Cleverly-cut bra top, just tied in a knot in burning hot pink, with loose low trousers of the ame. By Georgina Linhart, 9½ gns, at Just Looking.
Photographed by Clive Arrowsmith.
Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Vogue, April 1969
Stirling Cooper
This photoshoot, featuring the brilliantly named Celestia Sporborg, is another one of my all-time favourites, and one I have put off scanning for a long while because Vanity Fair is actually a rather painful magazine to scan. The gummed spine, with age, does not enjoy being flattened so it requires extra effort to maintain some kind of structural integrity. I couldn’t NOT scan though. I love these images. I love the blurriness, her natural facial expressions, the very domestic backdrop and, of course, the completely mind-blowingly fabulous clothes. I don’t know where to start. That Stirling Cooper above is just so modern. And the Radley playsuit, so very Glam. And the Ossie… Plus Alice Pollock, Foale and Tuffin and a Ritva sweater I sold on Vintage-a-Peel a few years back…
It also identifies the shots from Vanity Fair’s Guide to Modern Etiquette, ‘Nice Girls Do’, which I posted about before. To contextualise this shoot, the entire June issue is dedicated to feminism and liberation. Certainly one of the main reasons I love Vanity Fair almost above all other magazines of the period is the fact that they would theme all the contents of an issue, including the fashion spreads.
Celestia Sporborg is now a casting director herself, with over a hundred film credits on IMDB. She married theatre and film producer Robert Fox (brother of James and Edward) in 1975 and they had three children together.
Photographed by Frank Horvat.
Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Vanity Fair, June 1971
Foale & Tuffin
Radley
Ossie Clark
Ritva
Alice Pollock
No excuse for looking a wash-out with these rainy-day separates. Showerproof three-quarter length Dannimac cotton jacket. Black Simon Massey shirt. Keep-the-worst-off cotton hat by Malyard. Bouncy beads by Adrien Mann. Bumper sunglasses by Oliver Goldsmith.
Photographed by Willie Christie.
Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Over 21, September 1972
Fabulous shaggy acrylic jacket by Weathergay – believe it or not it’s showerproof. With a pure silk crepe de chine Sujon shirt. Cream wool trousers by Mary Quant. Splash-happy PVC hat from Herbert Johnson. Wet=grass green leather clutch bag by Mulberry Company.
Casual-as-they-come trench coat in cotton and polyester from Aquascutum. Lined wool bags by Sujon from Just Looking. Silk shirt from Aquascutum again. Bringing-back-the-sun clutch bag by Mulberry Company. Shoes from Russell and Bromley. Antelope felt hat from Herbert Johnson.
Featuring iconic model Charlotte Martin (who had romances with Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Jimmy Page). and some of the sweetest knits I’ve ever seen.
Photographed by Roger Stowell.
Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Petticoat, March 29th 1969
Coat by Elgee, boots by Biba
It seemed appropriate, for some reason…
Photographed by Graham Hughes. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Honey, December 1974
Coat, skirt, hat and boots by Biba / Coat by Wallis, hat by Biba, boots by Chelsea Cobbler
Coat by Stephen Marks, hat by Biba, boots by Mary Graeme / Coat by Elgee, hat by Biba, boots by Chelsea Cobbler
Coat by Sheraton from Ronnie Stirling, hat by Fenwicks, boots by Mary Graeme
Cape by Elgee, boots by Mary Graeme
Coat by Wallis, hat from Fenwick, boots by Chelsea Cobbler / Cape from Just Looking, hat and boots from Biba
Illustrated by Michael Farrell. Click to enlarge.
Oh I do love a good map. Especially a fantastically illustrated map of all my favourite shops in London in 1971. It is the nearest I will ever come to being able to walk around them. Sadness ensues…
Scanned from Vanity Fair, July 1971.
Stretch towelling midi dress from Foale and Tuffin. Cotton velour tie-front dress from Phase One. Armband from Biba. Hats from The Shop.
It’s such a shame that towelling has been so roundly bastardised and rendered unwearable by the likes of Juicy ‘Pepto Bismol’ Couture and consequent high street replicas. Even Ossie was using it in the late Sixties!
“High summer towelling” feature scanned from Petticoat, August 1970. Photos by David Hurn. Scanned by Miss Peelpants.
Jacket with belt and long skirt by Bellino. Stretch dress with matching trousers from Foale and Tuffin. Sandals by Sacha. Crochet hat from The Shop.
‘I love you’ top by Clobber
Top, shorts and skirt by Just Looking. Hat from Bus Stop. Sunglasses from Biba. Shoes by Sacha.
Top by Mr Freedom. Shorts by Georgina Linhart.
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
Dress by Just Looking
From Vanity Fair, July 1971. Photographs by Hans Feurer
Dress by Stop the Shop
Dress by Antony Price from Che Guevara
I must admit that I am generally pretty ambivalent when it comes to model worship, but two of my absolute favourites are Pat Cleveland and Gala Mitchell. So imagine my delight when I found another issue of Vanity Fair from 1971 (December this time. Again, falling apart. What’s with the Vanity Fair binding?) and an entire spread with the two ladies I love? Imagine my further delight when I realise the shoot contains phenomenal clothes by Antony Price, Alice Pollock and Alcasura [sic]. It helps that it was photographed by the great David Montgomery (whose photos always seem to tickle my fancy).
Outfit by Alice Pollock. Shoes from Zapata.
Outfit by Alkasura. Shoes by The Chelsea Cobbler.
Dress by Simon Ellis from Just Looking
Dress by Martha Hill
Liz Eggleston 
