global club culture​
The photos remained underappreciated at first but became iconic as KU helped launch trends like <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/beat-hotel-ibiza-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Balearic beats</a> and rave culture, blending eclectic styles in costumes and music that fueled Ibiza&rsquo;s&nbsp; legendary allure as the decadent playground of everybody&rsquo;s imagination.

When the young British <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/l-officiel-ibiza-photographer-emile-durrer-gasse-opens-solo-exhibition-at-la-palo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photographer</a> arrived in Ibiza in 1984, it was a revelation. &lsquo;I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw the colourful and vibrant nightlife in the island&rsquo;s capital. Although much of the rest of the island was colonised by young British holiday makers, Ibiza Town and the beaches and bars in its immediate vicinity were completely different. It was upscale and more pan-European, and at night the streets and bars around the harbour transformed into a hot and heady version of what was happening in London at places like the Camden Palace, The Batcave, Heaven and The Wag. It was all extremely photogenic.'

A few miles outside <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/five-charming-restaurants-in-ibiza-town-s-sa-penya-district" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ibiza Town</a> was the fabled nightclub KU (later Privilege) where Ridgers found the scene&rsquo;s most dedicated denizens, for whom freedom, costume and hedonism went hand in hand. &lsquo;KU was vast &ndash; the largest nightclub in Europe - and it stayed open until dawn. With its central swimming pool and dragon's head waterslide, it was more like an elaborate Hollywood film set than a club. There were very few Brits there and the clientele were - to me at least &ndash; extraordinarily glamourous, in leopard print and leotards and outlandish &ndash; usually homemade &ndash; headgear. It was a total eye-opener and would change my creative outlook forever.'

Ridgers knew that his camera had captured something special but was unsure of who else might understand the importance of his images. &lsquo;I didn't think any of the many magazines I worked for at the time had picked up on what was going on in Ibiza. When I got home, I printed the best of my photos and took them into [cult pop culture magazine] <a href="https://theface.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Face</a>. I tried to persuade them that there was a decent story there but Paul Rambali, the features editor at that time, said to me, &lsquo;Why would our readers be interested in what's happening in Ibiza?&rsquo; Those were his exact words and I remember them clearly. I was very disappointed that they couldn't see what I could see. At the time, The Face had a worldwide reputation as trend spotters and style setters which was mostly deserved. They weren't always the first to spot a trend, but they were usually the most visible in doing so. Back in 1980, when The Face was still predominantly a music magazine, they famously ran six pages of my photographs of the Blitz Kids; they called it The Cult with No Name. In hindsight I should have been more persuasive with my Ibiza images. I guess I just thought they weren&rsquo;t good enough.'

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/derekridgers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ridgers&rsquo; Ibiza series</a> went unpublished and largely unseen until the collection was unearthed in 2013. A subsequent exhibition at London&rsquo;s Institute of Contemporary Arts &ndash; entitled Moments in Love &ndash; finally brought the portfolio the attention it deserves.

Halloween at KU in 1984: 40 years on from Ibiza's halcyon days

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