Johnny Moke was born John Joseph Rowley in Walthamstow on September 2 1945. In the early 1960s he was a devotee of the Mod movement.
After bumming around Europe (celebrating his 18th birthday in St Tropez)
he got to know the art students who formed the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in the mid sixties. He lent Viv Stanshall a collection of his aunt's 1920s and 1930s jazz records, which the Bonzos went on to cover.
By 1967, with Mick Oram, he was selling antique clothes from the basement of Granny Takes A Trip in the King's Road. Most of his stock was for women, but he also turned old dresses and blouses into shirts or tops for men. The partners then set up as Rowley & Oram at Kensington Market, where their items included shirts repeat-printed with Noddy and dungerees.
It was at about this time that legend has it, Rowley purchased – a bright yellow, red-bumpered Mini Moke after which he came to be known.
Among his customers were Jimi Hendrix, Keith Emerson, Marc Bolan (who bought a sailor-suit made from a pair of 1930s pyjamas) and Ronnie Wood. Moke himself dyed his hair red, yellow, purple and green.
He was the first retailer to stock platform sandals by Terry de Havilland – they were three-tiered patchwork snakeskin ones - which he sold to Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, Britt Ekland, Bette Midler, and Angie Bowie.
In the early 1970s Moke left Kensington Market to open the Hollywood Clothes Shop; installing cinema seats and mannequins of movie stars from the decade on which he displayed his clothes. These included a bomber jacket with elasticated waist and cuffs in boldly-coloured Prince of Wales check which became a favourite of George Harrison. The shop was a critical success but closed in 1972.
In the late 1970s, he was again trading from Kensington Market and Chelsea's Great Gear Market. In 1979 he co-wrote the book Mods! with Richard Barnes. In 1984 he opened his Johnny Moke shop at 396 King's Road. It was one of the last independent boutiques to survive the invasion by multiple retailers, coffee shop chains and mobile phone outlets, and was hugely successful – Boy George was among its loyal customers.
In 1997 Velocifero, the Italian scooter-manufacturer, commissioned him to personalise a new design to be sold in London. He came up with a two-tone navy and white scooter, with matching white dashboard, speedometer, whitewall tyres and a leather seat made by the Rolls-Royce upholsterers Connelly. There was a limited edition of 50 machines, costing £2,900 each.
In the same year he appeared on television to denounce the wearing of trainers: "You don't wear a bikini in the supermarket, so why wear a sports shoe on the high street?" Afterwards he said: "Trainers are frankly ugly. Flat feet are not sexy and elegant." I wear them myself, but have to agree. Lots of the public would too.
He finally closed the shop in 2002, although his shoes and bags are still available through international licences, mainly in Asia. He died on April 28 2009, in Majorca.