Random Picture Spam: Eyeliner

amanda lear, eyeliner, Françoise Hardy, Make-up, marianne faithfull, maureen starkey, natalie wood, pamela des barres, peggy moffitt, penelope tree, sandie shaw, sixties

I’m far too tired, achy and discombobulated to post anything too long and rambly tonight, so here’s a random picture post so I can attempt to maintain my unusual prolificacy at the moment….

I wish it were profligacy though; I love how I have to really think about which word I want to use. Ah well, that will come soon enough when I’ve recovered from the multitude of stresses which are upon me at the moment. And when it does, I will be wearing lots of eyeliner and lashes and drinking a lot of brandy. So just you watch out!

Well there you go, I was a bit rambly. Ha!

Danielle Dax, an alternative fashion icon.

danielle dax, Eighties Fashion, goth, Inspirational Images, Style Icons

Before I knew her music, I knew these two photos of Danielle Dax from my research into early Eighties goth and new-rom fashion for a degree project. Only later on when I heard Big Hollow Man did I realise who that mad-haired, madly made-up goddess really was. It’s something of an outrage that she’s not better known, for both her music and her incredible style.

She once asked “Why are the nicer people not as successful as the shitty people?” and I have to wonder the same thing. Check out this lovely interview with her (oh how I used to love that programme!) and marvel at her hair. Check out the video at the bottom of this post and marvel at her make-up.

Britt-ish Fashion

britt ekland, Gina Fratini, jean varon, john bates

Dress by Miss Polly

I’m not a particular fan of Britt Ekland for the most part, but I am rather fond of this autumnal shoot she did for Vogue (by Patrick ‘Yeah Baby’ Lichfield). It’s so rare to have such a lovely feeling of space in fashion photos. You’re looking at the frocks, no doubt about it, but you’re also taking in the atmosphere of the location. The clothes are perfectly dreamy and her hair is completely and utterly covetable, in each and every shot. I worship this crimping.

Dress by Miss Bellville

And why do I not own this John Bates for Jean Varon dress? How has this happened? Something is clearly very wrong with the world...

Dress by Marrian McDonnell

Dress by Harriet

Outfit by Gina Fratini

The palest of the pale

celebrities in vintage, emma peel, marisa tomei, pale skin, shirley manson, toby stephens

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Shirley Manson? It’s been a long-running affair (I dislike the term ‘girl crush’ so I’m not going to apply it here) based on first seeing her in the Stupid Girl video and realising that she was some kind of flawed, modern day Diana Rigg for me to admire. I could identify with the unusual facial features, the pale skin, the flat chested-ness…her general dissatisfaction with the world. It encapsulated how I, as a grumpy teenager, wanted to take the Emma Peel look and make it more my grungey own. I also loved the music. Still do in fact.

Time went on, we became more sophisticated (well, she did anyway….) and I still adore her. The most beautiful hair, the most inspiring make-up, the most interesting clothes and the fact that she’s still the palest of the pale. The queerest of the queer. Definitely something to admire in a modern world of orange-ness. She also looks half her 43 years of age, yes I do mean 21 and a half, which says something about the importance of sunscreen I’m sure.

Anyway, I was reminded of all this when I saw some photos of Ms Manson from some art event in LA (I’m afraid I was snoozing through the photos and description of Brad and Angelina at the eve….zzzzzzzz [whoops, did it again!] so I missed what it was precisely all about). Check out the sultry make-up. And the flaming hair and freckled arms (which in turn reminds me that I had a rather lovely dream about Toby Stephens last night. He was sat by a fireside reading his lines for some play or other to me, and I couldn’t stop staring at his freckles. Because of course that’s the kind of thing you would be doing if you had Toby Stephens sitting in front of you. Pfffft. I’m a lousy dreamer…).

I could do without the gown being Marchesa, but that’s only a brand issue rather than a style issue. And check out the gorgeous [and also very non-orange] Marisa Tomei wearing a vintage Dessès frock. Both flying the flag for natural skin tone and one flying the flag for vintage. It’s a good day.

Vintage Inspiration: Gene Tierney

gene tierney, Inspirational Images

The gorgeous Laurakitty posted a photo of Gene Tierney on her wonderful Sighs and Whispers blog, which reminded me that I’ve had this photo sitting in my ‘to do’ folder ever since I saw it a few weeks back. I’m completely in love with her look and specifically with this photo, and was just waiting for the right time to share.

This week is going to be a bit busy so my posts might have to be pretty brief, but I’ll try to make them pretty in their briefness.

Back! And front, and side. Fabulous from all angles

bus stop, cathy mcgowan, clobber, dove clothing company, jean varon, jeff banks, john bates, lee bender, seventies fashion, sixties, website listings

For various tedious reasons, I’ve been a bit quiet on the old website listing front in the past month. But I’m feeling much perkier now, more inspired and oh boy have I got a lot of goodies (just listed, and in the works…). Watch out world!

Right now I’ve just listed an incredible John Bates for Jean Varon dress (1973, just check out the original advert from Vogue), a chocolate brown rayon crepe Lee Bender for Bus Stop beauty, a Dove Clothing Company deep cobalt blue cord maxi dress (perfect for walking through wintry landscapes), a super romantic cream damask Clobber (a.k.a Jeff Banks) dress with flutter sleeves and trailing ribbons….and finally, a slinky blue Cathy McGowan dress with the most gorgeous sleeves and pleated front detail. Yeah, Cathy McGowan….that’s pretty darned rare!

Vintage Hair Inspiration: Veronica Lake

hair, Inspirational Images, veronica lake

My hair mood changes daily (last week I had an Austrian milkmaid moment) so my hair inspirations have to be quite varied in general. I was sorting through some of my books the other day and realised that a photo of Veronica Lake in a ‘Film Goddesses’ book I was given many moons ago, with her hair draped over a bearskin rug, must have been quite influential for me. She’s like the proto-Roxy Music girl, non? I have no intention of going blonde any time soon, unless I can magically get this nasty L’Oreal stuff out, but I do enjoy occasionally waving and side parting my hair….

Inspirational Images: Claudette Colbert

claudette colbert, Inspirational Images, pierrot, ruff

My new favourite photo. I love Claudette anyway, and here she’s reigniting my desire to dress up like a Pierrot.

She’s sailing a bit close to the wind though. You can almost see the right side of her face….that will never do!

Dip Dyed Drew Barrymore

alexander mcqueen, debbie harry, drew barrymore, maureen starkey

This is something like the reverse colouration I want for my own hair (see Maureen Starkey with the blonde ends) but can’t have for L’Oreal-related reasons. I kinda like it on Drew, and I love the fact that it matches her dress. Admittedly it might look a bit odd with anything other than a matching [so beautiful I want to knaw it off her] Alexander McQueen dress, but kudos for being a bit daring. And a bit Debbie Harry as well. And that bird out of Berlin. I love how happy she looks here. That’s what a great dress can do to a girl….

Chain Reaction

1960s, diana rigg, Inspirational Images, oliver reed

The lovely Smashingbird commented on my Diana Rigg birthday post that she’d love to see more pictures of the amazing chain strap black dress. Well, I probably have far too many shots of that dress, and it’s certainly one of my favourites, so I figured a blog post about one dress wasn’t too ridiculous. Not that I’m concerned about ridicule of course, I have done several posts about Doctor Who companions after all.

It also helps that the dress was worn for the Assassination Bureau press junket, and therefore there are a few shots of the dress with Olly Reed wrapped around it. I think all good dresses should come with a complimentary Oliver Reed.

If anyone ever finds out who made this dress, I would be eternally grateful. You’d think I would know, wouldn’t you? Sigh…