Taking it all away from complications, planned decorations, many of the clothes you know, into a new world of white — where the action is. Clean-limbed clothes, marvellously young and free. Like this worksuit, above, red buttoned, red stitched white canvas jumping ahead into the sportslight. Jim O’Connor at Mr Freedom, £9.90. Pink suede cap, blue spotted visor. Janice Peskett at Mr Freedom, about £3.90. White cashmere sweater, by Pringle, £11, at Hills’ Cashmere House. Running shoes, Converse All Star sneakers, red flash and white, £4.99½, at Jack Hobbs, 56 Fleet St, E.C.4. Take it from here. Get clean away.
I do love a bit of South Bank Brutalism with my boutique clothing!
Now there’s hardware and haberdashery, furnishings and fabrics, cosmetics and mens-wear, all carrying the Biba label. Their brave transition from dolly boutique to department store was made last week when Biba opened in Kensington High Street. Although a baby store compared with neighbouring Barker’s, Biba does boast marble floors, a carved gallery from the old St Paul’s school, and a commissionaire at the huge glass doors.
Faithful customers can still find among the familiar palm fronds clothes to wear themselves or put on their children, but everything is on a much bigger scale. Colour-matched underwear and tights are on sale in a special conservatory-style department, and there’s a complete range of Biba makeup and cosmetics, and many more accessories.
But what’s really new, are the clothes for men, and the things for the house.
There’s nothing simple or austere about a Biba home life. The girl whose idea of some-thing comfortable to wear around the house is a slinky satin dress chooses a plush back-ground and hardware that’s softly elegant. Cutlery is rich-looking in gilt and mother of pearl, or silver and ebony. China is white and gold, glasses are chunky goblets. Specially printed wallpapers and furnishing fabrics, plain satins, felts, braids and trimmings, have carefully matched emulsion paints, lamp-shades and cushions, all in a range of 15 colours. Biba are selling the raw materials so that you can make what you want of them. The clue to their own style is Art Nouveau, but the way you choose to use them will be your own.
Biba men’s clothes are worn in these pictures by James Fox, who can currently be seen in ‘Isadora’ and whose new film, ‘Performance’, in which he co-stars with Mick Jagger, comes out next month.
Mr Fox is long and slender and can have little problem kitting himself out elegantly, but the clothes he wears here, plus others by Biba in velvets and tweeds, all come in a size range bigger than most. So fatter men can have fun with clothes too, and at a reasonable price.
By Liz Smith.
Photographed by Steve Hiett.
Scanned from The Observer Magazine, 21st September 1969.
Biba 3 is definitely the Biba I’m most captivated by, I think possibly because it was edged out so quickly by the much bigger (and more Deco) Big Biba and yet was, I think, the perfect encapsulation of the aesthetic and the first time the ‘department store’ ideal was manifested. Basically, I wish there were more photos so I do try and scan them when I find them! It’s also nice to see the menswear getting a bit of attention for once.
Pure wool herringbene tweed trousers cut to curve over the foot 6gn.; matching buttoned jerkin, £5 10s. Pure silk shirt and tie, 6gn. Art Nouveau statue, £7 10s.; necklace, 34s.; veiling, 2s. a yd. Marbled patent shoes, 12gn., from the Chelsea Cobbler, 33 Sackville Street, W1. Vanilla coloured Imperial Russian cigarettes by Sobranie, 11s. 3d. for 25. Carved ivory cigar holder, £21 ; ivory chess men, part of a set, £80; both from W. Barrett, 9 Old Bond Street, W1.
White worsted wool jacket with safari pockets and belt, 15gn.; matching trousers shaped over the foot, 8gn. Brown and cream printed rayon shirt, 5gn.; matching tie, 39s. 6d. Co-respondent shoes, £5 15s. from Anello & Davide, 30 Drury Lane, London, WC2. Teacup, 5s. 6d.; saucer, 3s. 3d.,2) All Biba prices here are approximate.
