Little Miss Hornby and a gap now filled

1960s, british boutique movement, celebrity boutiques, eye candy, personal collection, twiggy, vintage fangirl squee

As many of you know from reading my blog and my website, I’m quite a keen collector as well as a seller. Together with the fact that I love wearing British Boutique-era clothing as well, it’s a wonder I ever sell anything. But thankfully, for you, I do and I don’t hold back the good stuff either. But occasionally, with something magnificent and as yet unrepresented in my collection, I do decide to buy something for myself and myself alone. It’s my ambition to have a representative collection of British Boutique designers and boutiques, some designers I will always have more than others because I have more of an interest in their career. But for some, one representative piece is all I can possibly hope for (or even afford). Like Thea Porter, or Bill Gibb…….or now, Twiggy.

Twiggy’s own label started in 1966, designed by RCA graduates Pam Proctor and Paul Babb, as one of the many ways in which Twiggy and her manager/boyfriend Justin De Villeneuve could utilize her fame and bankability. Twiggy was eager to be involved in the entire process of the clothes production, as a keen home dressmaker and frustrated designer herself, and this means that it was perhaps one of the better made and most genuinely stylish celebrity boutique labels of the time. Originally the idea had been mooted by Berkertex, but when Twiggy realised they were simply wanting to put her name on an existing range of clothes with no input by her, she turned to the Taramina Textiles firm. Smaller but happy to leave the creative decisions to the Twiggy camp and the two designers.

“We made sure the dresses were really good and they were all things that I would be happy to wear. I still think it was a very good, young collection of clothes–cat-suits, print shifts gathered under the bust, Bermuda-length jump suits, shirt dresses with long pointed collars, jersey culotte dresses, a pinstripe gangster style trouser suit–and all for between six and twelve guineas.” Twiggy by Twiggy (p51)

The launch was promoted by Twiggy’s only catwalk appearance and photographs taken by the legendary Barry Lategan.

Sadly, the small British manufacturers behind the label were unable to keep up with the demand the Twiggy line had produced in both Europe and the USA and the line eventually folded by the end of the decade. This leaves the label as one of the rarest and most highly sought after boutique brands of the time, due to the iconic status of Twiggy and the brevity of its existence.

I was overjoyed to finally get me a piece of Twiggy’s range, it had been a glaring hole in my collection so far. Then a few days later, I was sorting out my image files on my computer and found these photos of Twiggy actually wearing the dress in question. Unfortunately it does show me that the sleeves have been hacked off at some point…..but honestly, I care not! I have photos of Twiggy in my dress and as any regular readers will know, I’m slightly obsessed with original photos and particularly of the designers in or with the garments in question.

Don’t mind me, I’m just doing a little happy dance here!

La Belle Epoque (de Biba)

1970s, barbara hulanicki, biba, british boutique movement, ebay listings

Biba were spearheading the Seventies revival of all things antique, including the ‘lounge’ culture. Spectacular gowns and peignoir sets were made ostensibly for the bedroom but far too good to be restricted to it.

This incredible peignoir set of dress and dressing gown is made in a distinctively Victorian / Edwardian style, with voluminous amounts of fabric and lavish ruffled hems, necklines and sleeves. You can do some serious swishing in this set, believe me – the photos don’t even show just how much volume there is!

Fit for any drama queen and a very, VERY rare example of this type of extraordinary, idiosyncratic Biba lounging lifestyle.

Leelee Sobieski: Very fab, not very fug

celebrities in vintage, Ms Peelpants' rants


Cherie over at Shrimpton Couture has already ranted about how wrong and occasionally narrowminded the Fug Girls can be. For the most part, yes the clothes are ridiculous and deserve a public fugging. Sometimes though, you can detect a mild aroma of desperation with some of the choices. After all, the girls must be struggling to fug enough times in a day.

