An apple a day keeps the doctor away: Eating natural food does you more good, as the experts tell you and you knew all along. Read Arabella Boxer’s “Country Food”, page 195. Flowered chiffon nightdress with lace, about £10, from a range at Maria’s stall Vignettes at Antiquarius.
Photographed by Arthur Elgort. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Vogue, October 1974
Red stockings by Christian Dior. Underwear from Miss Selfridge
Another glorious underwear editorial by the always saucy, always perfect Mr James Wedge.
Photographed by James Wedge. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from The Sunday Times Magazine, October 1978
Snow white stockings by Mary Quant. Patent shoes by Sacha. Silk shirt by Betty Jackson for Quorum.
Hand painted stockings by Janet Reger.
Silver lurex tights by Mary Quant. Shoes by Charles Jourdan.
Pale green tights from Selfridges. Shirt dyed to match by Janice Bell. Shoes by The Chelsea Cobbler.
Plum panne velvet skirt with rose pink appliqued flowers by Orte for Bombacha. Boa and beaded chiffon blouse also from Bombacha. Plum shoes by Sacha.
This is possibly one of the most perfect editorials I’ve seen in Vogue. Unshowy, basic, starkly-lit, but the clothes are mouthwatering. Plus, I am delighted to spot a pair of much loved (and much worn recently) velvet culottes from Wallis from my own wardrobe. It just goes to show, with a little bit of patience you can sometimes turn the dream into a reality…
Photographed by Palmer Smith. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Vogue, November 1974.
Grey/green spotted velvet skirt, waistband flowered salmon and turquoise. Deep salmon pink chiffon blouse. Both by Orte for Bombacha.
Black flowered culottes and blouse by Wallis. Black ankle boots by Richard Smith for The Chelsea Cobbler.
Clockwise from top left: Paisley suit by Jeff Banks. Shirt by Rodier. / Paisley suit and cream blouse by Rue de La Paix by Reldan. / Rose print velvet by Kadix. Silk shirt by Katherine Hamnett for Tuttabankem / Bluebird printed skirt suit and blouse by Christopher McDonnell.
Black checked blue velvet jacket and skirt by Electric Fittings at Bombacha. Boots by Richard Smith for The Chelsea Cobbler.
Velvet suit by Janice Wainwright. Shoes by Mary Graeme.
Celia Hammond with Mrs Hammond. Born in Indonesia. Says she was ‘quite plump’ when she first walked into Lucy Clayton’s. “I started losing weight when I stopped worrying about it.” Confesses that she’s been in modelling so long that these days the money is the main attraction.
Celia’s dress by Jean Muir
Photographed by Guy Cross. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from The Daily Telegraph Magazine, November 22nd 1968.
Hylette Adolphe with Mrs Terese Adolphe. Born in Mauritius, convent-educated. Finds modelling “very hard and a bit depressing, but on the whole quite nice.” Recently in Corfu, where she had to learn to ride a Roman chariot for a German swimwear ad. Found it “quite terrifying”.
Hylette’s dress by Hylan Brooker to order from Worth Related Couture.
Paulene Stone with Mrs Sylvia Stone. After leaving school with six O-levels, she won a competition in a women’s magazine, part of the prize being a modelling course. She says she always wanted to be a model. “Apparently, I was always talking about it when I was a little girl.”
Pauline’s outfit by Simon Massey at Wallis.
Sandra Paul with Mrs Rosalie Paul. Born in Malta, where her father was an RAF doctor. Decided against going to university and instead she took a course at Lucy Clayton’s. Says about modelling that “in a funny way you enjoy it the more experienced and adaptable you become.”
Sandra’s dress by Marrian-McDonnell
Sarah Stuart with Mrs Croker Poole. Born in India, Sarah Stuart was educated in England and Paris (“no make-up lessons; we worked hard at French, history and commerce”). Took up modelling when her marriage broke up. Says it’s hard work – “getting up early, packing heavy cases…”
Sarah’s trouser suit by Gerald McCann at Vanessa Frye.
Suit by Lee Bender at Bus Stop. Belt by Chris Trill. Shoes from Midas.
“Start squaring your shoulders, tightening your belt and walking on four-inch heels…”
A phenomenal editorial which feels very ahead of its time. This is really the birth of ‘Power Dressing’, from February 1979. There’s a curious juxtaposition of old and new, the old telephone and boudoir chair in the final photo suggest the origins of these suits in the Forties while the clunky ‘mobile phone’ is the signpost to the unknown future. Pre-Eighties and pre-Thatcher (just) – even pre-Miss Peelpants (also, just!) – there’s something quite charming about the modest silhouette here – which is really rather hard to equate with the horrors which were to come. These feel more in line with the New Romantic and Goth garments from the 1980s which I feel passionate about and choose to collect (like Sarah Whitworth, Symphony of Shadows etc), than with Yuppies and Dynasty, although you can just as equally see their genesis here.
