New Blondie book reveals what made Debbie Harry so compelling A new behind-the-scenes book of candid photographs reveals Debbie Harry in her Blondie post-punk heyday - but her style tips are just as relevant for today, says Lisa Armstrong If Kate Bush was Marmite, for a certain generation, Debbie Harry (born Angela Tremble in 1945) was butter. Suspecting she might be bad for your health in large doses, you still wanted to dive into her blonde essence - particularly, strangely, if you were female. A strong part of the magnetism - for her armies of girl fans at any rate - was her innate (pre-stylists) style. The most indelible of Debbie Harry images from the 1970s and early 80s are, without doubt, Harry in the spaghetti strap white slip dress she wore on the cover of Parallel Lines; Harry in the camouflage hot pants that saw frequent airings; Harry in the one-shouldered, smoke-coloured chiffon Stephen Sprouse dress she chose for one especially memorable Top of The Pops . Who amongst the TOTP audience had heard of Stephen Sprouse MC of New York's art-and-fashion scene in the 1970s? Come to think of it, who amongst the TOTP audience had heard of smoke-coloured? In an era which wasn't as drilled in fashion lessons as this one, it was hard to put your finger on just what made her so cool, sexy and stylish. But even the idiot savants of us who had been raised on tank tops, mullet cuts and corduroy flares couldn't fail to recognise that in Harry a holy triptych of magnetism had coalesced. READ: Gisele sings Blondie's Heart of Glass for H&M It's a triptych still not common even now, when we have infinite digital data banks instructing us in the minutae of what and what not to wear. Kate Moss, who gleaned at least some of her style tropes from Harry, has it. The rest, from Madonna to Miley Cyrus have appropriated elements of it. If only someone could bottle it, Harry, now 69, would never have to go on tour again. In the meantime, Chris Stein, Harry's fellow Blondie band member, one time lover and keen photographer has produced Negative: Me, Blondie and the Advent of Punk, replete with his own perceptive narrative musings and his candid, mesmerizingly unguarded snapshots of some glory years. These at least we can scrutinize for clues as to what made Harry so compelling. Stein puts it this way: "I was always aware of her astonishing looks and the effect she had on people." As for their "glamorous" lifestyle: "I see things for sale for thousands of dollars that emulate and reference stuff we bought in junk stores for next to nothing. Living space was cheap and no one talked about real estate. In turn, Harry describes Stein in the book as the definition of voyeur: "'An obsessive observer of sordid or sensational subjects'...I'm joking...a bit...because he does have a good eye." She's not wrong. Debbie Harry on fire, c. This is very similar to the Stephen Sprouse dress Harry wore on Top of The Pops to sing Heart of Glass, and was allegedly worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch . Had the TOTP audience ever seen anything more sophisticated? But just look how grimy that kitchen is. That's the actual apartment she lived in on 17th Street with Stein, the one where they were when they heard they'd notched up their first number one. To be fair, a recent fire could explain the dust. But that's the point about Harry: she was as rooted in the seedy world as she was in high fashion. You knew that when she wore high fashion or designer clothes, it was because she had a genuine relationship with that designer and had picked the outfit herself. Unmade bed, mid-70s Two decades before Tracy Emin did it, Harry trawls though the detritus of the intensely personal. "I often think that this theme of beauty amid rubble is what maintains," writes Stein in his book. My fellow denizens were glamorous; Richard Hell, Johnny Thunders and others exuded as much visual charisma as Debbie herself. I was surrounded too, by great, creative driven photographers [...] this was a moment for the advent of a new photography that was emerging alongside a new music. Harry in Leather Knickers, Punk magazine centre-fold shoot, 1976 Leather knickers in 1976 were far more rare (outside a fetish shop) than they are now, so she was also original. "I originally shot sexier images of Debbie," writes Stein, but the magazine that commissioned the images wanted something "more punk." For what it's worth, the UK magazine Q eventually voted it the sixth greatest rock photograph [...] The Vulture shirt is a sacred relic Debbie still has, I keep asking her to have it framed. IN PICS: Debbie Harry, queen of Punk, photographs by Brian Aris Harry pre-empting Madonna, Rihanna, Miley - blowing bubblegum, late 70s It's easy to forget that Harry wasn't above stripping off for the camera. But unlike today's popettes, she never transgressed into degrading territory. Even former folksie guitar strummer Ellie Goulding is now fully on board with the crotch-grinding school of presentation. It would be misguided to blame this all on Harry. She was merely an instrument of societal shifts. Nor was there ever any sense that she was being manipulated by desperate ratings chasers. Style Lesson: wear what you want to wear, not what you think other people want you to. ' Chris Stein/Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk' by Chris Stein is out now (Rizzoli £35)