Art

Psychedelic Advertising

1960s, 1970s, Illustrations, Make-up, psychedelia, Vintage Adverts

Dubonnet 1968

More discoveries on my seemingly endless travels through old magazines… The fact that nobody bothers to create such works of art as these [for the mere purpose of advertising] anymore is everything that is wrong with the modern world. In my opinion. The Woolworths Babydoll make-up advert is a DOUBLE page spread. It’s so exciting to see and, if I could, I would most certainly go and buy up armfuls of it right now. And surely that’s the point of advertising?

Woolworths Babydoll make-up 1967

Wrangler 1970

Gustav Adolf Mossa: Naughty but Nice

art, art nouveau, gustav adolf mossa

I don’t often do art-related posts, but I realised I had never shared my passion for the work of Gustav Adolf Mossa with you all. A few years ago I was on holiday in Nice and took a trip to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which I would highly recommend if you are ever visiting.

I was enjoying myself, I usually do, but had just been sweetened to death by a roomful of sickly, twee watercolours by someone I can’t remember (why on earth would I?). I swiftly turned a corner, and entered a new room. Everything stopped still. My thought process was something like “these are very beautiful … these are very intricate … I’m going to look closer … oh my word, these are a bit dark … oh wow, these are utterly terrifyingly twisted and even more beautiful for it”. I had entered the world of Gustav Adolf Mossa.

Born in 1883 in Nice, Mossa was the son of Alexis Mossa – an accomplished artist in his own right, and trained at l’École des Arts Décoratifs de Nice. Mossa was inspired by the Symbolist movement, and clearly by the ongoing Art Nouveau style of the time. Until he abandoned his distinctive symbolist style in 1911, in favour of more primitive Flemish-style works, he created some of the most disturbing and intricate paintings I have ever seen.

There’s something rather deliciously twisted about them, possibly the reason he hid them from public view until his death in 1971. They invite study and, as a woman, questions about their subject matter. Are the women in his works femme fatales? Are they figures of evil or is Mossa trying to show their potential strength in his imposing, vampish and often gory depictions. I see them as the work of someone who is captivated, and possibly a little terrified, of them, rather than that of a misogynist (which is something of which he has often been accused).

I’m also not averse to contemplating the fact that many women actually are as dark and demonic as some men portray them. I think we all have it within us, but our fear of our dark side makes us instinctively defensive against male depictions of women in this way. If Mossa had been a woman, would we look upon his work more favourably?

Away from that, they are simply inspirational in their colour, detail and shapes. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before, almost cartoon-like in comparison to many artists of the Belle Epoque but greater in detail than any I’ve seen before or since. I’m not sure I actually want to inhabit the paintings in terms of the situations, but if life could be as beautiful, rich and soulful as a Mossa painting, then I’d be very happy.







More Boyfriend menswear gorgeousness (plus Top Ten award!)

amen corner, boyfriend annual, menswear, psychedelia, ruffles, sixties, stripeyness, the herd

I think the Boyfriend 1969 annual might as well have been called the ‘Miss Peelpants Guide to How Men Should Dress’. Here are The Herd and Amen Corner, rocking the stripes and ruffles respectively.

I’m very chuffed to have put in an appearance in Cision’s Top 10 UK Vintage Clothing Blogs, and in such esteemed company as well. Very nice to get recognition from such a site, even if I don’t quite understand how I ended up there! Thanks Cision! Thision.

(That’s for for any Look Around You fans out there….)

576 Pages of Heaven: Lifestyle Illustrations of the Sixties

1960s, art deco, art nouveau, book reviews, Honey Magazine, Illustrations, petticoat magazine, psychedelia

This may, at first, look like the laziest book review in the world. I can be a lazy person, tis true, but I couldn’t really think of a better way to review such an extraordinary book. It needs to be possessed, to be pored over, to be appreciated en masse and to be studied in fine detail.

Lifestyle Illustrations of the ’60s by Rian Hughes is one man’s personal project to bring those unsung illustrators of the period to the attention of the wider world. If you’re anything like me, they are a source of great fascination and inspiration when you flick through a vintage copy of Honey or Petticoat. And if you were reading Womans Own et al back in the day, they would certainly have inspired daydreams from their fleeting representations of the magazine’s romantic short stories. They are often small in size, but incredible in skill, style and social comment. The timeline element of the book also allows you to see the development of social aspirations, fashion styles, illustration styles and inspirations (the clear references to art deco and art nouveau styles) and attitudes to morals and relationships.


When I find them in the magazines, I try to remember to scan them in. But I’m a bit forgetful, so this doesn’t always happen. When I first laid my eyes and hands on this book, it was like heaven. Someone else has gone to the trouble of scanning them in, cleaning them up and collating them by date and crediting the artist where possible. Consequently, it feels a bit weird to scan in pages and individual illustrations to illustrate my review. Firstly, there are just way too many and my scanner is a bit fiddly (coupled with a big heavy book, whose spine I’d rather not break just yet). Secondly, because I want you to go out and get a copy yourselves. Words and scans can’t really demonstrate what it’s like to flick through such a book. Each page inspires a cry of ‘ooooh, pretty’. Well, that’s my reaction anyway. Scans wouldn’t do it justice.

