Strange Fashion Collaborations: Bill Gibb Nail Polish

1970s, bill gibb, Make-up, Vintage Adverts

I’ve seen variations of this advert across several Vogues I own, and it always baffles me. I mean, I don’t see why Gibb shouldn’t have done such a thing, but it also seems at odds with the ‘crap businessman’ label usually attached to him. It does make one wonder. He might easily have ventured down the road marked ‘mediocrity through licensing’, so well trodden by so many.

Perhaps there simply wasn’t much call for nail polish to match your Gibb frock. Perhaps they didn’t really match very well, they certainly don’t in the advert. Perhaps this is actually an example of his crap businessmanship? Very curious indeed….

The Mill on the Floss: Helmut Newton does Alice Pollock

1960s, alice pollock, bill gibb, british boutique movement, mary quant, ossie clark, quorum, zandra rhodes

I must admit that I don’t have a great many copies of Queen magazine in my possession. But a conversation about Alice Pollock the other day reminded me that I have one, frankly awesome, copy from 1969 with an entire fashion spread dedicated to Pollock’s clothes – photographed by Helmut Newton. It’s entitled The Mill on the Floss.

When the London rat-race is too much for you…you can retire to the calm and order of the country and gaze peacefully, restfully, into the depths of a mill-race. Ideal wardrobe for mill-racing – catch of floaty granny-dresses from Quorum. (Yes we do mean that long; we are rather serious about this.) Wear your granny-dresses with suede boots; after all, the climb through the mill may be rugged.

It’s funny really, how few Pollock pieces turn up nowadays. And the ones which do are usually the more Ossie-esque. I’ve had a few, all blouses I might add, and currently only own one labelled piece. But this spread shows you a bit more of her range, beyond pretty crepe blouses. Apparently her knitwear was extraordinary, and one person described it as possibly superior to Bill Gibb. Which is high praise indeed.

She had less of a defined style than Ossie, but her clothes were, by all accounts, exceedingly wearable and feminine. Less aggressively sexual, which is why it’s so interesting to see them photographed by someone like Helmut Newton.

It made me wonder if a lot of female designers in the Sixties had that problem, and why so few (aside from the idiosyncratic Zandra Rhodes, and master self-publicist Mary Quant) have remained in the public consciousness since the Sixties and Seventies. My own favourites at least, it would seem. The male designers were often the biggest drama queens, and have ensured their notoriety continues to this day. Whether through the strength of their designs, their lifestyles or just a knack for self-publicity. I’m sure there are countless exceptions to this rule, but it’s been occupying my mind today.

Anyway, enjoy the Pollocks! I for one wish I could be running around a mill, in the countryside, in Quorum clothes right now.

Passion For Fashion

bill gibb, eye candy, ossie clark, Paco Rabanne, schiaparelli, vivienne westwood

Patou

Thursday will see Kerry Taylor’s Passion for Fashion auction take place in London. With the cream of couture on display, it’s hard not to drool all over your computer screen. Here are a few Vintage-a-Peel favourite picks, and a tissue to delicately dab away the involuntary dribbling…

Moschino

Ossie Clark

Bill Gibb

Roberto Capucci

Vivienne Westwood

Paco Rabanne

Galanos

Mad Carpentier

Schiaparelli

Augustabernard

Alix (Gres)

In my fantasy world, I’ve won the lottery and all these will belong to me. You may all, of course, come and play dress up in my Italian Palazzo and enjoy a private Duran Duran show. Well…that’s what fantasy worlds are for, are they not?

Billy Gibb Exhibition

1970s, bill gibb

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the Bill Gibb exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. Well I say lucky, there were far too many people and it was far too hot but aside from that, I had a marvellous time ogling the frocks and trying to avoid all the elbows and arms which kept flying at me (one of which was Twiggy’s, but I’ll forgive her anything!). My own Bill Gibb frock [see below] is far too heavy and hot to be worn even in a cold snap, so I chose to wear my red Biba with the very Gibb-esque sleeves. Turns out that red Bibas teamed with red lipstick (I was channelling Wendy B!) are a good ice-breaker and I met some very lovely people while I mooched around.

I can highly recommend the exhibition, and I certainly will be going back to have a proper look. Not least at an incredible photo, which I’m now desperate to find, of some of my favourite fashion designers together. Yes, John Bates and Ossie Clark in the same photo. And Mary Quant at the back. I wonder if the fur was flying when it got taken?

The clothes are the star, although I do feel that they should be displayed on mannequins rather than suspended from the ceiling on hangers. Gibb’s clothes were designed for a body. Quite often they look very peculiar hanging up, and sleeves are not done enough justice when they hang limply at the side. There’s also the problem that they’re very much touchable (one rare mannequin is sat on a swing in the middle of the room) and I fear much the same problems as with the Bates exhibition that grubby hands will be all over the pieces, and I only hope they have good insurance and watchful staff!

I was fascinated to see the early Alice Paul boutique pieces, I had no idea there were still any around to be exhibited, and my friend Daniel’s early Baccarat piece is certainly a star attraction. One lady exclaimed that she kept coming back to look at it over and over again.

I will also go back to have a proper look at the video projection, which is a documentary made when Gibb was launching his label in 1971. Lo and behold it was the same catwalk show as the cream version of my black dress appeared in, so it was lovely to see it ‘in motion’ on the catwalk.

I will do some more Gibb-orientated posts soon when I start to unpack all my Vogues again and can scan in some beauties. But until then, here are a couple of ones I’ve sold: