Photographers

Biba and Beyond: Barbara in Brighton

1970s, barbara hulanicki, biba, brian duffy, brighton, british boutique movement, Inspirational Images, Studio

Biba models, c1973, photographed by Brian Duffy © Duffy Archives.

Excitement is building for the upcoming Biba and Beyond exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which I have already blogged about here, helped by Visit Brighton‘s fascinating short documentary video about Barbara Hulanicki.

The exhibition will be celebrating the Biba look and lifestyle, so much admired and coveted forty-odd years later, but also looking at Barbara’s career beyond her most famous creation. I’m certainly looking forward to more coverage of her illustration and interior design work.

Left:- Barbara Hulanicki in 1969 © Neil Libbert. Right:- Photograph Tessa Hallmann © Royal Pavilion & Museums

If any of you are visiting specifically for the exhibition, don’t forget that you are welcome to pop in to my new studio to say hello, browse the rail (yes, there’s Biba!) and have a cuppa. Just email me a bit in advance so I can make sure I’m there, armed with tea and biscuits…

Trouser Suit, c1971

Tighten your belts – Conspicuous waist

1950s, 1970s, biba, british boutique movement, dorothee bis, Escalade, Eva Sereny, Fiona Lewis, Inspirational Images, sunday times magazine

Sweater by Biba and belt by Fenwicks

One of my favourite fashion shoots of, ooh, forever, I have no idea why I have only just got round to scanning it in. This look appeals to me more and more every time I look at it. Part of what I love about the Seventies is the way they were influenced by the styles of earlier eras, and yet the result is always so perfectly Seventies and, inexplicably, preferable to the original. Speaking for myself, anyway…

Photographed by Eva Sereny. Scanned from The Sunday Times Magazine, October 1972

“At the Paris winter collections no-one seemed to have any scruples about cribbing from the Fifties. However, Dorothée Bis, one of the most influential ready-to-wear designers, did it better than anybody else because the clothes managed to look far sexier than they ever did at the time. Big baggy men’s department sweaters; jackets and coats, swagger-backed or lumberjack style, in cloth or fake fur; tight skirts hobbled over seamed lurex tights – in fact, everything that could be worn with a waspie belt like the one shown here, giving more shape tot he shapely and hope to the straight. On the cover and on these pages actress Fiona Lewis shows how she wears waist-clinchers.”

Sweater and belt from Biba

Sweater is model’s own, belt from Biba

Waspie from Escalade

Waspie and felt skirt by Biba

Cosmo Gets Delayed at the Office

1970s, cosmopolitan, Diane Logan, Lloyd Loom, personal stuff, Santa Raymond, Studio, Tessa Kennedy, Tim Street-Porter

Photographed by Tim Street-Porter. Scanned from Cosmopolitan, February 1973.

Still slowly settling into my lovely studio space; trying to avoid the pitfalls of the ‘I must fill it up, it must look exactly how I want it to immediately‘ mentality, to which I know I am vulnerable. Slowly, but surely. My beloved Lloyd Loom table and chair are out of storage and awaiting a respray from their slightly grotty boudoir pink to… I don’t know yet.

I am on a promise for an original ladderax bureau unit, inherited indirectly from my grandparents, to store my reference books, magazines and paperwork. The framed pictures are stacking up in the corners, waiting for locations. The last thing I want is for it to feel like an office. I want it to feel like a creative, comfortable studio space. I discovered a long time ago, whilst temping, that a ‘trad’ office environment is really, really not for me.

So while I am developing things slowly, I am also taking inspiration from this fantastic Cosmopolitan feature on businesswomen and their office spaces. The chaos of Diane Logan’s millinery studio is probably closest to my natural style:

“You have to create a look like this out of rubbish*. It doesn’t just arrive.”

But there is plenty to admire and covet in all three.

*I don’t approve of the word ‘rubbish’, but I approve of her sentiment.

Scanned from Cosmopolitan, February 1973.

Inspirational Images: Veruschka and Jean Shrimpton

1970s, Inspirational Images, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, jean shrimpton, veruschka

Veruschka and Jean Shrimpton by Jacques-Henri Lartigue

Scanned from the British Journal of Photography Annual 1972

If anyone can point me towards what photoshoot this might be a candid from, I would be exceedingly grateful!

Inspirational Images: Dare The Ritz

1970s, barry lategan, Inspirational Images, jerry hall, Ken Lane, manolo blahnik, Nettie Vogues, Vintage Editorials, Vogue, Yuki, zapata

Dress by Yuki

Scanned from Vogue, June 1976. Photographed by Barry Lategan. Modelled by Jerry Hall.

Dress by Yuki. Jewellery by Ken Lane.

Dress by Nettie Vogues. Sandals throughout by Manolo Blahnik at Zapata.

Inspirational Images: Gabrielle Crawford in Miss Fish

1960s, Inspirational Images, Michael Crawford, mr fish, patrick lichfield, Vogue

Gabrielle Crawford in an Elizabethan pageboy blue and green striped silk shirt from the new Miss Fish collection, 15 gns to order. She’s just back from Rome where her husband Michael has been starring in The Games. Miss Fish is the latest addition to the Mr Fish family, 17 Clifford St, W.1.