Take, for example, this stunning red dress worn by Leelee Sobieski (errrr…who? I have a feeling she was in Never Been Kissed…..but that’s about it for my knowledge of who she is). I would point out to Leelee that visible bras are occasionally fine (just occasionally, mind!) but certainly not with a plunge dress. And certainly not with a plunge dress so damn fabulous in its own right. Is it vintage? It certainly has a slight Ossie vibe to it, but honestly I’ve given up trying to spot real vintage from the modern repros….I’m sorry, I mean, original designs which just accidentally happen to look like vintage designs. Cough.

Anyway, take away the cruddy bra and you’ve got a fabulous look there. The red dress, the red shoes, the billowing sleeves…mmmmm. The kind of ‘together’ look to which I aspire, and which the fug girls usually claim to promote.

Doctor Who Girls: The Sixties

1960s, british boutique movement, doctor who, doctor who companion fashion, john bates, mary quant, ossie clark, zandra rhodes

Some of you may or may not know of my slight….slight obsession with vintage Doctor Who. Yes indeed, coupled with my love of Blakes 7, The Avengers and Sapphire and Steel I think that gives me fairly impressive geek credentials, no? A lot of it is childhood nostalgia, particularly in the Eighties series which I grew up with but also for the occasional Seventies story which my brother would acquire via third generation videotapes recorded from Australian TV, but even the episodes I didn’t grow up watching hold a magical quality for me. Not least because The Doctor was always adept at finding himself aided by a gorgeous companion wearing seriously groovy gear from her own time. Even the few exceptions to this (Leela – Warrior Princess and Romana – Time Lady) look very much ‘of’ the time in which the stories were made.

So I’ll start by introducing you all to the notable young ‘Who girls of the Swinging Sixties.

It began with the Queen of the Ankle Twist, Susan (Right: Carole Ann Ford 1963-65) and her Mary Quant outfits. Susan was The Doctor’s granddaughter and a schoolgirl of exceptional talents. The actors often wore their own clothes due to budget limitations and Carole Ann Ford has said that a lot of her gear was Mary Quant. The show began in 1963 and in many ways is an interesting time capsule for the dramatically changing fashions of the time and I think Carole was the archetypal Quant girl with her elfin hair and boyish figure. The clothes were fairly simple, little jumpers and cropped trousers or pinafore dresses and roll neck sweaters.

Her immediate successor was a young girl from the future named Vicki (Left: found on the planet Dido, I kid ye not!), played by Maureen O’Brien (1965), who somehow seems to have found the off-screen Tardis boutique and was usually dressed in a similar manner to Susan. Nothing extraordinary, just your very average girl about town for the time. Although it was 1965 and the advent of the mini skirt, her hemlines remained very modest as you can see in the picture to the left.

The ridiculously named Dodo (Jackie Lane 1966) was the next gal Billy Hartnell ‘picked up’, running straight into the Tardis from Swinging Sixties London of 1966. Yes indeed, Dodo was conceived as a trendy young thing designed to appeal to the more fashionable young audience. Sadly, she didn’t last long and remains something of a joke to most serious Who fans, but she wore some very groovy little numbers (as we can see on the right from The Celestial Toymaker [Sorry, I had to have a picture of the divine Peter Purves in his youth *licks lips*] she’s working the op-art look!) and deserved more of a send-off than the disappearing act she manages in The War Machines….

…..Which itself introduced us to Polly. Ahhhh, now that’s more like it! Polly (Anneke Wills 1966-67) was a modern London girl with long legs, long blonde hair and big dolly girl eyes. Her introduction was possibly the first time that there was a bit of a something for the dads, with her mini skirts and beauty she was more sexy and womanly than any of her predecessors had ever been. She was also, unfortunately, ill-used mainly for tea-making (Polly put the kettle on?) and screaming in her brief tenure in the Tardis and sadly most of her episodes have been wiped/burned (a fate which has befallen most of the Sixties girls to some degree or another). Polly was the companion who eased the viewers into the regeneration of Hartnell to Patrick Troughton, but eventually left him to return to her own time.