Photographed by Christa Peters. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Cosmpolitan, February 1979.
Suit by Wallis. Silk camisole by Tatters. Shoes from Pancaldi.
Jute tweed suit by Strawberry Studio. Bag by Butler and Wilson. Shoes from Russell & Bromley.
Cotton cord suit by Howie Diffusion. Camisole from Tatters. Belt by Courtney Reed. Shoes from Pancaldi.
Three piece suit by Daily Blue. Shirt by Riva. Purse and shoes by Pancaldi.
Suit by Stephen Marks. Shirt by Pamela Frances. Belt by Courtney Reed. Shoes from Pancaldi.
Wool crepe suit by Jaeger. Shoes by Pancaldi.
Suit with the wiest shoulders and narrowest skirt by Strawberry Studio. Suede shoes by Sacha.
Left: Coat by Young Jaeger. Trousers by Angela at London Town. Shirt by James Drew. Striped waistcoat at Bus Stop. Right: Borg jacket by Gerald McCann. Angora trousers by Mary Farrin. Socks by Mary Quant. Clogs by The Chelsea Cobbler at Russell and Bromley.
Photographed by Elisabeth Novick. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Vanity Fair, October 1971
Left: ‘Monkey’ jacket by Gordon King. Checked Oxford bags by Bus Stop. Shirt from Bus Stop. Authentic Forties head by Zapata. Veiling from Biba. Right: Short furry jacket from Wallis. Trousers from C&A. Shirt from James Drew. Hand-knitted waistcoat from Bus Stop.
Clothes of the future by Antony Price at Plaza. Photographs by Neil Kirk.
Hair by Trevor Sorbie. Jewellery designed by Valerie Robertson.
Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Cosmopolitan, October 1979.
Janet Reger camiknicker advert. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Harpers and Queen, November 1978
Tina Chow in one of her seventeen or eighteen Fortuny dresses: black pleated silk with laced sleeves and black and white beadwork, dating from just before 1920.
Another one to add to the pile of ‘liking vintage is nothing new or extraordinary’ is this illustration and the article it accompanies entitled: “Come up and see my Schiaparellis”, promoting an upcoming Christie’s sale. I have plucked some choice sections, but the whole article is brilliant.
“Once an area in which museums could bid uncontested for period clothes, dealers and private customers now more or less consistently outbid institutional collectors and have pushed prices to dizzy heights which inflation alone could not have done.“
“The collector pur sang, the ideal, is Tina Chow, wife of the restauranteur. Her fan club is led by cheerleader Madeleine Ginsburg: ‘Tina Chow buys Fortunys. Her husband loves her to wear them, and she takes impeccable care of the dresses… We know Mrs Chow loves the dresses as we do, and she cares about them and cares for them. Poor Mrs Chow, when she goes to parties in one of her Fortuny dresses she only stands up and does not even eat’.”
“[dress as a subject] seems, 99 times out of 100, to attract the crackpot, the misguided or the downright perverted. Many is the museum whose shoe or underwear collection has been transformed overnight by the demise of some lonely soul whose solace was in rooms or drawers full of leather and lingerie.” – Quote from Roy Strong
“It is the passion to collect old clothes. Not rag picking, you understand, but Balenciagas and Vionnets and Jean Muirs and that sort of thing.”
Nice to see Jean Muir was already being talked about in the same breath as Vionnet et al, even as early as 1978.
Illustration by Angela Landels. Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Harpers and Queen, December 1978.
So today, I went to pick up an enormous job lot of magazines I bought on eBay. It’s a very mixed bag, but included some early Cosmopolitans (which always get me rather excitable…). Flicking through a few tonight, what should fall out of the October 1972 copy, but bloody junk advertising. Pah! Typical! But, wait, Seventies junk advertising is no ordinary advertising. It was the specially made Smirnoff guide to seduction (Complete and unabridged!) – “Elements of all the best seductions as discovered by Cosmopolitan for Smirnoff” with six top models who “reveal their personal approaches to the art“. Isn’t it glorious? Best of all, this is the kind of ephemera which falls out of a magazine and we just throw away, but somehow this survived…
Photographer and garments uncredited. Scanned by Miss Peelpants. Believed to date from October 1972.
Greta Norris
Paulene Stone
Alexandra Bastedo (in Biba, I think)
Mercedes
Ann Turkel
Randall Lawrence
Liz Eggleston 