barbara hulanicki

Apples and Pears (and other new listings)

1960s, 1970s, antony price, barbara hulanicki, barry lategan, biba, british boutique movement, chelsea girl, Fiorucci, jean muir, Susan Locke, Vogue, website listings

Rare 1972 Jean Muir dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

I am delighted to finally reveal one of the most amazing pieces I’ve had the pleasure of handling and listing over at Vintage-a-Peel. This superb Jean Muir dress hails from 1972, as photographed by Barry Lategan for Vogue of April that year, and is made from one of Muir’s most distinctive prints, the Apples and Pears chiffon (which I already mentioned back in April).

I have also just listed a stunning cocktail mini dress by the supremely talented Antony Price and a definitive disco-era ensemble by iconic brand Fiorucci. Amongst other beauties, of course. Not least a mini dress by seemingly forgotten designer and owner of eponymous King’s Road boutique, Susan Locke. Susan was the girlfriend of actor Jeremy Brett in the late Sixties/early Seventies, and was also one of the first stockists of Terry de Havilland’s wonderful shoes. A fine pedigree, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Antony Price strapless mini cocktail dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Floral chiffon Seventies-does-Thirties dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Rare Fiorucci pink metallic bustier/trouser ensemble at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Paisley gypsy ‘Jake’ Seventies dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Galactic glam rock Seventies Chelsea Girl skirt at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Rare Biba ‘Lolita’-labelled Seventies maxi skirt at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Romantic mid Seventies ‘Lady Charlotte’ maxi dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Rare late Sixties micro mini dress by Susan Locke at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Vintage Adverts: Nuts about Biba

1970s, barbara hulanicki, Barbara Hulanicki, biba, Inspirational Images, sunday times magazine, Vintage Adverts

The Sunday Times Magazine, March 24th 1974

Those with a long memory might remember this as a Biba dress worn by Paula Wilcox in Man About The House (and also by Miss Peelpants occasionally around the house, as well as out of it…). I’m always inexplicably delighted to spot pieces I own or recognise in adverts of the time, although I think one for nutty chocolates has got to be a first…

New blog, new listings…

1960s, 1970s, annacat, barbara hulanicki, biba, british boutique movement, Foale and Tuffin, Jean Louis Scherrer, jean muir, jean varon, john bates, Kate Beaver, mister ant, Mr Darren, strawberry studio, Vanessa Frye, wallis, website listings

Mr Darren

Ah, my inaugural listings post … well, over here on wordpress anyway. Yet again I have been a little tardy in posting them here, but better late than never! There’s Annacat, Jean Muir, Biba, John Bates, Jean Louis Scherrer, Foale and Tuffin, Strawberry Studio (and breathe), and many more. All images are links to the pages over at Vintage-a-Peel. Usual things apply, free postage in the UK and let me know if you want to pay in a couple of instalments for the more expensive items.

John Bates for Jean Varon

Vanessa Frye / Mary Murray Ltd.

Strawberry Studio

Biba

Jean Muir

Foale and Tuffin

Wallis

Jean Louis Scherrer

Kate Beaver

David Silverman

Mister Ant

unsigned

Annacat

Inspirational Illustrations: Brides of the Month

1960s, barbara hulanicki, Honey Magazine, Illustrations, weddings

I wouldn’t normally post pictures of wedding dresses, but check out who the illustrator is. Oh yes, one Ms. Barbara Hulanicki!

Honey, January 1965. Scanned by Miss Peelpants.

The Colour Craze

barbara hulanicki, Barbara Hulanicki, biba, caroline arber, didier duval, hair, Make-up, mary quant, seventies fashion, steven hiett, vanity fair

Green says Biba. Photo by Caroline Arber.

All the top beauty talent is currently colour-crazy – and we’re very much for it; it’s a fabulous enlivener of the grey winter scene. Your party look could be a variant of any of the gloriously off-beat ideas you see here – and anyone who considers green lips unnatural might dwell, briefly, on the knock-you-down naturalness of bright plum or orange ones.

Vanity Fair, December 1971

Violet says Pablo – Elizabeth Arden’s ebullient young creative director.

Rainbow hair says Michael at Crimpers. Photo by Steve Hiett.

Any colours you like says Vanity Fair, using Mary Quant’s crayons. Photo by Didier Duval.

How to Charm Prince Charming

alain vivier, barbara hulanicki, Barbara Hulanicki, biba, crowthers, gillian richard, Honey Magazine, miss mouse, platforms, rae spencer cullen, seventies fashion, simon massey, van der fransen

The intricacies of the make-up details and advice don’t particularly interest me in this article, but the photographs are simply incredible. Apologies for the creasing, sometimes things (and people) get a little crumpled over the years.

