Another uncredited image from David Bond’s book. Well, at least it actually states Biba this time (although it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to work that one out). This is my dream world. Biba clothes. Dried flowers and feathers. Curls. Sequins. Headscarves…. Suffice it to say, I would like to dive in head first.
Inspirational Images: The little match girl
Inspirational Images, mr freedom, seventies fashion
No idea who took this, who the model is or who she’s wearing. I’m going to hazard a guess at Mr Freedom, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
I’ve scanned it from David Bond’s 1981 Guinness Guide to 20th Century Fashion, which has many luscious images within. Very few are given any kind of credit beyond who owns them. And I doubt those photo agencies exist any more. This is all too often the case with books of such vintage, sadly.
Lily About The House
biba, celebrities in vintage, lily allen, man about the house, moss crepe
I still prefer the red version, but it’s nice to see someone else wandering around London in a flamboyant Biba dress…especially one seen adorning Paula Wilcox in Man About The House. And one I have flounced around in myself, although not nearly enough for my liking.
Reasons to own a time machine: The Rum Runner
Duran Duran, Eighties Fashion, jane kahn, new romantic, reasons to own a time machine, the rum runner
Yes, yes, of course I’d like to go back to the Blitz Club. But, me being me, I would make sure my first stop was The Rum Runner in Birmingham. The mirrorplex walls, neon lights, zebra print upholstery….and those five gorgeous boys who became the house band. Amongst other things: Nick Rhodes was a DJ, John Taylor was on the door, Andy Taylor flipped burgers and Roger Taylor collected glasses. Do we detect a somewhat cushier job for Mr Rhodes there?
The Berrow brothers (later managers of Duran Duran) relaunched the club in the late Seventies, inspired by Studio 54 in New York, and it became the New Romantic heart of Birmingham (via the Roxy and Bowie nights, mirroring the genesis of Steve Strange’s Blitz club). Martin Degville, the Durans, John Mulligan, iconic designers Jane Kahn and Patti Bell….hell, even Pete Townshend and Boy George paid them a visit.
Rhodes and Taylor created an amazing compilation album, Only After Dark, from their favourite tracks of the time. I’m horrified to see it’s now selling, second hand, for £90-odd on Amazon. Keep an eye out on eBay, or just download what you don’t already have from this amazing playlist they created as well. That is the kind of music which makes me want to cry with its fabulousness. Both Ends Burning? Adolescent Sex? Just mop me up…
“The Rum Runner menagerie was typically English, small, innovative and eccentric, filled with drama and humour. It was warm and friendly with a big personality.” Nick Rhodes
Sounds like my kind of place. Sadly, it was torn down in 1987. Now where IS that time machine?
Duran Duran – Planet Earth – shots from their days at the club.
The Beat – Mirror in the Bathroom – filmed at the Rum Runner.
Anonymous Illustrations
19 magazine, Illustrations, Inspirational Images, sixties
Two luscious illustrations from an April 1969 issue of 19 Magazine. Neither are credited. Both are amazing and utterly inspirational. Thank you, anonymous artists, for creating such works of beauty.
Cleopatra and France
gorgeous customers, marie france, website listings, wendyB
If you can see your way past the ‘hell kind of birdsnest’ on Roxy’s bonce, and have a yen to look like a goddess or a Queen, then please do take a look at the Marie France dress over on the site. And if you want to complete the look, there’s little better to add than one of WendyB‘s amazing Cleopatra pieces.
If you aren’t already aware, the gold earrings are set to feature (dangling from the noble lobes of Kim Cattrall) in the new Sex and the City film. Wendy herself has a very similar Marie France dress, bought from Vintage-a-Peel a few years back, which she wore with the Cleopatra necklace and Toni Colette arm candy.
There’s a very lovely silver version of the earrings as well, which I would probably choose. Given a choice. And given unlimited funds. Because, weirdly and purely personally, I’m more of a silver kind of gal. I would, of course, accept platinum as a substitute though. Ahem.
p.s My apologies for the slower-than-usual updating of the blog and website. I’ve now been distinctly under the weather (Truthfully? “Positively consumptive”.) for 18 days (and counting) since a chilly Sunday walk around Worthing. Not that I’m blaming Worthing or anything, but fresh air doesn’t always equal good health. That’s all I’m sayin’. 😉
Anyway, antibiotics have now (reluctantly) been accepted and I hope to be back to normal very soon.