Scanned from Vogue, June 1969. Photo by Patrick Lichfield.

Alice Pollock – Breaking into the big time

1970s, alice pollock, british boutique movement, ossie clark, petticoat magazine, quorum, radley, Richard Davis

Photograph by Richard Davis

Alice Pollock is twenty-seven. She and Ossie Clark are regarded as one of the most inspired pairs of designers in England. Their Quorum range can uually be counted on for style, originality and incredible appeal. Yet it wasn’t such a long time ago that they’d never even heard of each other and she had never even dreamed about designing clothes.

“Before Quorum I’d done lots of things but I suppose could mainly be called a film assistant. I worked with Tony Richardson and Orson Welles. I had this ambition to own my own company, so I formed one to make chairs. They weren’t very successful so I started designing clothes. I suppose they seemed more lucrative.

“That was when I got my first break. I’ve had several. All of them were terribly important. I couldn’t have done at all well without them. But the first break was getting the first range of clothes photographed by Queen. There were ten garments. It was marvellous publicity. It helped us get established and was tremendous. The next great break was meeting Ossie.

“A friend of a friend suggested we meet one day. He just walked through the door, a quiet, dark little man, nothing like the Ossie Clark we know today. I thought he was too much. We were like twins. That was incredible. But for ages we were living hand to mouth. Though Quorum had a good reputation we weren’t making it financially. But we were really lucky. Last year Ossie made a deal with Radley Fashions who took us over. that was another break. Things have been marvellous since then.”

Scanned from Petticoat, February 1970

Please do check out Vintage-a-Peel for pieces by Alice and Ossie.

Inspirational Images: How a Continental Sees You

1970s, Bernshaw, celia birtwell, cosmopolitan, Daniel Hecter, edward mann, Inspirational Images, Just Jaeckin, katharine hamnett, Kayser, laura ashley, ossie clark, Pierre Elegante, radley, Russell & Bromley, tuttabankem, Vintage Editorials

Time for a little flirtation. Dress by Ossie Clark for Radley.

Possibly one of my favourite, most lush photoshoots of the period by the legendary photographer (and filmmaker) Just Jaeckin. Scanned from Cosmopolitan, February 1974. That Ossie dress? I am largely speechless with desire… except for occasional gurgling sounds.

Lunch can be the nicest meal of the day... Dress and jacket by Daniel Hechter. Hat by Edward Mann. Russell & Bromley shoes. Photographed at Drones, 1 Pont Street, London SW1.

Be a liberated lady. Slip by Kayser.

Staying at home can be more fun that going out. Top and skirt from Laura Ashley. Man’s clothes all from Simpson’s, Piccadilly.

The lady loves to dance. Dress by Bernshaw, shoes by Russell & Bromley. Photographed at Bertie’s, 86 Brompton Road, London SW3.

Apples and Pears (and other new listings)

1960s, 1970s, antony price, barbara hulanicki, barry lategan, biba, british boutique movement, chelsea girl, Fiorucci, jean muir, Susan Locke, Vogue, website listings

Rare 1972 Jean Muir dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

I am delighted to finally reveal one of the most amazing pieces I’ve had the pleasure of handling and listing over at Vintage-a-Peel. This superb Jean Muir dress hails from 1972, as photographed by Barry Lategan for Vogue of April that year, and is made from one of Muir’s most distinctive prints, the Apples and Pears chiffon (which I already mentioned back in April).

I have also just listed a stunning cocktail mini dress by the supremely talented Antony Price and a definitive disco-era ensemble by iconic brand Fiorucci. Amongst other beauties, of course. Not least a mini dress by seemingly forgotten designer and owner of eponymous King’s Road boutique, Susan Locke. Susan was the girlfriend of actor Jeremy Brett in the late Sixties/early Seventies, and was also one of the first stockists of Terry de Havilland’s wonderful shoes. A fine pedigree, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Antony Price strapless mini cocktail dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Floral chiffon Seventies-does-Thirties dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Rare Fiorucci pink metallic bustier/trouser ensemble at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Paisley gypsy ‘Jake’ Seventies dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Galactic glam rock Seventies Chelsea Girl skirt at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Rare Biba ‘Lolita’-labelled Seventies maxi skirt at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Romantic mid Seventies ‘Lady Charlotte’ maxi dress at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Rare late Sixties micro mini dress by Susan Locke at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

The Prettiest Watercolours

1970s, alice pollock, british boutique movement, harpers and queen, Inspirational Images, james wedge, liberty's, thea porter, Vintage Editorials

Floaty cover-up in silk chiffon, printed with navy/red/cream, tying at waist; by Alice Pollock for Quorum, about £45. Black lycra swimsuit by Eres, £16.50.

Scanned from Harpers and Queen, June 1973. Photographs by James Wedge.

Belted cover-up in fine cotton voile, with paisley print in pale green/blue/yellow/purple, and long medieval sleeves; £37, Liberty. Pale green lycra bikini; £5, Liberty.

Cotton voile abaya by Thea Porter, with print of Chinese horses in green and brown, and two panels of antique patchwork fabrics; £61, Thea Porter