Photographs by Caroline Arber. Vogue, June 1970.
I wish summer would come. I wish my entire wardrobe consisted of these clothes. I wish every day could be a Caroline Arber kind of day…
Ok, cats, I’m going to willingly lose cool points and confess that I had to look up what the hell ‘Ginchiest‘ means. (There’s even a song.) I can’t always immediately ‘get’ this kind of groovy talk. It was hard enough watching Beat Girl, daddy-o…

The Hon. Tara Browne in a maroon silk suit chosen by his wife, Nicky, left. By Major Hayward. Gold shirt, Turnbull & Asser
Both Tara Browne and Brian Jones were at the height of their fame, fortune and follicular glory here. Neither would see the Seventies. Indeed, Browne wouldn’t even see out the year this feature hails from. Quite extraordinary to see them together in the same spread from Men In Vogue, November 1966. They even managed to date the same woman (Suki Potier was the passenger in Browne’s Lotus Elan when he died, and would later be comforted by Jones – dating him, on-and-off, until his death in 1969.)
Photographs by Michael Cooper.

Brian Jones, a Rolling Stone in a double-breasted black suit, striped red and white, chosen by Anita Pallenberg, above. Bright pink shirt, scarlet handkerchief and tie. All bought in New York. Black and white shoes found in Carnaby Street.
As an aside, I was amazed to read, for the first time, that there are actually people in the world who believe that Tara Browne underwent extensive plastic surgery to ‘become’ a replacement Paul McCartney. Because McCartney actually died in a motorbike accident in Liverpool [just before Browne faked his own death], dontchaknow? I mean no offence to a beloved Beatle, but why on earth would anyone bother? Nobody bothered doing that with any other dead rock star at the time.
I’m quite the arch timewaster myself, but even my mind boggles at the years people devote to such patently ludicrous things.
“Every designer has long scarves this season – decorating waists, flung over shoulders, slotted through necklines. Celia Birtwell, whose famous screen prints for Quorum enlivened some of their prettiest garments, has produced a new and imaginative collection of exotic zebra and tiger-printed chiffon fantasies which hide a multitude of flesh – even on our bonny pneumatic model. (In real life, Marinka works as a London barmaid.) The scarves come in three sizes, 44in. sq., 22in. sq., and 14in. sq., and cost £10, £6.50 and £4.50 respectively; they are obtainable from Quorum, Radnor Walk, Chelsea, London SW3, and also from their branch at Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3.”
By Meriel McCooey. Photographed by Shirley Beljon. Mules by Terry de Havilland.
The Sunday Times Magazine. March 20th 1977.

Bird’s egg blue and white spotted shirt and striped trousers at Pierre Elegante. Hat by Edward Mann.
Photographed by Elisabeth Novick, from Vogue, April 1973.
If I could spend most of my springtime dressed like this, I would be happy. Sadly, I am currently living in thick black tights and long sleeves while the entire country shivers its way into May.
Curses!
Those with a long memory might remember this as a Biba dress worn by Paula Wilcox in Man About The House (and also by Miss Peelpants occasionally around the house, as well as out of it…). I’m always inexplicably delighted to spot pieces I own or recognise in adverts of the time, although I think one for nutty chocolates has got to be a first…