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.
The fabrics, the hand embroideries, the ornate but cheap jewels and the colourful clothes which seem so exotic in Western eyes are accepted as ordinary and everyday in Afghanistan; but it takes sophisticated know-how to appreciate and capitalise on the exquisite workmanship involved. Their shaggy coats, sold over here by the thousand, are bargains, especially when you consider how much warm cloth coats cost nowadays, and even though the Afghans have still to perfect a way of treating the skins to stop them smelling. They undersell their goods, having little idea of what they are fetching overseas, and they have no set sizing system. In other words, to make their fashion industry commercially viable it needs organisation and expertise. Margaret Kimber, an English girl who recently spent 18 months in Kabul, proved in a small way that this can be done. She turned her home into a workshop, bought bales of fabric, employed local labour to make up her designs and returned with the clothes shown on these pages. We photographed them in Paris on Shakira Caine, a flawless Indian beauty from Guyana, a former Miss World contestant now married to actor Michael Caine. A model before her marriage, she was the sexy girl in the television coffee-bean ad. A selection of these dresses, all different, ranging in price from £28 to £40, as well as jewellery (examples of these are shown on the cover), are available from Stock, 236 Fulham Road, London SW10, and at 131 High Holborn, WC1. Some of them are shown on these pages. The cushions and wall-hangings are from Mohanjeet, 21 Rue Saint-Sulpice, Paris 6.
By Meriel McCooey.
Photographed by Eva Sereny.
Scanned from The Sunday Times Magazine, 17th March 1974.
Long beige slip in lace and crepe, £19.50; soft-lined crepe bra, £5.40.
It is not often that they auction old knickers at Christies, but earlier this year the celebrated wardrobe of Heather Firbank went under the hammer, and an integral part of the collection was her exquisite underwear. Heather Firbank, sister of the novelist Ronald Firbank, was famous for her unique, occasionally eccentric clothes, and though most of them now belong to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the highest bid for the underclothes came from the lingerie manufacturer Janet Reger and her husband Peter. They made copies of the pieces they bought, and tomorrow they will be on sale from Bottom Drawer, 33 Southwick Street, London W.2, and by mail order. They are expensive, certainly, but unfortunately the luxury of Twenties underwear no longer comes at Twenties prices.All accessories are from Maria Cavallo‘s shop Dignetts, at Antiquarius, King’s Road, London S.W.3.
Model is Linda Dagenais.
Words and styling by Meriel McCooey.
Photographed by Sarah Moon.
Scanned from Sunday Times Magazine, November 17th 1974.
Oyster satin cami-slip, £25.00.
Black lace slip, £19-50; black lace camisole top, £28.50
Original cami-knickers from Heather Firbank collection (also shown on cover). The seam-for-seam copy costs £19-50.
Black and white seersucker skirt, Stirling Cooper, £8.50, from a selection of prints and designs at Miss Selfridge, Oxford Street, London W1 ; sweater 75p, also from a selection at Miss Selfridge; scarf from Chelsea Antique Market.
This summer’s new long day skirts might make attractive alternatives for those who fancy a change from shifts and pants. Worn as Italian film actress Nicholetta Machiavelli likes them, with simple T-shirts and an old prop-basket petticoat, they look casual and romantic, and are surprisingly cool to wear.
Styled by Meriel McCooey.
Photographed by Eva Sereny.
Scanned from The Sunday Times Magazine, August 6th 1972.
Bright tartan seersucker, £8.50, sweater £1.95, both at Miss Selfridge.
Frilled, elasticated top £2.50; split-sided skirt £3.70, both from Diana Doe.
halter top, Diana Doe £1.75, mail order from Do Do House, 69,Bedford Road, Reading RG1 7EY, Berks; skirt £8.50, at Miss Selfridge.
Diana Rigg in buckled snakeskin coat made by Paul Blanche.
On Thursday evening at 8 o’clock The Avengers comes back. Viewers in London, Scotland and the South will see it, other channels will have to wait until October 2. The new show lacks one vital element. Honor Blackman, who played Cathy Gale, that female gauleiter with a heart of gold, has left television for films and the arms of James Bond.