Ablaze with the colour of Leonard’s exclusive vegetable henna, imported from Persia, cold-wave permed with Wella Structurelle and set to frame the face. Palest skin smoothed by Barbara Daly with Angel Face Cameo All-in-One Make-Up, dusted with Translucent Light Fashion Compact, blushed with Soft Rose Blush & Gloss. Cutex Rosy Blinkers colours the eyes with Angel Face Sable Automatic Mascara. Lips shot with Cutex Wineberry Lipstick to match the iridescent Blueberry Schemer nails.
Silver flecked red blouse by Screaming Mimi, scarf by Woolworths.
Hair coloured by Daniel, permed by Sandra, styled by Celine, all at Leonard.
Yellow vibrations, sun crepe printed with black and green, cut out at shoulders, frilled like a waterfall down tight sleeves; 15 gns. All clothes by Ossie Clark at Quorum, 113 King’s Rd.
Look at summer through new eyes. Ossie Clark sees you in shepherdess smocks of voile, in long crepe dresses, reed-thin red or printed by Celia Birtwell. Pattie Boyd looks at it her way. All at Quorum.
Photographed by David Bailey.
Scanned from Vogue, June 1969.
I think this editorial might be one of the first I ever scanned, back in even my pre-blog days. I may have posted it on MySpace (don’t judge me, I feel ancient enough as it is). I’ve been meaning to properly rescan for years, but finally the time seemed right. It is the perfect combination of designer, model, photographer and a stunning use of Pre-Raphaelite imagery.
Cloud white voile, left, with apple green and peach, a shepherdess shirt, about £8 14s. 6d, matching skirt, about £10 8s. 6d to order.
Gentle beige smock, below, with crepe yoke, half sleeves above long voile cuffed sleeves; body beige, too, with olive and orange; 142 gns.
Flame red crepe dress, below, wrapped round and tied behind, with dragon fin sleeves, long and slender, a potent mixture of enchantment; 12 gns. Scarf by Celia Birtwell. High collar, £3 5s, from selection at London Docks, Munro Terrace.
Some of the sexiest women in films are buying underwear like this. It is wildly expensive (the items cost from about £16 to £90), but Liliane Dreyfus, who designed it for Vog, Paris, says that her customers don’t seem to mind the price; with pay-cheques like the ones that Brigitte Bardot, Ursula Andress, Juliette Greco and Jackie Bissett pick up, why should they? On these pages her silk, satin and lace concoctions are worn by Aurore Clement, one of the new stars of Louis Malle‘s most recent — and some say finest — film, Lacombe Lucien. If you have the money and are still interested, they are available to order from Harrods.
Styling and words by Meriel McCooey.
Photographed by Sacha.
Scanned from The Sunday Times Magazine, March 31st 1974.
Despite the distractions, Chichi hangs on to her hat and her colouring book, wears a lucky tarot card print poncho top, £25, and mid-calf skirt, £20, by Alice Pollock at Quorum. Bangles chosen from a selection at Adrien Mann.
In clothes we dare you to wear!
Make a name for yourself in 1974. Be an inspiration, a focal point, an innovator. Paint a positive future and make January a beautiful time. Experiment with colours. Branch out and try some totally different styles. Don’t go along with the rest of the girls—start up your own school, you’ll soon have plenty of followers. Begin by studying your best points, then set about accentuating them. If your skin gleams, show it off; if your waist is small, cinch it; if your legs are great, make certain that they are seen. The clothes here are not cheap, but like every good artist it’s vital to invest in good materials for long-lasting results. They will be appreciated for a long time to come ...
Styling by Penny Graham.
Photographs by Bill King.
Scanned from Cosmopolitan, January 1974.
I do love some equal opportunities Mild Sauce. These clothes are amongst some of my most coveted pieces, especially that outrageously plunging back John Bates dress. If you thought that McQueen invented the ‘bumsters’, remember that someone else has always got there first!
Make a strong statement. Frame your back with this year’s most dramatic scoop. Chichi in a clinging dress with pointed mediaeval sleeves—by John Bates for Jean Varon, £62.95.
