Cosmo Gets Delayed at the Office

1970s, cosmopolitan, Diane Logan, Lloyd Loom, personal stuff, Santa Raymond, Studio, Tessa Kennedy, Tim Street-Porter

Photographed by Tim Street-Porter. Scanned from Cosmopolitan, February 1973.

Still slowly settling into my lovely studio space; trying to avoid the pitfalls of the ‘I must fill it up, it must look exactly how I want it to immediately‘ mentality, to which I know I am vulnerable. Slowly, but surely. My beloved Lloyd Loom table and chair are out of storage and awaiting a respray from their slightly grotty boudoir pink to… I don’t know yet.

I am on a promise for an original ladderax bureau unit, inherited indirectly from my grandparents, to store my reference books, magazines and paperwork. The framed pictures are stacking up in the corners, waiting for locations. The last thing I want is for it to feel like an office. I want it to feel like a creative, comfortable studio space. I discovered a long time ago, whilst temping, that a ‘trad’ office environment is really, really not for me.

So while I am developing things slowly, I am also taking inspiration from this fantastic Cosmopolitan feature on businesswomen and their office spaces. The chaos of Diane Logan’s millinery studio is probably closest to my natural style:

“You have to create a look like this out of rubbish*. It doesn’t just arrive.”

But there is plenty to admire and covet in all three.

*I don’t approve of the word ‘rubbish’, but I approve of her sentiment.

Scanned from Cosmopolitan, February 1973.

Inspirational Illustrations: Male Insecurities

1970s, cosmopolitan, Illustrations, Inspirational Images, marilyn monroe, mild sauce, philip castle, Robert Redford

Scanned from Cosmopolitan, March 1972.

One of the most incredible illustrations I think I have ever seen, by the legendary Philip Castle. I think it even out-does The Real Appeal of the Heel…

Kinky Croquet

1970s, album covers, Inspirational Images, interesting record sleeves, jilly johnson, mild sauce, platforms, shoes, swimwear

Featuring superbabe Jilly Johnson, and formerly belonging to a dymo-wielding dude named ‘Ross’, I cannot help but covet the matching silver bikini/platform shoe combination on the reverse side. Or in the words of the great Tarkus, B-Side.

Inspirational Images: Clothes to get you back in his arms

1970s, Barbara Trentham, british boutique movement, chelsea cobbler, cosmopolitan, Deirdre McSharry, Early Bird, harold ingram, Inspirational Images, jean muir, kari ann muller, mary quant, medusa, norman eales, paulene stone, stirling cooper, Tsaritsa, Vintage Editorials

Barbara wears halter top and pleated skirt by Mary Quant, £23 for the rigout, and shoes by Chelsea Cobbler. He wears intarsia sweater by Ballantyne.

Nice girls are turning a cold shoulder on some of the best looking men around. Perfectly enchanting girls, like Twiggy, who flashes her famous shoulder blades at Christopher Gable through her sleeveless, backless The Boy Friend costumes. And who can forget Lauren Bacall and lngrid Bergman acting with their backs turned on Bogie in all those Late Late Show films. Now you can make some of the best exit lines in the backless—and fairly frontless—cIothes previewed here. lt’s clear that fashion is on the side of the female female in clothes that show off a nice warm back and allow plenty of MANoeuvring room. Putting the Back-to-Basics through their paces in many of the pictures are Barbara Trentham and Gary Myers, a couple of Cosmo people to watch. Blonde, brainy Barbara with the 1,000-watt smile will soon be seen in her first film, opposite Shirley MacLaine. called, if you can believe it, The Possession of Joel Delaney, and Aussie Gary is tall, dark and one of television’s busiest tough guys. Together they show that a cold shoulder never turned a good man off…

Scanned from the very first UK edition of Cosmopolitan, March 1972. Photographs by Norman Eales.

Paulene wears chamois leather blouse and pleated skirt by Jean Muir, £46 and £31.50

Paulene Stone in a robe from Browns, £20

Barbara wears dress by Early Bird, £7. Gary’s sweater is by Harold Ingram, £3.30

Barbara wears dress by Mary Quant, £15

Barbara wears strappy crepe dress by Medusa, £9.95

Barbara wears dress by Tsaritsa, £29. Shoes by Mary Quant.

