Put yourself in the picture

1970s, alice pollock, Angela Salmon, Bill King, Chichi, cosmopolitan, Inspirational Images, janet reger, jean varon, john bates, mild sauce, Penny Graham, quorum, The Prop Shop, Vintage Editorials
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.

Embroidery for a dream

1970s, Angela Salmon, embroidery, G Murrell, Golden Hands, Inspirational Images, St Martins

Romantic in concept and evocative of another age, the embroidered clothes illustrated on these pages were designed and made by Angela Salmon, while a design student at London’s St Martin’s School of Art, for her final diploma exhibition. Although painstaking embroideryis not commercially viable in the ready-made clothing industry, it is comforting to know that students of design continue to produce exquisite work such as this, adapting traditional techniques to modern design concepts. The lilac silk and black velvet dress, worn with pantaloons, has flowers and leaves of machine embroidered organza applied to the bodice with realistic-looking plastic blackberries to complete the motif. The caped coat-dress, made of olive-coloured chiffon, is worn over a strawberry printed chiffon dress. Strawberry flowers, leaves and fruit motifs, made of matt satin and machine embroidered organza, are applied with some of the edges lying free of the background fabric. The blue and white ensemble consists of a blue organza apron worn over a full-sleeved chiffon dress. The designer has chosen field flowers for her inspiration—poppies, buttercups, speedwell and wheat heads—embroidered and applied to the background fabric. Surface embroidery has been added to enrich the design.

Photographed by G Murrell.

Scanned from Golden Hands Magazine, Part 58 Vol 4. (1972)