While looking for pictures typical of ‘Young Swinging London’ (did such a place ever exist?) Ludwig found this girl in a Kensington shop.
No specific location credit but it looks like it’s probably Biba.
Photographed by Gerhard E. Ludwig.
Scanned by Miss Peelpants from The Photography Year Book 1974
The wondrous Affendaddy, over at Flickr, has uploaded lots and lots of amazing street photos from his visit to London in 1976. Inadvertently, he has also captured the immediate aftermath of the death of Big Biba on Kensington High Street. These photos make me want to weep a little…
There are a few boutiques, Alkasura and Che Guevara included, whose work is painfully abugly. Flat feet are not sexy and elegant.”
Hollywood Clothes Shop sounds like it was one of the best examples of those playfully indulgent Boutique interiors at the time, although its brevity of existence means that there’s not a lot of imagery to correlate with the descriptions of old cinema seats, and the mannequins, paintings and photographs of movie stars. So I was rather delighted to spot some delicious photos of Edina Ronay sporting some of the frocks in the boutique itself. Thank heavens for the ‘Vogue’s Own Boutique’ feature. From February 1971.
Here, Edina Ronay stars in clothes from the new Hollywood Clothes Shop, on Hollywood Road, where else? Zipped plaid jacket, below, 14 gns (£14.70). Stylish crepe and sparkling sequin cocktail suit of deep claret, 12 gns (£12.60), with turban of wrapped velvet and snakeskin, with authentic pin, 8gns (£8.40).
I’m currently avoiding the cold (and the general public) by working on some gorgeous new listings, including Biba, Janice Wainwright, Marie France and many more, and immersing myself in my beloved clothes, films, tv and music – like some strange, velvet-clad hobbit.
Thankfully, gorgeous people like Laurakitty are on hand to point me back towards the amazing person on Youtube who has access to footage from the German programme ‘London Aktuell’ and a whole host of seriously groovy easy-listening music of the era. I posted about this a while back, but hadn’t realised some new editions had been posted. Utterly droolworthy the lot of them, and containing precious footage of Carnaby Street, the King’s Road and Kensington High Street. ‘Scuse me while I dribble…
Liz Eggleston 