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| Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975 |
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!
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| Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975 |
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| Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975 |
Vogue, March 1973
Personally, I think artificial sweeteners are the very devil, but I cannot deny the fabulousness of the photograph they’ve used to promote their evil ways (yes, yes, I know it’s from 1971, but still…). The bed reminds me of my grandparents’ bed (which I always coveted in a slightly Bedknobs and Broomsticks kind of way), I love the light fitting, mirrors and of course the clothes go without saying.
Gone are the bad old days when all men were the same underneath – uniformly white and basically boring. As regimental and dull in their underwear habits as short back and sides. But things have changed. Men are beginning to realise what girls always knew, that what goes on underneath is just as important as what shows on the surface. And now the choice is enormous – bright stripes and jazzy prints, bikini pants and boxer shorts, slim-cut vests that could double up as leisurewear.
Scanned from Vanity Fair, October 1971. Photos by Marc Leonard.
One of my favourite spreads from Honey magazine, June 1965 and perfect inspiration for the weather we’re having here in Blighty. I’ve selected some of my personal highlights (because it doesn’t half go on…) which include two John Bates dresses, an amazing Dollyrockers (above, I love the detail with the missing button!! Makes me wonder if it fell off while the shoot was happening…) and I can’t help but adore the final image which is a superb example of the beloved ‘Butt Bow’ phenomenon. And what I would consider to be an ideal wedding outfit (please see previous blog about meringues…). Ahhhh, such bliss to live in the past. One day I hope I’ll be able to move there permanently…
As the copy in the magazine says, “No need to go that far but there’s nothing wrong with a calculated strip in the right places. And on the right occasions, of course.”
Dress by John Marks
Dress by John Bates for Jean Varon
Dress by John Bates for Jean Varon
Dress by Martha Hill
Trouser suit by California Cottons
Someone never forgot the Importance of Being Dandy. That person was Prince. I used to crush on him quite badly in my early teens and I’m certain it’s all tied up with my love of flamboyant male dressers and New Romantics. Prince didn’t just do stripes, he did spots as well. He didn’t just do a bit of colour, he was all-over purple. The man is a sartorial genius as well as a musical one. Prince, how I do adore thee…
Lace has an unquantifiable eternal appeal. There is something magical about those fine threads, weaving and winding around and holding each other together in cobweb patterns and floral motifs. So I was captivated when I found this original late 1930s dress recently, in deepest cranberry and in remarkable condition.
It still has its original taffeta slip (also with a lace trim at the neckline which is just visible under the dress) and a matching jacket which has the most extraordinary stiffened peplum, giving an otherwise romantic dress a distinctly sculptural, avant garde edge. Newly listed over at Vintage-a-Peel.
There’s a lot more to wearing a see-through dress than at first meets the eye. What a girl intends to show through the see-through for instance.
Ever since the see-through craze started in London, Carnaby Street artist Audrey Watson has been rushed off her feet – designing instant paint-on bras.
It’s a pretty ticklish business as 24-year-old Audrey paints her bras straight onto the customers skin. And, since she started débutantes and office girls have been flocking to the Lady Jane Boutique where she works, to bare their bosoms for a multicolour, exclusive, painted-on picture.
Audrey, who quotes her prices as: “10s. 6d. a half; from 3 to 10 guineas for a whole body,” will paint on anything from just patterns to faces, street signs or mock tattoos.
“I’ve even done a whole street scene right across, complete with red London buses,” she said.
Where do the girls wear them? “I often ask that,” says Audrey. “Most of them are going to parties although several people have been on their way to the airport. They said they were flying out that night to New York or elsewhere, and wanted to arrive in their paint-on.”
Any men? “Yes, lots,” says Audrey. “They come in for patterns to wear with see-through shirts.”
Audrey, who has tried painting with everything from greasepaint to ink, says it takes skill as most things crack on skin. She is now experimenting with Tempera, powder mixed with egg white like the Renaissance painters used, but she mainly works with Leichner and coloured inks gently powdered over. “It isn’t dangerous as not enough of the body is covered up, and it comes off with cold cream,” she says.
“It’s always a bit strange when I start on a new bust,” says Audrey, modest and quiet with long blonde hair, “but I like doing it for aesthetic reasons, though I know that basically it is just a fashion thing.”
Does Audrey herself wear a see-through?
“Certainly not,” she said. “Business apart – I’ll be pleased when the cover-up look comes back!”
Petticoat Magazine, November 1968.
The Lady Jane boutique maintained something of a reputation for shock value; see-through clothing, body paint and scantily clad models in the windows were staple gimmicks throughout the late Sixties and early Seventies. Some things never change, do they?
Photo by Michael Boys, from How To Photograph Women.
Jilly Johnson photographed by John Kelly.
Scanned from How To Photograph Women (1984)
Liz Eggleston 
