Catherine Buckley: A vision in Edwardiana…

1970s, british boutique movement, catherine buckley, website listings

I don’t often post about individual garments listed over at Vintage-a-Peel, but some things are just that special…

Ethereally beautiful gown by Catherine Buckley, using fabric designed by Veronica Holden. Buckley is best known for her designs for Joanna Lumley as Purdey in The New Avengers. She otherwise maintained a low profile, producing idiosyncratically period-style fantasy garments, often incorporating original antique fabrics. This garment uses a replica fabric, a cream net with delicate lace flowers, embroidered flowers nearer the hem and hand-painted green and pink tones.

The style is unmistakeably, and almost accurately, Belle Epoque. From the delicate lace ruffles which cascade over the shoulders and down the back, to the deep ruffled hem, to the extraordinary fabric covered buttons which are the only fastening. Buckley’s pieces are always extraordinary and as near to couture as you can get from the British Boutique era. I would put her on a par with Thea Porter and Gina Fratini; less ethnic-inspired than Thea Porter and less utterly insane than Fratini, a truly ‘English’ look. Refined and feminine, sophisticated and elegant…

Available at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk or over on Etsy if you prefer…

New for Autumn/Winter

1930s, 1960s, 1970s, british boutique movement, bus stop, chelsea girl, forbidden fruit, jean varon, john bates, lee bender, louis caring, Miss Impact, psychedelia, roland klein, terry de havilland, wallis, website listings, young edwardian

Chelsea Girl

Tsk tsk. Slap my wrist. I’m pretty slack about putting website listings here on the blog, and I can only apologise. Here are some edited highlights (but there are plenty more already listed and more to come before Christmas!). Personal favourites are the original 1970s Chelsea Girl platform shoes, the black lace 1930s evening dress and Erte-printed John Bates for Jean Varon dress…

Unsigned original 1930s

John Bates for Jean Varon

Roland Klein for Marcel Fenez

Forbidden Fruit

Unsigned original 1960s

Terry de Havilland

Young Innocent

Lee Bender for Bus Stop

Wallis Fashion Shops

Miss Impact

Louis Caring

Unsigned original 1970s

David Silverman: Revealed at last!

1970s, british boutique movement, david silverman, website listings

Many, many months ago, I had a wonderfully exciting email from a gentleman called John Offenbach.

Under a couple of listings I have found for David Silverman, you say ‘I wish I knew who David Silverman was..’ well, he was my dad, and he died at the age of 44, thirty years ago.

Needless to say, I was gobsmacked. After all this time, and all my grumbling about not knowing anything about him, here it was! With John’s permission, I am able to share a little information about the man whose clothes continue to make many vintage-lovers very, very happy.

“His business was in Great Titchfield Street in the Sixties and Seventies which as you know was London’s garment district. He was successful, his first business was called Marlborough Dresses which he sold … and he followed that up with David Silverman Dresses. He was a good friend of Steven Marks and as I understand it, lent Steven some desk space for him to start up Steven Marks Coats before he launched French Connection.

Dad was interested in all things visual. He could paint a likeness, and we would often talk about typography and advertising. He chain-smoked Gauloise cigarettes and liked to wear a cashmere roll neck jumper.

He told me that in younger days he had an underground game of cards which travelled around London and eventually got the attention of the Krays. (I don’t know if this is true) but it had to be wound down as it got out of hand, and he told me he needed a body guard for a while.”

I’m not sure it gets much more Sixties than roll neck sweaters, gauloises and The Krays… He sounds like my kind of guy!

John was also kind enough to let me show you a photo of his father, but I would ask that it is not reproduced without permission.

David Silverman.

To celebrate this victory in the face of anonymity, I have just listed a David Silverman dress over at Vintage-a-Peel:

Click to view on Vintage-a-Peel

…and also enclose photos of some other pieces I’ve had in over the years!

From the Vintage-a-Peel archive.

New items at Vintage-a-Peel

1960s, 1970s, biba, Fiorucci, janice wainwright, jean varon, john bates, London Mob, ossie clark, paraphernalia, simon massey, website listings

Ossie Clark

It’s been quite a while since I last posted about goodies over at Vintage-a-Peel. This blog has moved slightly away from its original intention as a communication and promotional tool for the website, which is fine by me because I genuinely love what it has become. Also, the Facebook page for Vintage-a-Peel, and Twitter, has become the fastest method for me to communicate with customers. But I realised that I’ve listed some incredible pieces recently which blog viewers might be interested in, and which they might have missed. So here they are; Biba, Ossie, John Bates, Fiorucci (incredibly rare late 1960s jeans), London Mob, Paraphernalia, Janice Wainwright, and that’s just the big names. Plenty more to be found over on that there website of mine…

John Bates for Jean Varon

Fiorucci

Biba

Paraphernalia

London Mob of Carnaby Street

Janice Wainwright for Simon Massey

I love you Pinky…

1970s, biba, british boutique movement, jean varon, john bates, website listings, yves saint laurent

Never again will I take movement for granted. About ten days ago, while I was running around preparing to meet up with the gorgeous Laurakitty and then doll myself up for the preview of the new Biba exhibition at Brighton Museum, I managed to ram my foot into my ever-present suitcase. Hard. So hard, in fact, that my pinky toe on my left foot was newly positioned at a right angle.