Between sittings is no time to collapse. Chichi slips into something small and adds a rope of pearls for that Ritz- y finish. Camiknickers by Janet Reger, £15; pearls from Ciro.
Chichi makes the perfect portrait in a spider’s web dress dangerous enough to trap any hot-blooded male. Dress by John Bates for Jean Varon, £39.
A switch of scenery, a new source of inspiration. Chichi wrapped romantically in a glamorous film star dressing gown by Janet Reger, £48.
The painted lady. Chichi switches roles and dances a wild tarantella. The sleeves are pulled off the shoulders for an abandoned gipsy look. Silk dress by Angela Salmon for The Prop Shop, £85.
Two pretty girls on the steps of the Troccadero. The sweaters and flared, spotted skirts are by Dorothee Bis and are available to order in Britain from Escalade, 183-190 Brompton Road, London S.W.1
Jacques-Henri Lartigue, now aged 81, took his first photographs in 1902, the year that his father gave him a camera which he describes in his diary as “made of polished wood with a lens extension of green cloth with accordion folds”. He took these pictures of clothes’ from the Paris Ready-to-Wear collections last month when he revisited his old haunts — the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne and the Trocadero — where years ago he took his first evocative and tender pictures of the beautiful, fashion-able, eccentric and ridiculous women who caught his eye. Wrapped in his father’s splendid checked brown-and-beige overcoat he worked with surprising speed : totally sure, extremely agile once he flung himself to the ground to capture the angle he wanted. His wife Florette worked with him — pacing, standing in for the models and carrying his few items of gear which included one small leather box in which he once kept his first camera; it’s gone now, but his wife said he likes to carry the box “for good luck”. The results make the model girls look like part of the landscape instead of self-conscious cardboard figures.
Photographed by Jacques-Henri Lartigue.
Scanned from The Sunday Times Magazine, March 18th 1973.
Black crêpe dress, decorated with butterfly bows, by Dorothée Bis.
Beauty in the Bois : spring 1973. The model is wearing Yves St Laurent’s black crepe suit with harem pants and distinctive gold jewellery. These are available here from St Laurent, Rive Gauche, 113 New Bond Street, London W.1 : so are the sandals.
Strolling along the broad, tree-lined boulevards from the Etoile : the shirts, button-through woollen sweaters, long-pleated skirts, well-cut head-scarves and matching bracelets by Chloe are available from Fortnum & Mason, Piccadilly, London, W.1.
Two black crêpe dresses, decorated with butterfly bows, by Dorothée Bis.
Mobile changing room.
Heavy wool sweater, with a new rolled sleeve, and shorts by Sonia Rykiel, whose clothes are sold here at Vidal Sassoon, 44 Sloane Street, London S.W.1
Dress by Dorothee Bis
Smocked dresses in Liberty-printed fabrics with off-the-shoulder necklines and bodices of shirred elastic. From Yves Saint Laurent’s Rive Gauche collection. The same styled dresses, in silk or cotton, are also available with floor-length skirts.
Beige cotton swagger-back jacket with contrasting collar and turn-back cuffs £12 ; beige short-sleeved cotton button-through shirt £6-50; extra wide cotton Oxford bags £8, all by Ian Batten for Stirling Cooper, from 94 New Bond Street, W1 ; Stirling Cooper shops at branches of Peter Robinson. Bug brooch, Butler & Wilson £4-50; thin gilt snake neck chain, Miss Selfridge 75p; ivory bangles £5 each from Butler & Wilson.
Something like these easy-to-wear, soft crêpe or finely knitted swing-back duster jackets, teamed with wide lounging trousers or slit pencil skirts. They’re cool, casual and chic—easily the most comfortable outfits around.
Photographed by Gilles Ben Simon.
Scanned from Honey, May 1973.
