Taking it all away from complications, planned decorations, many of the clothes you know, into a new world of white — where the action is. Clean-limbed clothes, marvellously young and free. Like this worksuit, above, red buttoned, red stitched white canvas jumping ahead into the sportslight. Jim O’Connor at Mr Freedom, £9.90. Pink suede cap, blue spotted visor. Janice Peskett at Mr Freedom, about £3.90. White cashmere sweater, by Pringle, £11, at Hills’ Cashmere House. Running shoes, Converse All Star sneakers, red flash and white, £4.99½, at Jack Hobbs, 56 Fleet St, E.C.4. Take it from here. Get clean away.
I do love a bit of South Bank Brutalism with my boutique clothing!
Now there’s hardware and haberdashery, furnishings and fabrics, cosmetics and mens-wear, all carrying the Biba label. Their brave transition from dolly boutique to department store was made last week when Biba opened in Kensington High Street. Although a baby store compared with neighbouring Barker’s, Biba does boast marble floors, a carved gallery from the old St Paul’s school, and a commissionaire at the huge glass doors.
Faithful customers can still find among the familiar palm fronds clothes to wear themselves or put on their children, but everything is on a much bigger scale. Colour-matched underwear and tights are on sale in a special conservatory-style department, and there’s a complete range of Biba makeup and cosmetics, and many more accessories.
But what’s really new, are the clothes for men, and the things for the house.
There’s nothing simple or austere about a Biba home life. The girl whose idea of some-thing comfortable to wear around the house is a slinky satin dress chooses a plush back-ground and hardware that’s softly elegant. Cutlery is rich-looking in gilt and mother of pearl, or silver and ebony. China is white and gold, glasses are chunky goblets. Specially printed wallpapers and furnishing fabrics, plain satins, felts, braids and trimmings, have carefully matched emulsion paints, lamp-shades and cushions, all in a range of 15 colours. Biba are selling the raw materials so that you can make what you want of them. The clue to their own style is Art Nouveau, but the way you choose to use them will be your own.
Biba men’s clothes are worn in these pictures by James Fox, who can currently be seen in ‘Isadora’ and whose new film, ‘Performance’, in which he co-stars with Mick Jagger, comes out next month.
Mr Fox is long and slender and can have little problem kitting himself out elegantly, but the clothes he wears here, plus others by Biba in velvets and tweeds, all come in a size range bigger than most. So fatter men can have fun with clothes too, and at a reasonable price.
By Liz Smith.
Photographed by Steve Hiett.
Scanned from The Observer Magazine, 21st September 1969.
Biba 3 is definitely the Biba I’m most captivated by, I think possibly because it was edged out so quickly by the much bigger (and more Deco) Big Biba and yet was, I think, the perfect encapsulation of the aesthetic and the first time the ‘department store’ ideal was manifested. Basically, I wish there were more photos so I do try and scan them when I find them! It’s also nice to see the menswear getting a bit of attention for once.
Pure wool herringbene tweed trousers cut to curve over the foot 6gn.; matching buttoned jerkin, £5 10s. Pure silk shirt and tie, 6gn. Art Nouveau statue, £7 10s.; necklace, 34s.; veiling, 2s. a yd. Marbled patent shoes, 12gn., from the Chelsea Cobbler, 33 Sackville Street, W1. Vanilla coloured Imperial Russian cigarettes by Sobranie, 11s. 3d. for 25. Carved ivory cigar holder, £21 ; ivory chess men, part of a set, £80; both from W. Barrett, 9 Old Bond Street, W1.
White worsted wool jacket with safari pockets and belt, 15gn.; matching trousers shaped over the foot, 8gn. Brown and cream printed rayon shirt, 5gn.; matching tie, 39s. 6d. Co-respondent shoes, £5 15s. from Anello & Davide, 30 Drury Lane, London, WC2. Teacup, 5s. 6d.; saucer, 3s. 3d.,2) All Biba prices here are approximate.
Ablaze with the colour of Leonard’s exclusive vegetable henna, imported from Persia, cold-wave permed with Wella Structurelle and set to frame the face. Palest skin smoothed by Barbara Daly with Angel Face Cameo All-in-One Make-Up, dusted with Translucent Light Fashion Compact, blushed with Soft Rose Blush & Gloss. Cutex Rosy Blinkers colours the eyes with Angel Face Sable Automatic Mascara. Lips shot with Cutex Wineberry Lipstick to match the iridescent Blueberry Schemer nails.
Silver flecked red blouse by Screaming Mimi, scarf by Woolworths.
Hair coloured by Daniel, permed by Sandra, styled by Celine, all at Leonard.
Yellow vibrations, sun crepe printed with black and green, cut out at shoulders, frilled like a waterfall down tight sleeves; 15 gns. All clothes by Ossie Clark at Quorum, 113 King’s Rd.
Look at summer through new eyes. Ossie Clark sees you in shepherdess smocks of voile, in long crepe dresses, reed-thin red or printed by Celia Birtwell. Pattie Boyd looks at it her way. All at Quorum.
Photographed by David Bailey.
Scanned from Vogue, June 1969.
I think this editorial might be one of the first I ever scanned, back in even my pre-blog days. I may have posted it on MySpace (don’t judge me, I feel ancient enough as it is). I’ve been meaning to properly rescan for years, but finally the time seemed right. It is the perfect combination of designer, model, photographer and a stunning use of Pre-Raphaelite imagery.