When both ladies turn up in identical tank tops scooped low, a man scarcely knows where to put his eyes. Dark Janni and tawny Kari-Anne [sic] fill out backless sweaters by Stirling Cooper, £2.95. Janni’s red jersey trousers are £9.60, also by Stirling Cooper. Yellow satin jeans by Medusa, £17.91.

Biba and Beyond: A question for Barbara

1960s, 1970s, barbara hulanicki, biba, brighton, british boutique movement

I was delighted to be asked to submit a question for Barbara Hulanicki, as part of Visit Brighton‘s series of promotional videos for the upcoming Biba exhibition at Brighton Museum in September. I decided to go out on a geeky limb and ask about the Biba ‘couture’ range which I blogged about in February of last year.

Thanks to Jo-ann Fortune at Visit Brighton and to Barbara herself. The exhibition opens on the 22nd of September and I am very much looking forward to seeing it, no doubt decked out in my Biba finery. I will, of course, be blogging about it once it has opened, so stay tuned!

Biba couture range (featured in the Observer Magazine, 19th January 1969)

Vintage Adverts: The Cream of Miss Selfridge

1970s, anjelica huston, british boutique movement, Gina Fratini, Inspirational Images, miss selfridge, ossie clark, thea porter, Vintage Adverts

Ossie Clark (model on the right is a young Anjelica Huston)

Once upon a time, Miss Selfridge used to stock clothes by the likes of Ossie Clark, Thea Porter and Gina Fratini… If only t’were still the case!

The Ossie advert is scanned from Cosmopolitan, May 1972, the Thea Porter and Gina Fratini ones are from April 1972.

Thea Porter

Gina Fratini

Vintage Adverts: The butterfly beauty of Hanae Mori

1970s, Hanae Mori, Inspirational Images, Vintage Adverts, Vogue

Scanned from Vogue, June 1976

Video: London Fashion, 1975

1970s, Bernshaw, bill gibb, british boutique movement, bus stop, Jaeger, Jane Cattlin, Janet Ibbotson, katharine hamnett, lee bender, ossie clark, stirling cooper, tuttabankem, Yuki

Oh I do so love finding a ‘new’ video such as this on Youtube – many thanks to the uploader. Promoting the 1974 London Fashion Show at Earls Court (featuring designs by Frank Usher and Bernshaw in the footage) it then moves to a variety of locations (Trafalgar Square, Regent’s Canal, random studio, back to Trafalgar Square…) to promote clothes by legends such as Ossie Clark, Bill Gibb, Lee Bender for Bus Stop, Yuki, Stirling Cooper and ‘Kate Hamnett’ for Tuttabankem, it also features the underrated [and somewhat forgotten] designers Jane Cattlin and Janet Ibbotson. Enjoy!

Mensday: Bowlers, brollies and birds

1970s, avengers, Bowler hats, Inspirational Images, Mensday, menswear, minis

Photo by W. E. Carden

“The battle of the sexes in England, land of stiff upper lips and furled umbrellas – a land, in short, of Ladies and Gentlemen. Some are here seen at an Old Comrades Association parade in London’s Hyde Park in the merry month of May, where the keen eye – and camera – of W. E. Carden,  A.R.P.S. noticed this amusing little vignette.”

Scanned from Photography Year Book, 1971.

I feel an Avengers episode coming on…

Mild Sauce: Wild Thing

1970s, Fiesta, mild sauce, Wonder Workshop

Scanned from Fiesta, 1975

You never know where you might find a cool little piece of fashion history. Here are the first two images (and the only printable ones as far as this blog is concerned!) from a spread in Fiesta. A ‘dirty little magazine’ (as Mildred Roper might spit at George) for the uninitiated among you. Our soon-to-be-starkers model is wearing an iconic ‘Wild Thing’ t-shirt, originally designed by the wonderful John Dove and Molly White at Wonder Workshop but also ripped off by large-scale manufacturers. I have no idea if our girl is wearing an original or a cheap rip-off (her skirt is obscuring the ‘Thing’ part and you can’t really see much detail) but it was a bizarrely cool spot. Plus, I want her red wedges.