Grey crêpe swagger-back jacket with faint white stripe and wide front revers £8.95, worn with matching trousers £7.95, both by Lee Bender for Bus Stop from all branches of Bus Stop, (mail order 25p from 3 Kensington Church Street W8). Acrylic and linen knitted sleeveless top with gathered bust detail, Outlander £4.60, from Dickins & Jones, Regent Street, W1 (mail order 15p) ; Beige, Oxford Street, W1 ; Sheila Worth, New Bond Street, W1 ; Stephen Tremayne, Walton-on-Thames ; Samuel Cooper, Wilmslow. Egg-shaped bead necklace, Adrien Mann 90p ; cream and black elasti-cised plastic bracelet, Gay Designs £3.50 ; thin white bangle, Paul Stephens 17p.
Acrylic and linen knitted jacket with wide turn-back sleeves £10.30, and matching vest with stripes on the bust £4.20, both by Outlander, from main branches of Wallis ; Fenwicks, Bond Street, W1 (mail order 20p) ; Sheila Worth, New Bond Street, W1 and branches. Crêpe lounging trousers, Alice Pollock for Quorum £8 approx, from Quorum, Radnor Walk, SW3, Heath Street, Hampstead, NW3, and their shops at branches of Peter Robinson. Gilt and silver necklace, Miss Selfridge £1.45 ; thin gilt snake neck chain, Miss Selfridge 75p; deco clip worn as earring, Universal Witness 25p; white plastic bangle, Paul Stephens 17p ; gilt and silver bracelet, Miss Selfridge 70p ; thin plastic bangles, Paul Stephens 10p.
Black and white knitted vest top with wide straps and big white button detail £1.95 approx, with matching wide-sleeved duster jacket £4.95, both by Glynn Manson, from Goodban Ltd, Chiswick, W4; Brown & Phillips, Deal; Townrows, Braintree; Avannes, Edinburgh. Tight white Trevira pencil skirt with large black buttons and front slit, C & A £2.75, from main branches of C & A. White crochet pull-on hat, Edward Mann £2.60; black 1920s bug brooch, Butler & Wilson £4.50; black and white cylindrical bead choker, Adrien Mann, £1; black and cream checkered elasticised bracelet, Butler & Wilson £3; thin bangles, Paul Stephens 10p each; tights, Mary Quant 40p.
Crepe-de-chine jacket with large front patch pockets, cuffed sleeves and own tie belt, Suzy Craker for Roger Nelson £12 approx, from Che Guevara, Kensington High Street, W8; Stock, High Holborn, WC1 ; Coundown, King’s Road, SW3. Acrylic and linen finely knitted long-sleeved sweater, Outlander £3.60 ; silver and cream brooch, Dando at Antiquarius £2.50.
Grey and white polka-dot crêpe swagger-back jacket £8.95, and matching wide trousers £7.95, both from all branches of Bus Stop. Finely striped long-sleeved beige and white sweater, Outlander £4.50, from main branches of Wallis; Dickins Et Jones, Regent Street, W1 (mail order 15p) ; Image, Bath. Thin brown patent belt and thin white patent belt, Gay Designs 69p each; cream plastic egg-shaped bead choker 90p, and small white glass bead necklace £1.60, both by Adrien Mann ; plastic bangles, Paul Stephens 10p each; thin metal bangles, Corocraft 69p; grey clip earrings, Paul Stephens 25p.
Rust, cream and brown Madras check cotton duster suit with white elasticated trim, Jakie Ross for Jon Elliot, trousers £7.90, jacket £9.90, both from Merle, Thurloe Street, SW7; Goodshop Lollipop, Gloucester Road, SW7; Sidney Smith, King’s Road, SW3 (mail order 25p) ; The Klink, Peckham. Black and white plastic leaf necklace, Adrien Mann, £1.50 ; black and cream chequered elasticated bracelet, Butler & Wilson £3 plain ivory bangles, Butler & Wilson £5.50 each.