Knits of the realm
knitwear, mary farrin, sally levison, website listings
Advert from 19 Magazine, May 1972
Part of why I love my job is the seemingly endless ability it has to baffle me. Maybe I come across as being a smarty pants who knows everything (or, thinks she does) but, really, I have huge gaps in my knowledge. Usually these are opened up when I find a new label on my travels, or a nugget appears in a magazine. Or, in this case, both.
Most people are [vaguely] aware of Mary Farrin, the knitwear designer, whose shop on South Molton Street opened at the height of the British Boutique movement in the late Sixties. Her clothes were largely manufactured in her chosen home of Malta; knitted interpretations of the overriding boutique look.
A while ago, I came across this stunning green knit dress. The label baffled me. Levison Originals by Mary Farrin. Levison who? At that moment, I couldn’t find any reference to Levison Originals other than this photo. I listed the dress anyway, it’s all you can do.
Piqued once more by the fabulous advert at the top of this page, where knits by ‘Sally Levison’ and ‘Mary Farrin’ both feature side by side, I googled again and suddenly found a solitary reference to the company.
“After she left college Claire went into journalism, eventually to become features editor of the respected fashion trade ‘bible’, the Drapers Record. In the late 1960’s, needing a new challenge, Claire became a director of a small fashion company, started by Sally Levison (the mother of the writer, the ‘Levison’ of LMP) called Levison Originals. The company specialised in hand-made designer knitwear. The clothes were made on the island of Gozo in the middle of the Mediterranean.
Over the next eight years or so Claire and Sally transformed this tiny start-up company into one of the two or three leading high profile knit and crochetwear organisations in the world. At its height it employed over 500 people knitting away in the Gozo factory and exporting to the major fashion houses world-wide. Whilst Sally provided the creative flair for the business it was Claire’s level-headed skill in interpreting Sally’s eccentric ideas which was so instrumental in enabling the business to flourish.
The writer believes that without Claire’s ability to transfer Sally’s ideas into pragmatic reality, Levison Originals would not have been the success that it was. Examples are now held in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s permanent clothing collection.”
I still don’t quite know where the collaboration with Mary Farrin fits in with this, other than that they were both producing clothes in Malta, but it’s always nice to [potentially] start a snowball of faint interest which might produce more information over time.
Oh, and the exceedingly yummy dress is still for sale!
Inspirational Images: Portrait of a Lady, by herself
clive arrowsmith, hats, Inspirational Images, seventies fashion, Vogue
This picture is so very beautiful, it makes me catch my breath….the colours are like a dreamscape.Hat by Otto Lucas.
Photo by Clive Arrowsmith. Vogue, June 1970
I’m in the mood…
edwardian ladies, hair, Inspirational Images, picture spam, silent films
For some more Edwardian ladies…
Vote! Vote! Channeling Mrs Pankhurst…
Ms Peelpants' rants
And possibly a little bit of Margo Leadbetter as well.
Today was the earliest I’ve ever voted in an election. I had a Doctor’s appointment at 9, and I went round to the polling station straight afterwards. Partly in a slightly grumpy, jaded ‘got to get it out of the way’ kind of way. But also, partly, as a protest against the onslaught I knew would happen as soon as I logged onto facebook, twitter etc etc.
I appreciate that politicians and aspiring politicians want to tell you to vote for them. It’s annoying, but it’s part of the job. What really, REALLY gets my goat is that the modern media enables the masses to spread brief, highly biased and ignorant messages about why you should vote for ANYONE but so-and-so.
I’m sorry?
It’s my vote, I’ll do what I want with it, thank you very much. Tell me why I should vote for someone, and I’ll listen to you. But tell me that I should, under no circumstances, vote Conservative? That’s akin to bullying. Imagine if there were people stood outside polling stations yelling ‘don’t you dare vote Conservative – anyone but them!!’. I’m fairly sure that would be considered illegal, non?
I have no intention of voting Conservative. But I reserve the right to do so if I wish, and not be screeched at by people online. And besides, if you’re telling me to vote for ANYONE but the Tories, does that mean I should go in and tick the box marked BNP? Or UKIP? I loathe them, but I respect their right to exist. We live in a free country, it’s a free vote and I will do as I please.
I voted knowing full well that it wouldn’t make the blindest bit of difference, considering the area in which I reside. But we should be determined to do it, even in that kind of situation. It is sobering to think that, less than 100 years ago, we women would not have had the right to do so.
Thank you very much, Jerry!
Liz Eggleston 