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.

Inspirational Illustrations: The Swaggers

19 magazine, 1970s, biba, forties fashion, Illustrations, paul leith

From 19 Magazine, September 1974. Left and right coats are by Biba. Illustration by Paul Leith.

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

I come to lay flower dresses on the grave of Biba

biba, british boutique movement, kensington high street, london, seventies fashion

The wondrous Affendaddy, over at Flickr, has uploaded lots and lots of amazing street photos from his visit to London in 1976. Inadvertently, he has also captured the immediate aftermath of the death of Big Biba on Kensington High Street. These photos make me want to weep a little…

We are the dreamers of dreams

1960s, angela gore, biba, david hurn, Honey Magazine, Inspirational Images

By Biba, £6 10s

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
Arthur O’Shaughnessy
I’ve been having incredibly vivid, bizarre dreams lately, and I’m in the middle of watching Twin Peaks, so anything dream-related is fascinating to me. Some beautiful, dreamlike images from Honey Magazine, August 1968. Photos by David Hurn.

By Veronica Marsh for Hunt & Co., 5½ gns

By Veronica Marsh for Hunt & Co., 79s. 11d.

By Angela Gore, 39s. 6d.

But in a dream the other night
I saw this coastline from the sea
And felt the breakers plunging white
Their weight of waters over me.
Greenaway by John Betjeman                           

Weekend whiz around London

biba, bus stop, countdown, Honey Magazine, Illustrations, london, ossie clark, quorum

The past, eh? It was just better.

Scanned from Honey, August 1968

Chinoiserie, Japonisme… it’s all the same to Honey Magazine!

biba, chinoiserie, crowthers, Honey Magazine, japonisme, loungewear, morgan rank, underwear
Ahhhh. Random cultural eclecticism. The backbone of the fashion world. Good to know some things never change; titling your spread ‘Chinoiserie’ and then referring to Geishas, kimonos and Karate. Good old Honey. Regardless, it’s a beautiful spread full of beautiful clothes. I’m very passionate about loungewear, because I work from home and it’s my equivalent of a sexy, tailored work suit. What I wouldn’t give for those Crowthers pieces…
I resent being termed a ‘layabout’ though. The cheek!
Photos by Morgan Rank. Honey, December 1970

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??

Swimming over the Moon

biba, meriel mccooey, Sarah Moon, seventies fashion, sunday times magazine, swimwear
Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975

Another classic, beautiful shoot by one of my favourite photographers, Sarah Moon. I now possess the Moon-photographed Pirelli calendar and am dreaming of the day when I have a large wall to decorate, and money to spend on getting them all framed. She manages to enter dreamworld and photograph it for us; utterly inspirational! 

Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975
Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975