Left: Sizeable spot suit. Crossed small spots flared into bigger spots, bodice attached briefly to big spot baggy trousers. By Sybil Zelker at Polly Peck, £12.85, at Harrods; Edward Bates, Chatham. Black plastic chains from range of jewellery, white patent wedge sandals, here and right, £16.50, at Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.Near right: Cotton pique sun bodice, straps becoming sailor collar. By Stirling Cooper, £3.50, at Peter Robinson, London, Leeds, Norwich, Oxford. High-waisted cotton Oxford bags, £5.95, at Bus Stop. Plastic choker by Adrien Mann, £1.50, at Marshall & Snelgrove. Hats, this page, spotted muslin by Malyard, £16, at Marrian McDonnell. Opposite left: Spotty cotton halter, glazed striped cotton sailor trousers, by Christopher McDonnell, £4.25, £7.50 at Marrian McDonnell. Opposite centre: Batwing striped matelot, thin polybis knit, buttoned on one shoulder, by Hans Metzen, £4, at Harvey Nichols 21 Shop; June Daybell, Cheltenham; Ginger, Epping. Madly spotted belt with Perspex spot buckle, by Nigel Lofthouse, about £7, at Browns; James Drew. Voluminous stripe trousers, from a suit, by Sujon, £9, at Lord John, King’s Road; Butterfly, Hampstead; Pussycat, York. Scallop snake heels by Terry de Havilland, £14.99, at Leicester Shoes, Up West. Both straws, black with white crown, vice versa, £11, at Herbert Johnson. Opposite right: Cotton and Vincel knit halter all in a final bow. Checked cotton pedal pushers on shirred waist. By Lizzie Carr at Plain Clothes, about £3.95, £4.95, at Conspiracy from mid-May. Patent peeptoes, £19.50, at Saint Laurent Rive Gauche. Cotton drill halo, Titfers, £8, Liberty. All short white gloves, about 75p, by Kir. Hair by John at Leonard.
THE NEW SPOT CHECK ‘N STRIPE SHOW
Cottons crisp, cotton knit, hats as large as saucers, trousers wide, heels high, black and white giving positive power on a summer’s day.
Rose-printed satin 30s tea gown, £12 from a selection at Joanna’s Fleamarket, Carnaby Street, W1.
Get ready for a gorgeous full-blown rosy. summer. Everything is covered in roses: long floaty `tea dresses’, short and sweet frocks, soft gathered blouses, crisp cotton shirts—roses are even screen-printed onto angora sweaters. In fact, there’s sure to be a rosy outlook ahead for everyone!
Photographed by Roy A. Giles.
Scanned from Honey, April 1973.
White and pink angora sweater, Radley £5.50, from Quorum, Radnor Walk, SW3; all branches of Peter Robinson. Pendant, Adrien Mann 80p; embossed bangle, City Lights £3.50.
Soft faded red and yellow rose printed chiffon 1940s midi dress with gently pleated skirt £12, from a selection at Joanna’s Fleamarket, Carnaby Street, W1; natural straw floppy hat, Bermona, .11.50; speckled glass bead necklace, 75p; plastic rose carved bangle, 30p; wide plastic bangle, 45p; all by Paul Stephens.
Old fashioned sweet pea and rose Liberty-printed cotton shirt, Universal Witness £8.95, from Universal Witness, Fulham Road, SW3; Lord John, King’s Road, London SW3 (mail order 20p extra). Straw and organza panama hat with rose trimming, Barnetat £3.30. Plastic bangle. Paul Stephens 30p.
Scatterd with roses, cotton puff-sleeved overblouse with tie waist and gathered yoke, Jap at Joseph £12 approx, from Joseph, 33b King’s Road, SW3 (mail order 25p extra). Straw bowler, Diane Logan, £6, decorated with flowers from a selection at John Lewis; carved rose plastic bangle, Paul Stephens 30p.
Exotic sugar pink, cream and green rose-printed puff-sleeve cotton-lawn blouse and gathered Oxford bags, Electric Fittings £16 approx, from Conspiracy, Kensington High Street, W8 (mail order 25p). Natural straw hat, Bermona £1.50; perspex and rose embossed bangle, City Lights £2.75; fan, Habitat 15p.
Liz Eggleston 