She is replaced by rangy, redheaded Diana Rigg, an actress already blooded for knock-about violence in shows like King Lear and The Devils with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She plays the new Avenger woman Emma Peel, who is described by A.B.C. television as “the youthful widow of an ace test pilot, daughter of a wealthy shipowner, and an internationally educated symbol of the jet-age female”.
A strong-arm widow, born with such disadvantages, couldn’t fail to be an interesting autumn draw, but the new girl will find it hard work to oust the memory of Cathy Gale from the spot she kicked out for herself in these shows. For, as Cathy Gale, Honor Blackman was mesmeric. Male viewers turned to pulp in their armchairs as she hurled opponent after opponent through plate glass windows, and their TV dinners turned to dust as she half-nelsoned men twice her size.
Women were fascinated too, but for different reasons. They sat glued to their sets wondering what it was she had, that they hadn’t. Her slightly sinister but wholly fathomable allure had little to do with her natural assets ; her toughness, the purring reassurance of her voice, her earthiness ; her blonde hair and wide mouth. Cathy Gale’s real appeal was firmly laced into the shiny black leather of her fighting suits.
The black leather fighting suits she wore, now generally referred to as ‘kinky clothes’ were designed by Frederick Starke. They proved such a success both here and in the U.S.A., where the last series was sold, that the American business men controlling the sales insisted that these clothes should be retained for the next series. This was a mistake. Fashion moves much faster than most business men, and the feeling for black leather was on the wane, long before the last episode was off the screen. But A.B.C. agreed to the American conditions, and Emma was togged up in black leather and boots, looking just like Cathy Gale in a long red wig.
Before the new series was half-way through, the planners realised that some fairly startling changes were taking place in the fashion world. Skirts were getting shorter and women appeared to be crossing their thighs, not their knees. Leather was out. All sorts of animal skins, from snakes to zebras, were in. And op and pop art were having an explosive effect on textile design.
This series is the first to be made on film instead of videotape, which means it could be running in different countries all over the world for the next five to ten years. It would be pushed to keep its con-temporary smack with a limping gimmick like black leather. At this point, with half their film in the bag, A.B.C. called in fashion co-ordinator Anne Trehearne, an ex-fashion editor of Queen magazine, and asked designer John Bates of Jean Varon to plan a new wardrobe for Emma Peel to wear during the last 14 episodes. John Bates is the man who made the now famous daisy dress which 25 red-faced debutantes wore to the same ball.
Designing a wardrobe for a preconceived image is no easy task, but he succeeded in doing this and more besides. His clothes are 100 per cent. modern. He has shortened the skirts (in spite of tough opposition in certain quarters at A.B.C.), re-designed the black leather fighting outfits into modern, one-piece jump-suits, introduced tailored snakeskin and a whole range of op art furs.
In all there are 35 garments with complementary accessories. And for the first time the whole collection will be sold in the shops. (Frederick Starke did sell some of Cathy Gale’s wardrobe, but only selected items.) Over 12 well-known manufacturers, like Edward Rayne, Paul Blanche and Kangol, are co-operating with John Bates at Jean Varon and are making the shoes, the skin coats and the berets under licence; Echo are even making the amusing ribbed sheer nylon stockings. They will all be in the shops in October.
Both the clothes and the series are now saleable properties. It will be interesting to see which proves the biggest draw to interested buyers the striking new clothes or the shiny new girl.
Photographed by David Gittings.
Story by Meriel McCooey.
Scanned from The Sunday Times Magazine, September 26th 1965.
In short snakeskin blazer made by Paul Blanche and ribbed sheer nylon stockings.
Leather jumpsuit with clasps made by Paul Blanche.
Black and white bunny coat made by Selincourt. All designed by John Bates.
Another classic, beautiful shoot by one of my favourite photographers, Sarah Moon. I now possess the Moon-photographed Pirelli calendar and am dreaming of the day when I have a large wall to decorate, and money to spend on getting them all framed. She manages to enter dreamworld and photograph it for us; utterly inspirational!
Liz Eggleston 