New listings: Ossie Clark – The Real Deal

1970s, bags, Barker, british boutique movement, Chenille, david silverman, frank usher, jean varon, john bates, Jon Adam, kurt geiger, Manfield, ossie clark, Renata, Tadashi

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I only sell the originals, y’know. There are still many more listings to come, so keep your eyes peeled over on the Vintage-a-Peel facebook page.

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I love you Pinky…

1970s, biba, british boutique movement, jean varon, john bates, website listings, yves saint laurent

Never again will I take movement for granted. About ten days ago, while I was running around preparing to meet up with the gorgeous Laurakitty and then doll myself up for the preview of the new Biba exhibition at Brighton Museum, I managed to ram my foot into my ever-present suitcase. Hard. So hard, in fact, that my pinky toe on my left foot was newly positioned at a right angle.

Of course I could have concocted a taller, more glamorous story about how I had tripped over the hem of my Ossie Clark dress (you know I run around in them all day, right?) or had tumbled from the stratospheric heights of my Terry de Havilland shoes (same as the Ossies, always in them…always…). Sadly, I was barefoot and the reality was painful and distinctly unglamorous. I managed to reset it myself (not quite sure how, I just moved it, not painful until the shock wore off…) and have been flat-bound and hobbling like a hobbly thing ever since. I have been told four to six weeks recovery time, in which I am unable to wear any of my nice shoes and have to keep pinky strapped up to its neighbour. There ensued much swearing and sulking when I realised that Biba (and, a few days later, the Festival of Vintage in Epsom) was definitely out of the question.

Unlike Tara, I have not been fighting thugs and solving crimes from the sofa. But I have been posed rather like this most of the time…

Sympathy (and tea and biscuits) are always welcome, but I mainly wanted to explain my slight absence from the blogging thing. I have been going stir crazy with boredom, but blogging seemed to be the last thing on my mind. Hard to get too excited about frocks and other fripperies when you are banished to the land of trainers and a very strange new walking style.

I am now just about able to get up the stairs to the studio, so slowness in frock dispatchery should be reduced. And there are some fine, fine things to be seen. New listings include Biba jackets, John Bates dresses and Yves Saint Laurent shoes, amongst many other things.

Vintage Adverts: We’ve got cotton denim all buttoned up

1970s, british boutique movement, flair magazine, Inspirational Images, jean varon, john bates, Vintage Adverts

Scanned from Flair, June 1970

Why have I never found this Varon dress?

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 Images: Fresh Woods and Pastures New

1960s, belinda bellville, jean varon, john bates, Justin de Villeneuve, twiggy, Vintage Editorials, Vogue

Culotte dress and sash by John Bates for Jean Varon, 48gns.

The most Easter-themed spread I could come up with at short notice. Happy Easter and hello Mr Spring, I’ve missed you so!

Prints by Bernard Neville for Liberty. Photos by Justin de Villeneuve. Vogue, May 1969.

Scanned by Miss Peelpants

Gypsy dress, to order at Belinda Bellville.

Bagged!

1970s, aristos, art of bags, biba, british boutique movement, chelsea girl, countdown, crowthers, irvine sellars, jean varon, john bates, just looking, king's road, laura ashley, mr freedom, ravel, stop the shop, take 6

Aristos © John Hendy

I couldn’t resist following ‘Tagged!’ with ‘Bagged!’. The art of the carrier bag seems even less appreciated than the art of the hang tag, despite its importance in the history of advertising and consumerism.

On Simon Hendy’s incredible website “My Dad’s Photos“, Simon has scanned a mountain of original photos that his father took across six years of fashionable (and not so fashionable) people on the King’s Road in the late Sixties and early Seventies. It is truly a delight to sift your way through them. They are a true time capsule of ‘real’ people wearing ‘real’ clothes in a period where photo opportunities were frequently engineered and crafted (as brilliant as Frank Habicht’s ‘In The Sixties’ is, it’s a very well-crafted form of ‘candid’ photography). I will definitely post about them again, not least because I recognise so many bits of clothing from designers I love.

However, today’s post is about the carrier bag. For, as I was sifting through and starting to get a bit dizzy with the amazingness of it all, I started to notice the bags people were carrying. Biba, Aristos, Stop the Shop, Crowthers… These are truly ephemeral items. How many people bother to keep a plastic bag? You might, if you were lucky, have wrapped something up in one and plonked it in your loft for the past forty years. But these examples are few and far between. The iconic design of the original Biba bags has ensured that they are the most regularly found on eBay, but few of any other kind have slipped through the net.

I did, however, find a ‘Jean Varon’ bag on eBay very recently, which has now taken its place in my collection of weird and wonderful ephemera.

Simon has kindly allowed me to link to his photos from my blog. I know it’s hard to keep such things under control in this age of tumblr etc, but I would appreciate if you would also ask him if you would like to repost his images somewhere else. He has spent many hours scanning these photos, photos which (unlike magazine scans) would not be available otherwise – from anyone else. Thank you!

Unidentified (possibly Mr Freedom at the back?) © John Hendy

Selfridges © John Hendy

Mates by Irvine Sellars © John Hendy

Guys and Dolls and C&A © John Hendy

Unknown © John Hendy

Fancy That © John Hendy

Chelsea Girl © John Hendy

Crowthers © John Hendy

Just Looking © John Hendy

Kids in Gear © John Hendy

Take 6 © John Hendy

Countdown © John Hendy

Ravel © John Hendy

Unknown (Mantra?) © John Hendy

Strides © John Hendy

Stop the Shop © John Hendy

Laura Ashley © John Hendy

The New Avenger in Lee Bender

annacat, bus stop, chelsea girl, harold ingram, jean varon, joanna lumley, lee bender, murray arbeid, norman hartnell, polly peck, terry de havilland, the avengers, website listings

I have just listed some stunning new pieces over at Vintage-a-Peel, but the real star of the show has got to be this incredible Lee Bender for Bus Stop skirt and halter top set. For it is identical to the one worn by Joanna Lumley in a photocall for The New Avengers in 1976. Deliciously bright and saucy, and the one thing which might distract the world from your pudding-bowl haircut!

Photos and links to other newly listed items follow underneath…

Late Sixties cord jacket (click to view listing)

Murray Arbeid 1980s turquoise cocktail dress (click to view listing)

Terry de Havilland 1970s gold glitter shoes (click to view listing)

Norman Hartnell early 1960s chiffon and soutache evening gown (click to view listing)

Annacat 1960s blue velvet jacket (click to view listing)

Harold Ingram 1970s knitted top (click to view listing)

Polly Peck 1960s white cotton blouse (click to view listing)

Chelsea Girl 1970s stripe jumper (click to view listing)

Tom Bowker for Jean Varon 1970s silver lamé top (click to view listing)

Banish those February blues

angela gore, betty barclay, biba, clobber, gerald mccann, jean allen, jean varon, jeff banks, john bates, moss crepe, stirling cooper, website listings

Stirling Cooper (click to view listing)

Seems the diabolical month of January has given the world something of a February hangover. I just want the world to be filled with beautiful, sparkly things. I offer you sparkly Biba and Stirling Cooper, psychedelic perfection, mod heaven, sultry Biba blues and vibrant Varonishness. Amongst other things, of course. Enjoy!