So I decided to sit and flick and take photographs of the most ‘ooh’-inspiring pages. Of course I had to give up after about 20 photos because I realised I would end up photographing the entire thing. But here are the collated images, just casually snapped so you get some feeling of what it’s like. Unsurprisingly, I’m most taken with the later period with the psychedelic, art deco and art nouveau influences, but I’ve tried to show you a cross-section of the entire book.

Now all they need is to put on an exhibition. There’s something lovely about having them all collated into a book, but it can lessen the impact of some solitary works of art. I would dearly love to see them displayed as large prints.

Stripes and Sounds: Simon Dupree and the Big Sound in Boyfriend, 1969

boyfriend annual, menswear, psychedelia, simon dupree, sixties, stripeyness

Oh no! Major oversight. I never finished scanning pictures from the Boyfriend annual 1969! Naughty me…. Since it’s a bit of an unofficial menswear week on the blog, here’s the gorgeous Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. So. Many. Stripes. Can’t. Cope. Swoon.

Fantasy will set you free…

anna karina, dale bozzio, groupies, gtos, harlow, jane kahn, kahn and bell, lene lovich, miss mouse, new romantic, pamela des barres, pan's people, psychedelia, sandie shaw

Sometimes I have those crushing moments of clear, crisp reality and remember that people (people other than Lady GaGa, I mean) don’t dress up in truly fantasian styles these days. Unless ‘wags’ or ‘porn stars’ were your childhood fantasy.

What about raggedy dolls, warrior queens, belly dancers and silent film goddesses?

Whilst I continue to [apparently] shock the world with my, ooh – gasp!, novelty duck and rabbit print Miss Mouse dress. Honestly. They don’t know from shocking…









Bite Me

art, botticelli, celia birtwell, florence, italy, outfit posts
Reflection perfection. Sunset over the Arno


I return from Florence with the tiresome evidence of my having provided a gourmet meal for the mosquitoes who reside therein. But I will save you the gory, bumpy details. I had a wonderful time with M in possibly the most beautiful city in the world (I say that as though I’ve seen all the others, but I’m just making a sweeping generalisation as ever…) and had a wonderful birthday.

We gorged ourselves on art and spiritual atmosphere more than pasta (although I managed to get a bowl of my beloved gnocchi on the last night, upon realising this mammoth error) at the Uffizi, Santa Croce and several other smaller places besides.

It’s a weird thing for me, as a hugely lapsed Catholic*, to actively want to spend time wandering around monuments to something I’ve obviously rejected as a way of life. But I always loved the bells and the smells and grew up in a family who actively sought out Latin Masses. (There’s a photo of my Grandmother meeting with the current Pope. Serious stuff people!) The atmosphere is intoxicating at times, inspirational and spiritual even if you have vastly differing ideas to those who created and decorated them.

*I sometimes think that lapsed Catholicism is a religion in itself…

Hello!

[Baptistery Doors]


The Uffizi gave me the chance to indulge my (yes, I know, hugely mainstream. So sue me.) passion for Botticelli. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and even I can see that overexposure can render something like The Birth of Venus rather tedious, but there is something about that level of perfection which makes me catch my breath and my eyes well up. Not physical perfection, whatever on earth that may be, or literal perfection like, say, Ingres, but an attempt to capture the beauty of nature in the most perfect way he could. After rooms and rooms of devotional religious scenes, the more allegorical scenes of Botticelli’s best works are rendered even more extraordinary.

[I also enjoyed noting the clear inspiration Celia Birtwell took from those paintings. They look as though they’ve been dressed by Quorum.]

I maintain a healthy love for those who are brave enough to outline their subjects. I had regular confrontations with my art teacher in relation to this, he felt I should smudge every line to reflect reality. And then wanted me to write an enthusiastic essay on the merits of Picasso. Weird.

Someone else who liked to outline his subjects was De Chirico, who was the star attraction of an exhibition at the Strozzi. It was pretty incredible to see so many incredible surrealist masterpieces contained within a Florentine Palazzo, and it’s always nice to pick up a few new favourite artists along the way.

I know everyone takes the same photo, but I care not.

What with the views from the Piazzale Michelangelo, the Ponte Vecchio, the gelati, the endless beautiful streets of beautiful buildings and, finally, a sweltering train journey through the heavenly countryside of Tuscany, I have had an almost overwhelmingly lovely time.

Doctor Who viewers will know exactly why I find statues even more deliciously creepy than ever.
This one was so unbelievably beautiful; that sculpted fall of fabric down the stairs…

[Santa Croce]


 I note, with some resignation, that the good people of Florence do not tend to dress for dinner. Tourists are pretty useless for this too, obviously. So I took it upon myself to fly the flag for vintage for my birthday dinner at Zàzà (thanks to the gorgeous Laurakitty for the recommendation). A Polly Peck moss crepe empire line early-mini which nobody wanted when I listed it on eBay last year, I subsequently tried it on and realised it was a perfect fit, and my beloved green silk DeLiso Debs. Good rule of thumb: If you’re feeling a bit gloomy about ageing another year, wear something which is 70-odd years old. My dress was also about 45 years old, so I was doing a good job of being the youngest thing about…..er…..me.

Mmmmm. Prosecco. Hic!

Thank you all for your good wishes for my holiday and for my birthday. Back to work now, and I feel even luckier than ever that my work is something which I actually enjoy! I also note that this is my 400th post, which surely deserves another bottle of Prosecco? Si?

James Wedge’s Painted Ladies

19 magazine, Inspirational Images, james wedge, toulouse lautrec

I took a gamble on a copy of James Wedge’s Painted Ladies book. Produced in 1988, it is ostensibly a guide to how Wedge created many of his best images using some extraordinary hand-colouring techniques and bizarre manipulation.

The glorious side-effect is that it is also filled with these lush images. Many of which I haven’t seen before, and some of which were always a bugger to try to scan in from a weirdly sized copy of 19 magazine, or somesuch. I’m sure, over time, I will post more. But I thought I would give you a little taster in this amazing Victorian-themed shoot for 19. Unfortunately, the book isn’t great about giving dates so if anyone knows the issue then please let me know.

I can’t even begin to tell you how bored I am with the whole burlesque/pin-up hoo-ha these days. I’m sure some people do it brilliantly, in fact I know they do, but it’s all become so mainstream and yawnworthy. I can’t really see how jiggling your boobs around in feathers and tassles is particularly superior to jiggling your boobs around a pole, as I’m constantly being told. A stripper is a stripper; a glamour model is a glamour model. But maybe I’m just a cynic? People can do whatever the hell they like and, so long as they’re not hurting anyone, I really couldn’t care less. I just wish it wasn’t everywhere, and that it didn’t seem to automatically correlate with interestingness.

So many times I’ve gone to post amazing pin-up-style photoshoots from the likes of Nova or the Telegraph Magazine, but it’s all so commonplace these days I simply can’t be bothered. However, I don’t need any excuse to post delicious early-Seventies photos by James Wedge, inspired by Toulouse Lautrec. Who happens to be one of my favourite artists and biggest inspirations, and whose grubby, ramshackle, louche ladies are a darn sight more interesting than most of what we’re presented with these days.

James Wedge really does deserve some kind of retrospective exhibition and big glossy book. Would somebody please sort this out some time soon? Please? Thank you….

p.s If you have an issue with nipples, then you might want to avert your eyes and come back tomorrow. I happen to be fascinated by nipples and particularly what James Wedge seems to do with them…




Give me those happy days toytown newspaper smiles

psychedelia, ronnie lane, sixties, the small faces

There are a few people for whom I would dearly love to go back in time, purely to engulf them in the biggest hug of their life. Ossie Clark is one. Barry Evans is another. If I didn’t think he’d have me arrested for harassment, I’d go and find Richard O’Sullivan (Man About The House) and do it right now.

High up on my list is Ronnie Lane. Definitely my favourite Face, both Small and otherwise, and an absolute genius. He had it pretty rough in his later years, and he was just so gorgeous and fabulous, and all in all…very huggable.









I’ve been feeling a bit down lately, for various reasons, and a little under the weather too. But I happened to fling Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake on today, and it cheered me up good and proper. I love the footage of them performing the album as well, and Happy Days Toy Town is just such a brilliantly uplifting song. Both lyrics and performance. So here it is, and I hope it cheers up anyone else who might be feeling gloomy out there…

Life is just a bowl of All-Bran
You wake up every morning and it’s there
So live as only you can
It’s all about enjoy it ‘cos ever since you saw it
There aint no one can take it away.

So life is just a bowl of All-Bran – very true!
What you say has made it very clear
To be sure I’ll live as best as I can
But how can I remember to keep it all together
When half the moon is taken away?

Well, I’ve got the very thing
If you can laugh and sing
Give me those happy days toytown newspaper smiles
Clap twice, lean back, twist for a while
When you’re untogether and feeling out of tune
Sing this special song with me, don’t worry ’bout the moon
Looks after itself

Steve: Can I have a go?
Ron: Yes
Steve: Yeah?
Ron: Sing now:

Give me those happy days toytown newspaper smile
Clap twice, lean back, twist for a while
Well now you’ve got the hang of it
There’s nothing you can’t do with it
If you’re very tuned to it you can’t go wrong.

We were at a particularly tipsy table…

art deco, Inspirational Images, seventies fashion, telegraph magazine, the great gatsby

I nearly always love these shoots from the Telegraph magazine; this is a particularly fabulous one inspired by the then-upcoming film of The Great Gatsby.