Cloud white voile, left, with apple green and peach, a shepherdess shirt, about £8 14s. 6d, matching skirt, about £10 8s. 6d to order.
Gentle beige smock, below, with crepe yoke, half sleeves above long voile cuffed sleeves; body beige, too, with olive and orange; 142 gns.
Flame red crepe dress, below, wrapped round and tied behind, with dragon fin sleeves, long and slender, a potent mixture of enchantment; 12 gns. Scarf by Celia Birtwell. High collar, £3 5s, from selection at London Docks, Munro Terrace.
Some of the sexiest women in films are buying underwear like this. It is wildly expensive (the items cost from about £16 to £90), but Liliane Dreyfus, who designed it for Vog, Paris, says that her customers don’t seem to mind the price; with pay-cheques like the ones that Brigitte Bardot, Ursula Andress, Juliette Greco and Jackie Bissett pick up, why should they? On these pages her silk, satin and lace concoctions are worn by Aurore Clement, one of the new stars of Louis Malle‘s most recent — and some say finest — film, Lacombe Lucien. If you have the money and are still interested, they are available to order from Harrods.
Styling and words by Meriel McCooey.
Photographed by Sacha.
Scanned from The Sunday Times Magazine, March 31st 1974.
Despite the distractions, Chichi hangs on to her hat and her colouring book, wears a lucky tarot card print poncho top, £25, and mid-calf skirt, £20, by Alice Pollock at Quorum. Bangles chosen from a selection at Adrien Mann.
In clothes we dare you to wear!
Make a name for yourself in 1974. Be an inspiration, a focal point, an innovator. Paint a positive future and make January a beautiful time. Experiment with colours. Branch out and try some totally different styles. Don’t go along with the rest of the girls—start up your own school, you’ll soon have plenty of followers. Begin by studying your best points, then set about accentuating them. If your skin gleams, show it off; if your waist is small, cinch it; if your legs are great, make certain that they are seen. The clothes here are not cheap, but like every good artist it’s vital to invest in good materials for long-lasting results. They will be appreciated for a long time to come ...
Styling by Penny Graham.
Photographs by Bill King.
Scanned from Cosmopolitan, January 1974.
I do love some equal opportunities Mild Sauce. These clothes are amongst some of my most coveted pieces, especially that outrageously plunging back John Bates dress. If you thought that McQueen invented the ‘bumsters’, remember that someone else has always got there first!
Make a strong statement. Frame your back with this year’s most dramatic scoop. Chichi in a clinging dress with pointed mediaeval sleeves—by John Bates for Jean Varon, £62.95.
Between sittings is no time to collapse. Chichi slips into something small and adds a rope of pearls for that Ritz- y finish. Camiknickers by Janet Reger, £15; pearls from Ciro.
Chichi makes the perfect portrait in a spider’s web dress dangerous enough to trap any hot-blooded male. Dress by John Bates for Jean Varon, £39.
A switch of scenery, a new source of inspiration. Chichi wrapped romantically in a glamorous film star dressing gown by Janet Reger, £48.
The painted lady. Chichi switches roles and dances a wild tarantella. The sleeves are pulled off the shoulders for an abandoned gipsy look. Silk dress by Angela Salmon for The Prop Shop, £85.
And who better than Maudie James, demonstrating here, exactly how she shapes and colours her face:
1 Starting with shining clean skin (thanks to Pond’s Cold Cream), she dabs on Mary Quant’s Skin Drink and blends it in.
2 Max Factor’s Nouveau Beige Pan Stick goes on with a small damp sponge giving a smooth ‘finish, covering tiny blemishes.
3 Several coats of Boots No 7 Black Block Mascara intensifies but does not cake upper and lower lashes.
4 Blackened lashes are curved to sweep up and out with eyelash curlers (45p from Boots).
5 Each eyelash is separated to look natural.
6 Eyelids coloured with Caran d’Ache purple pencils (Nos 110 and 120) blended up to the brows.
7 Short feathery lines drawn with Caran d’Ache pencil (No 80) outline the cheekbones.
8 And are then blended in towards the nose to make a soft rose-pink blush.
9 Caran d’Ache pencil (No 80) outlines then fills the lips with colour.
10 Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream glossed over lips with a brush—for protection and shine.
11 Biba’s Mascara Brush neatens the eyebrows.
12 The look: face dusted with Boots No 7 Nearly Natural compact Powder; hair: shining with Wella’s Shampoo and Lemon Creme Rinse.
Photographed by Patrick Hunt.
Scanned from Beauty in Vogue, Summer 1972.
Dress: brilliant silk chiffon by Ossie Clark for Quorum, print by Celia Birtwell, £45, from new Quorum, 52 Radnor Walk, S.W.3; Just Looking, Knightsbridge, S.W.1; Hedgehog, 135 Fulham Road, S.W.7.
Made to measure by Edward Sexton for Esther De Deo at Nutters (Tommy Nutter). In oyster gabardine. Shirt and stock, to measure, by H. W. Brettell. Hair by Ann at Stafford & Frieda.
Miners want to make it plain. The right-now look is unglossy, unsparkly… unbelievable. Plain crazy make-up. Flat, matt colour for your eyes, lips and nails. New Shadomatic eye colour comes in a super dinky bottle. It’s a loose powder shadow and applicator all in one. And, like lipsticks and nail polish, you get a great line-up of unashamed, earthy colours. So stop clowning around, and go plain crazy.
Liz Eggleston 