Jean Shrimpton – At Home With Fashion

1970s, bus stop, cherry twiss, coopers, janice wainwright, jean shrimpton, jean-loup sieff, ossie clark, sonia rykiel, telegraph magazine

“It is so beautifully cut”. Sabbath Suit by Ossie Clark.

As with so many of my favourite people, I far prefer ‘Seventies Shrimpton’ to her earlier, more famous Bailey-era. This photoshoot is from The Telegraph Magazine, April 1973, and shows Jean returning to the family farm – decked out in all the best designers of the time.

Jean Shrimpton has gained fame, fortune and glamour through her spectacular modelling career, but she seldom spends much money on clothes – although she will, on occasions, treat herself to an extravagance from Ossie Clark, one of her favourite designers. So we asked her to make her own practical choice from the clothes that are in the shops now. We photographed her at her parents’ home – Rose Hill Farm, Burnham in Buckinghamshire.

“Basically I always choose dark clothes because they are practical and don’t show the dirt. I like fairly simple, well-cut, Forties type clothes with big shoulders. I wear a lot of trousers and long skirts and prefer jackets to coats. If I do wear colour it is usually in tights or shoes”

Images scanned by Miss Peelpants

“I like long skirts and I liked the shape of this sweater with the cuffed sleeves and the lower neckline”. Sweater by Rykiel.

“Super, very Forties, lovely grey colour, loose and easy to move in. Very much the sort of thing I wear”. Suit by Coopers.

“A nice simple dress that could be worn anytime”. Dress by Janice Wainwright

“I like small flower prints and this is a very pretty one”. Dress by Bus Stop.

“Very comfortable, I can wear it anywhere”. Jacket and trousers by Coopers.

All images scanned by Miss Peelpants

All the support you need

caroline baker, Harri Peccinotti, marie helvin, mild sauce, nova magazine, seventies fashion

Some sizzling photos of Marie Helvin. Scanned from Nova, March 1975. Photos by Harri Peccinotti.

Images scanned by Miss Peelpants

Au revoir stinky old 2011. Happy New Lear!

amanda lear, fashion icons, mild sauce, seventies fashion

As is now my tradition, for I really rather loathe the whole New Year ‘thing’ with a passion, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Lear with a mini-picture spam of new Amanda pictures I’ve seen this year. Several have been pilfered from the fabulous Mr Tarkus. Merci!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gesebel/5901868080/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gesebel/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gesebel/6539391119/

Inspirational Images: Oh, for a friendly milkman!

Inspirational Images, jean varon, john bates, marie helvin, seventies fashion, vanity fair

"How abandoned can you get?"

Dresses by John Bates for Jean Varon. Scanned from Vanity Fair, December 1971.

Who loves you baby? Ossie, that’s who…

david bailey, marie helvin, ossie clark, ritz magazine, seventies fashion

Ossie Clark and Marie Helvin. Advert scanned from Ritz magazine, No.14 1978.

Incredible, rare late Seventies Ossie advert. It is of the greatest frustration to me that Judith Watt’s otherwise fantastic book cuts off sharply at 1975. I know his final years were difficult, frustrating and ultimately tragic, but he didn’t simply stop designing in 1975 – and I’m sure many of us would like to read, see and understand more about the later years.

The most nostalgic clothes of all…

1930s, barbara daly, barbara trentham, gala, ginger rogers, harpers and queen, hollywood icons, maureen o'hara, mr fish, ossie clark, patrick procktor, rosalind russell

Rosalind Russell wore this soft grey georgette evening dress with cross-draped bodice, for The Velvet Touch.

[Proving that nostalgia is nothing new…]

You are forgiven if you think the pictures on these pages are fashion circa 1971. In a sense, they are; but in fact, these are original Hollywood – the clothes of the stars, people like Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Olivia de Havilland, Jean Seberg, Shirley Temple — worn in their films, coming up for a gala auction at Sotheby’s Pantechnicon in Motcomb Street at 7pm on December 1.

The man who made it possible is Michael Fish — Mr Fish, no less — who bought the whole collection of 30s, 40s and 50s creations from Max Berman & Son of Hollywood, and is putting them to auction in aid of Immigrant Community Services. So you could help to provide a new children’s playground in Brixton, say, while treating yourself to a great fashion original . . . like Jane Russell’s navy pleated chiffon coat over crepe culottes ; Bonita Granville’s pink chiffon dress with Alencon lace and fine pleating; not to mention the original mini worn by Betty Hutton in Annie Get Your Gun.

Patrick Procktor is contributing to the programme for Mr Fish’s ‘frock fantasy’. Ossie Clark’s sensational model, Gala, will wear some of the clothes, as she did for us in company with Barbara Trentham. Make-up here by Barbara Daly; hair by Smile; location, Mr Paul Hamlyn’s house.