Honey, December 1972. Photos by Alain Vivier

Just an Old-Fashioned Girl

Old rose printed satin halter dress by Van der Fransen, £10. Shawl from Chelsea Antique Market. Shoes by Leicester, £10.99

Fifties Fan

Shimmering lurex ‘cigarette girl’ halter top with pussy bow and pencil slim taffeta skirt from Crowthers, £10.95. Shoes by Sacha, £12.99.

Instant Heiress

Jersey and candy stripe satin dress by Gillian Richard, £8.75 from Pinocchio. Shoes by Leicester shoes, £9.99.

Pretty Little Thing

Frothy net and taffeta skirt with tightly ruched stone-studded strapless top by Miss Mouse, £10.50 and £7.

The Lady is a Vamp

Tiger striped satin dress, £12.50 from Biba. Shoes by Sacha, £12.99.

Little Girl Lost

Short moire dress by Simon Massey, £12.75.Spotted bow fronted shoes by Samm, £7.95.

Barbara Hulanicki: Art Deco W14

art deco, art nouveau, barbara hulanicki, biba, interior design, James Mortimer, seventies fashion, Vogue
A section of the studio. Beneath the gallery one discovers a sink, kettle. cooker below a thirties’ Grecian frieze. Art Deco chairs in peach moquette. Screen, with beaded shawl. purple plastic  grapes behind a delicate nasturtium-leaf lamp hung with beaded fringe
Barbara Hulanicki at home in one cavernous studio which she found three years ago and filled with Art Deco from floor to ceiling. Walls, ceiling, stairs, all painted a rich matt brown, merge into the shadowy interior; angles and lines are softened and blurred. Colours, not walls, mark out living areas, a different shade for each section of space. Light is filtered through the brown-tinted glass of the high, patterned perpendicular window and a long fanlight in the roof. A brown spiral staircase, leafy with plastic twisting plants, leads to a long gallery which forms the dressing-rooms. Everywhere, an endlessly intricate arrangement of colour, pattern, space; a deep, dark brown jungle of the ornamental, the exotic, the glittering.

Photos by James Mortimer. Vogue, October 1975.
The dressing-room. Shades of peach and deepest brown, Creamy lighting from bulbs set behind opaque glass. Peach mirrors hung with beads, the dressing table, a darker shade of smoked peach, made up of tiny individual drawers. Stool topped with smoked peach glass.
The bath, a riot of peach and plastic flowers. Ornate brass taps, Art Deco screen. Brilliant blue glass, candlesticks and pearly plastic grapes.
Barbara Hulanicki in the sitting-room, the window open to reveal a jungle of climbing plants outside. In the background, a collection of Art Deco glass below the enormous mirror, at least six feet in diameter. Everywhere lamps, small, fringed or mushroom-topped on long, slender stems: everywhere figures, ferns, flowers. In foreground, a set of black/silver/turquoise vases and modelled head on decorated brass tray and glass-sided table: replica of a twenties’ cigarette girl, now bearing a tray of jewellery.
Looking down from the gallery into the studio, arranged into its separate “rooms”
The bed, above, hung with shawls, scattered with sequinned brocaded cushions. Barbara Hulanicki reflected in the bedside mirror on the writing desk and in the centre of the mirrored bed-head. On the right, a peach mirror flex set of shelves, with photographs, figures, eight Art Deco plastic handbags.

The Latin Look in English Clothes

1960s, barbara hulanicki, Barbara Hulanicki, biba, cherry twiss, jean varon, jean-loup sieff, john bates, marrian mcdonnell, ossie clark, quorum, telegraph magazine

Coat by Biba

Scanned from The Telegraph Magazine, October 1969.
Photographed by Jean-Loup Sieff. Edited by Cherry Twiss.

Top and skirt by Ossie Clark for Quorum

Top and skirt by Biba

Dress by Jean Varon

Dress by Jane Walker at the Royal College of Art

Skirt and waistcoat by Marrian McDonnell

Biba: A conundrum for you…

1960s, barbara hulanicki, biba, john french, paulene stone

If this dress was so damn popular, and sold in such vast numbers that Barbara and Fitz struggled to keep up with orders, then why on earth have I never seen it outside of these photos by John French? Does anyone own it? Do any museums possess it? Does anyone remember owning it? Anybody??

Inspirational Images: Biba, 1974

barbara hulanicki, Barbara Hulanicki, biba, british boutique movement, Honey Magazine, monty coles, seventies fashion

I have this dress in dark blue. (It’s the notorious £50 dress which Barbara Hulanicki feared wouldn’t sell because of the high price. It sold out.) One of these days, I’m actually going to find the occasion to wear it…


Photo by Monty Coles from Honey December 1974