Of course I could have concocted a taller, more glamorous story about how I had tripped over the hem of my Ossie Clark dress (you know I run around in them all day, right?) or had tumbled from the stratospheric heights of my Terry de Havilland shoes (same as the Ossies, always in them…always…). Sadly, I was barefoot and the reality was painful and distinctly unglamorous. I managed to reset it myself (not quite sure how, I just moved it, not painful until the shock wore off…) and have been flat-bound and hobbling like a hobbly thing ever since. I have been told four to six weeks recovery time, in which I am unable to wear any of my nice shoes and have to keep pinky strapped up to its neighbour. There ensued much swearing and sulking when I realised that Biba (and, a few days later, the Festival of Vintage in Epsom) was definitely out of the question.

Unlike Tara, I have not been fighting thugs and solving crimes from the sofa. But I have been posed rather like this most of the time…

Sympathy (and tea and biscuits) are always welcome, but I mainly wanted to explain my slight absence from the blogging thing. I have been going stir crazy with boredom, but blogging seemed to be the last thing on my mind. Hard to get too excited about frocks and other fripperies when you are banished to the land of trainers and a very strange new walking style.

I am now just about able to get up the stairs to the studio, so slowness in frock dispatchery should be reduced. And there are some fine, fine things to be seen. New listings include Biba jackets, John Bates dresses and Yves Saint Laurent shoes, amongst many other things.

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

New at Vintage-a-Peel: Loungerie!

1960s, 1970s, Bruce Oldfield, charnos, grace coddington, jane birkin, janet reger, janice wainwright, legs and co, ossie clark, rudi gernreich, website listings

Legs and Co

You may, or may not, have noticed that I frequently post scans of favourite underwear shoots on this here blog. I aspire to the level of lounging glamour demonstrated by ladies of the past; no tracksuits or slankets chez Miss Peelpants – oh no no no… I also feel as limited and uncomfortable in a lot of modern underwear as I do in a lot of modern clothing, so it seems only logical to buy and wear vintage pieces.

Grace Coddington

So I am delighted to announce the launch of Loungerie at Vintage-a-Peel. The name is inspired by a spread from Honey Magazine which I posted a while back, and the stock is inspired by all my very favourite underwear photoshoots and saucier source material I may encounter. If vintage underwear isn’t your thing, that’s totally understandable, but for anyone else – I do hope you find something to tempt you (and your lover…).

Jane Birkin

And with names like Ossie Clark, Janice Wainwright, Rudi Gernreich, Bruce Oldfield and Janet Reger, this is certainly no ordinary lingerie section!

Bruce Oldfield for Charnos

Ossie Clark for Charnos

Janice Wainwright for Golden Charm

Rudi Gernreich for Exquisite Form

Janet Reger

St Michael

Charnos

New blog, new listings…

1960s, 1970s, annacat, barbara hulanicki, biba, british boutique movement, Foale and Tuffin, Jean Louis Scherrer, jean muir, jean varon, john bates, Kate Beaver, mister ant, Mr Darren, strawberry studio, Vanessa Frye, wallis, website listings

Mr Darren

Ah, my inaugural listings post … well, over here on wordpress anyway. Yet again I have been a little tardy in posting them here, but better late than never! There’s Annacat, Jean Muir, Biba, John Bates, Jean Louis Scherrer, Foale and Tuffin, Strawberry Studio (and breathe), and many more. All images are links to the pages over at Vintage-a-Peel. Usual things apply, free postage in the UK and let me know if you want to pay in a couple of instalments for the more expensive items.

John Bates for Jean Varon

Vanessa Frye / Mary Murray Ltd.

Strawberry Studio

Biba

Jean Muir

Foale and Tuffin

Wallis

Jean Louis Scherrer

Kate Beaver

David Silverman

Mister Ant

unsigned

Annacat

The New Avenger in Lee Bender

annacat, bus stop, chelsea girl, harold ingram, jean varon, joanna lumley, lee bender, murray arbeid, norman hartnell, polly peck, terry de havilland, the avengers, website listings

I have just listed some stunning new pieces over at Vintage-a-Peel, but the real star of the show has got to be this incredible Lee Bender for Bus Stop skirt and halter top set. For it is identical to the one worn by Joanna Lumley in a photocall for The New Avengers in 1976. Deliciously bright and saucy, and the one thing which might distract the world from your pudding-bowl haircut!

Photos and links to other newly listed items follow underneath…

Late Sixties cord jacket (click to view listing)

Murray Arbeid 1980s turquoise cocktail dress (click to view listing)

Terry de Havilland 1970s gold glitter shoes (click to view listing)

Norman Hartnell early 1960s chiffon and soutache evening gown (click to view listing)

Annacat 1960s blue velvet jacket (click to view listing)

Harold Ingram 1970s knitted top (click to view listing)

Polly Peck 1960s white cotton blouse (click to view listing)

Chelsea Girl 1970s stripe jumper (click to view listing)

Tom Bowker for Jean Varon 1970s silver lamé top (click to view listing)

Banish those February blues

angela gore, betty barclay, biba, clobber, gerald mccann, jean allen, jean varon, jeff banks, john bates, moss crepe, stirling cooper, website listings

Stirling Cooper (click to view listing)

Seems the diabolical month of January has given the world something of a February hangover. I just want the world to be filled with beautiful, sparkly things. I offer you sparkly Biba and Stirling Cooper, psychedelic perfection, mod heaven, sultry Biba blues and vibrant Varonishness. Amongst other things, of course. Enjoy!