19 AND airJamaica GO DOWN -TOWN
Down-town Mo Bay is a riot of colour. Houses are made of wood and painted red, blue, green or yellow. There’s a different colour at every step, so a walk down any street is quite an experience. Then there’s the soul music which blasts out of every shop, so you’ve got to look cool. Hence our choice of fun clothes to catch the eye even with all that competition.
Photographed by Harri Peccinotti.
Scanned from 19 Magazine, July 1974.
One of the finest editorials of all time, from the dream team of Caroline Baker and Harri Peccinotti at Nova. You can’t help thinking about the clear influence of the Impressionists, such as Renoir, on the aesthetic, but also about how this shoot must itself have been influencing other people for years afterwards. For example, Picnic at Hanging Rock was released a mere three years later and the petticoats, parasols and lace-up boots can’t help but remind you of that.
As a side note, but a pretty impressive one at that, the ‘nursery print’ Miss Mouse dress featured here has also just gone into my Etsy shop. So you can pretend it’s 1972 and you’re ‘shopping the look’.
Photographed by Harri Peccinotti.
Fashion by Caroline Baker.
Scanned from Nova, July 1972.
Ski pants, socks and hot tops – a fresh look for the future with a little help from the past.
Photographed by Roger Charity.
Scanned from Honey, May 1975.
Manly beach, Australia. Rock pools, sea, magnificent scenery. If yours is going to be a clambering holiday, these T-shirts, shorts and fun tops are just the job.
Photographed by Nick Brokensha.
Scanned from 19 Magazine, July 1975.
Summer’s peasant clothes come in brightly frilled cotton or in soft layers of cheesecloth with a bazaar of sunny straws and beads.
Fashion by Sue Hone.
Photographed by Roger Charity.
Scanned from Petticoat, 6th June 1972.
If you can’t tango, simply steal into the spotlight in these flamboyant rumba dresses. The slipped shoulder strap, the bared midriff and the full-blown flouncy skirts all spell out the sexiest numbers for summer.
The main difference between the content of a magazine like Honey, as opposed to Vogue or Queen, is that the designers tend to be the more intriguing and less well-known of the period. If you want names like Miss Mouse, Granny Takes a Trip or Antony Price, these magazines should always be your first port of call. This shoot alone features one of my Holy Grail pieces by Granny Takes a Trip: the ruffled tie front top and skirt ensemble designed by Dinah Adams. Previously a designer for two other cult London boutiques, Mr Freedom and Paradise Garage, painfully little is known about Dinah Adams (misattributed as ‘Diana’ in the original credits). Which is why it’s always lovely to see her work represented anywhere.
Also shown here is a frothy, frilly delight of a frock by Miss Mouse, a.k.a Rae Spencer-Cullen. A personal favourite of mine, the Miss Mouse aesthetic is precisely why this early Seventies period is my favourite for fashion. Her work was heavily Fifties-inspired, quite ahead of the curve in the scheme of things, but always with a novel twist. Spencer-Cullen is yet another designer whose life remains something of a mystery, despite being a part of a hugely influential circle which included artists Duggie Fields and Andrew Logan. It seems that this anonymity was (at least initially) intentional, as an article from the Glasgow Herald in 1976 declared.
“At first, six years ago, when presenting her quirky designs on fashion, she seemed shy and utterly retiring. Miss Mouse could not be contacted easily by the press. She was elusive, hazed in shadows, a real mouse about publicity in fact. The only evidence of her entire existence was her clothes.”
In a world where we are so used to having information at our fingertips, there is something quite enchanting about this; tiny scraps must be stitched together to create a flimsy silhouette of a creative genius.
Photographed by Roy A Giles.
Scanned from Honey, July 1973.
(Please note – this blog originally appeared in 2016 on Shrimpton Couture’s ‘Curated’ blog project which has since been removed. It seemed a shame to let the posts disappear completely so I hope to eventually repost all my work here.)
Summer is the time for romance. It’s the time for walking in the woods or by the water’s edge, and for having those delicious picnics. It’s the time for looking soft and feminine in long, flowing dresses and picture hats. So we’ve chosen some of the prettiest dresses, skirt and hats we could find, to help you look your best when you while away those sunny days.
Photographed by John Bishop.
Scanned from 19 Magazine, June 1972.
Further to yesterday’s post, and as promised, here are the photos taken on Brighton Pier for the same editorial. With clothes by Miss Mouse and City Lights Studio, they were worth waiting for – weren’t they?
Photographed by Gilles Ben Simon.
Scanned from Honey, May 1973
This post is brought to you in two parts. The editorial was, unusually, photographed by two different photographers in two different locations. Tomorrow I will post the photos from Brighton Pier (very exciting for me, as you can guess!). Today’s were photographed in Meeny’s, which was a King’s Road boutique started by Gary Craze in 1972 – specialising in American brands for both adults and children. Clearly showing the same influences as Mr Freedom, this is the first I’ve seen of the interior. The clothes are the very creme de la creme of boutique ‘pop art’ joyfulness.
Photographed by Dick Polak.
Scanned from Honey, May 1973.
White dress with music and rose print by Miss Mouse. Snakeskin shoes from Bilbo. Red and white spotted dress with white trimming by Miss Mouse.
Photographed in Singapore by Harri Peccinotti.
Scanned from 19 Magazine, May 1975.
Black and green floral print halterneck dress from Biba. Black and gold shoes by Sex. Green floral halterneck dress by Biba. Black and gold brocade shoes by Biba.
Shocking pink pintucked cotton dress by Sheridan Barnett at Quorum. Black snakeskin shoes by Bilbo. Red cotton sack dress with hip pockets by Sheridan Barnett at Quorum. Red suede and snakeskin shoes by Terry de Havilland.
Dusty pink sun dress with black piping by Strawberry Studio. Grey suede shoes by Terry de Havilland.
Blue cotton dress with Dorchester motif. Coffee dress with Savoy motif, both by Jeff Banks.
White cotton culotte dress by Stirling Cooper. White shoes from Secondhand Rose, Chelsea Antique Market. White cotton sun dress by Stirling Cooper. White shoes from Secondhand Rose.
Navy cotton sundress with cross over straps by Gordon King.
