Inspirational Images: Dungarees and Rabbits

19 magazine, miss mouse, paris, platforms, seventies fashion, universal witness
Sundress by Universal Witness. Shoes by Sacha. Bag by Miss Mouse.
Scanned from 19 Magazine, May 1972. Photographed by Franz Gruber.
I am currently en Paris with Mr Brownwindsor, celebrating my impending doom birthday tomorrow! I wish I had the Miss Mouse bunny bag, but I’m hoping to wear my nursery print Miss Mouse dress while I’m there. I’ll show you all when I return!

Inspirational Images: Quorum, 1965

1960s, alice pollock, british boutique movement, ossie clark, quorum

Outfit by Quorum. Everywoman, July 1965

Inspirational Images: Blowing bubbles

1970s, clogs, hotpants, Inspirational Images, platforms, Vintage Adverts

Vincel advert, 1972

I basically want to look like the girl on the left, but I’m dubious about my ability to ‘pull off’ the whole over-knee striped socks and hotpant ensemble. Might just stick with the make-up and hair…

Mensday: The Real Appeal of the Heel

19 magazine, 1970s, haute naffness, Illustrations, Mensday, menswear, mild sauce, peter wyngarde, philip castle

Philip Castle. The Real Appeal of the Heel. 19 Magazine, May 1972

I adore the illustration from this article in 19 Magazine, May 1972. The article itself is a bit wordy and I decided it wasn’t worth scanning or OCR-ing, but the illustration can’t be missed and there’s a great little vignette at the bottom of the article.

Do we think illustrator Philip Castle was somewhat *ahem* inspired by the great Peter Wyngarde? He of Jason King fame and When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head. An album which has to be heard to be believed. (Please don’t click the links if you are of a sensitive nature. Or haven’t taken any mind-altering substances so far today.)

Make-up Inspiration: Yardley, 1966

1960s, Make-up, moyra swan, Vintage Adverts, yardley

Guy Day: Getting shirty

1960s, granny takes a trip, Honey Magazine, Illustrations, Mensday, menswear, wendy buttrose

Illustrations by Wendy Buttrose. Honey magazine, September 1966

In lieu of Mensday, here’s my occasional Whoops-I-forgot-Mensday feature, Guy Day. Especially appropriate since one of the shirts comes from a shop called ‘Guy’. Amazing illustrations by none other than Wendy Buttrose*, and what I wouldn’t give to get hold of some of those incredible shirts!

Wendy, if you ever come across this blog please do email me and let me know more about you. Your illustrations are wonderful!

Wet Stuff

alligator, che guevara, christopher mcdonnell, gordon king, Honey Magazine, monty coles, topshop, way in
No, no mild sauce prefix (arf arf!). It’s been rather damp in dear old Blighty lately, which has actually done the unthinkable/unbearable and forced me into actual shops where you buy actual new clothes (I needed some kind of trench-y raincoat thing and was starting to think I would have to wait forever to find the perfect vintage one I wanted) and obnoxious people push you away from the full-length mirrors and waft a disdainful hand at you (I kid ye not, my expression was pretty much the same as the photo immediately below…). Anyway, I’ve been meaning to scan this frankly awesome shoot from Honey magazine for simply ages. And given the current climate, it finally seemed very appropriate. 
Photos by Monty Coles. Honey magazine, February 1974

It’s a striking shoot. Rather modern-feeling (which just goes to prove that modern is rarely as modern as it seems…) and really affecting. Not emotionally, but physically. I can almost feel the models’ pain…

Biba: A conundrum for you…

1960s, barbara hulanicki, biba, john french, paulene stone

If this dress was so damn popular, and sold in such vast numbers that Barbara and Fitz struggled to keep up with orders, then why on earth have I never seen it outside of these photos by John French? Does anyone own it? Do any museums possess it? Does anyone remember owning it? Anybody??

Inspirational Images: The lady is a vamp

1970s, bill gibb, cosmopolitan, ika hindley, Inspirational Images, richard imrie, twiggy

Photo by Richard Imrie. Cosmopolitan. Cosmo Tells All. July, 1972

Ika Hindley is the twenty-three year old temporarily red-haired model who out-acts Bernhardt or Garbo on the catwalk. Give her a dress and she gives it soul. When wearing Bill Gibb’s vamp dress at his headline-making launch collection, BBC cameramen filmed a three-minute take of Ika doing her number. “I’m hoping it will get me into films. Underneath all this pink paint there’s a frustrated actress,” says Ika who takes voice, dancing and singing lessons. All of which give her catwalk appearance extra oomph. And oomph is what Bill Gibb’s clothes have in plenty. Film star Twiggy and actress Irene Worth are favourite customers of the shy Scottish lad with the special fashion flair.

Swimming over the Moon

biba, meriel mccooey, Sarah Moon, seventies fashion, sunday times magazine, swimwear
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! 

Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975
Sunday Times Magazine. June 15th, 1975