Harpers and Queen, December 1971. Photographs by Tim Street-Porter

Square-shouldered 40s suits, as worn by Maureen O’Hara and Ginger Rogers.

Agnes Moorehead starred in this vampy black crepe dress with sequins and a matching shoulder cape fastened with jet.

Inspirational Images: Harpers and Queen, May 1976

benny ong, francois lamy, harpers and queen, Inspirational Images, seventies fashion, versace, Willy van Rooy, Yuki, yves saint laurent

Knockout, bareback dresses, draped and slung.

Above, dress by Yuki. Below, dress by Benny Ong.

Photos by Francois Lamy. Harpers and Queen, May 1976.

Body-hugging dresses on tiny straps.

Above, dress by Gianni Versace for Genny. Below, dress by Yves Saint Laurent.

Inspirational Images: Marie Helvin, 1971

Inspirational Images, jeff banks, marie helvin, seventies fashion, Tony Moussoulides

Marie Helvin in a Jeff Banks dress, 1971. Photo by Tony Moussoulides.

Tweedy Autumn Perfection

autumn, bill klein, daywear, kangol, petticoat magazine, seventies fashion, stirling cooper, Vivienne Lynn, wallis

Skirt by Sujon. Polo by John Craig. Beret by Kangol. Scarf from Van der Fransen.

This spread is everything I love about Autumn and Winter, and how I am often attired. Interesting clothes: textures, colours and embellishments; hats, scarves, tights etc. But sometimes I seem to forget to post more daywear spreads, I suppose because they were often less interestingly photographed and displayed; sometimes even borderline chaotic. But I don’t see why that needs or needed to be. Daytimes can be the most expressive times for me…

This shoot is particularly beautiful and, for me, inspirational.

Photos by Bill Klein. Petticoat, November 1974

Skirt by Wallis Shops. Polo by John Craig. Beret by Kangol. Scarf from Van der Fransen. Shoes by Saxone.

Skirt by Wallis. Sweater by Mushroom. Beret by Kangol. Scarf from Van der Fransen. Sox by Kickers. Saxone shoes.

Skirt by Left Bank. Sweater by John Craig. Beret by Kangol. Scarf from “208″ SW10. Shoes by Saxone

Skirt by City Swingers. Sweater from Leaves. Quant sox. Shoes by Elliott.

Tweed skirt and hat from Bombacha. Polo from Dorothy Perkins. Shoes by Saxone.

Velvet skirt by Stirling Cooper. Shirt by John Craig. Waistcoat from Dorothy Perkins. Beret from Marida.

Duffy (finally)

1960s, amanda lear, book reviews, brian duffy, jean shrimpton, michael sarne, mild sauce, pierre la roche, seventies fashion, the sweet

Queen magazine, 1963

Although you’ll all have long since forgotten that I promised to review the fantastic Duffy book (published by ACC. RRP £45 but currently £31.98 on Amazon.co.uk), I certainly haven’t and it’s been rather weighing on my mind. In fact, I’m troubled by the fact that I rarely seem to have the energy to type long, rambling blog posts at all these days.

So, as I often do, I will largely leave the photographs to do the communicating. Which is rather the point of the book itself. It is not a weighty tome about the life of the man, rather it is a weighty tome about the talent of the man. The talent which made him world-famous, but eventually left him feeling so trapped he had to [pretty much literally] destroy it in order to escape it. Page after page of gorgeous women, swinging dudes of the highest and lowest order and generally Interesting People. But it also covers the later period, the advertising and the selling-out, or ‘prostitution’ as he honestly described it.

I have to admit, I’m always on the look out for new Duffy shoots in my magazines because I’m almost rather bored of seeing the same ones shown again and again. And to be fair, of course, in Duffy’s case there is the genuine problem with the complete lack of original source material. His son Chris has spent years reassembling the archive, and I have to respect the labour of love that this project has become. Thankfully, the book is more varied than the exhibition I attended earlier this year would lead you to believe. I have scanned a few of my personal favourites, which I hope will communicate the beauty of his work.

A pet hate must be noted at this point, which is that these books rarely identify the designer of the clothes worn in the pictures. I know it doesn’t seem like much to a non-clothes obsessive, but I want to know if that dress really was by so-and-so and I find it infuriating for such information to be left out when surely it must be known?

Obviously, luxuriously printed and sized books such as this require the highest calibre of image quality for reproduction purposes, but it would be nice, in a few years time, to see a book which features more obscurities, more magazine tear-sheets and clippings; covering the lesser-known styles and techniques he used. For there are many. I mean, David Bailey has had enough books about him to last a lifetime; Brian Duffy certainly deserves another one.

Definitely one for the Christmas list. And watch out, because I’m going to be reviewing more books to put on your Christmas list over the next few weeks. Yes indeed.