High Priestess of the Piercing Scream, Deborah Watling, entered the Tardis as Victorian orphan and Dalek survivor, Victoria (1967-68). Her transition from crinoline to mini skirt was swift and amusing but fairly inevitable. And she really went for it, from the modest little dress she dons in Tomb of the Cybermen to the super micro hippy girl mini dress she is happily traipsing around in by The Web of Fear, via a gorgeous tweed jacket and knickerbocker ensemble in The Abominable Snowmen. Victoria gets a hard time for her girlishness and screaming (utilised to defeat a monster in her departure story Fury from the Deep) but I think her portrayal of a fish out of water is very poignant and she would certainly benefit from having more stories in existence today.

Finally we come to Zoe (Wendy Padbury 1968-69) who, in contrast to Victoria, was a brainbox girl from the future. Zoe has achieved legend status mainly from her infamous silver catsuit in The Mind Robber and the arse contained within it, but she was also known for running around the universe in some eye-wateringly short mini skirts. The maxi was beginning to creep in by this point, out in the real world, but Doctor Who would not embrace the long skirt for a good while yet.

My favourite Zoe outfit is a toss up between the [what looks like a John Bates] mini dress from The Dominators and what may well be a Celia-print Ossie Clark ensemble from The Invasion. [They mention shopping at Quorum in the commentary for this episode, but her friend is wearing a fantastic Zandra Rhodes lipstick print Fulham Road Clothes Shop ensemble so it’s perfectly possible Zoe’s is as well, I just can’t see it clearly enough to tell!]

Zoe was sent back to her own time and her memory wiped, let’s just hope she managed to keep some of her outfits!

Real Ossie Girls Go Bra-less

british boutique movement, celebrities in vintage, celia birtwell, ossie clark

Courtney, Courtney, Courtney. Now I do admire your choice of dress, it’s a fab Ossie and it’s definitely better than what I normally see you in…..but girl, Ossie didn’t like underwear. He never buttoned his dresses low enough for a gal to wear big pants. He never once put one of those little bra-holder loops in the shoulders of one of his dresses. The chiffons were sheer for a reason. Those skintight corset satin trousers simply don’t have enough room for knickers.

No brassieres with Ossies, ok? If you can’t get your tatas in your dress, get a bigger dress or some smaller implants!

[no one wants to catch a chill down south so I think we’re ok to wear knickers in the winter!]

Nice choice of arm candy though 😉

Pick of this week’s eBay offerings: Radley in Celia print and Biba catalogue scrumptiousness….

1960s, 1970s, biba, british boutique movement, celia birtwell, ebay listings, radley

RADLEY
Once upon a time, I happened across a Radley own-label dress with a print which screamed Celia Birtwell. It was very like her later, crazier prints you see on the later Ossie pieces. I was fascinated, and perplexed because it was definitely a later Radley piece with the ‘girly face’ label. But it was definitely Celia.

I wondered if it was a one-off. But now I’ve found this little beauty, which is exactly the same design of dress, with a totally different print – but also a very distinctly Celia one! I can only surmise that Birtwell remained contracted to Radley after her divorce from Ossie Clark and continued to create at least one collection under their label.

Printed sketchy flowers and squiggles cover the deep plum sheer chiffon of this delicious dress. The gathered waist, the draped faux-wrap bodice and the draped back from the fitted yoke give it a wonderful grecian goddess feel. I love the very subtle effect of the pale topstitching, and the sheerness without lining means you can be as audacious as you like – whether you wear a slip or undies is up to you! And that, is the influence of Ossie! 😉

£38 Starting bid over at eBay

BIBA
I always get very excited by Biba pieces which were featured in the catalogues of the late Sixties. Perhaps because Biba was often so ephemeral and fast-moving, and not always featured as heavily in magazines of the time as you might think, it’s lovely to see them in situ and be able to date them (and see the original prices!).

This lace blouse was originally part of an ensemble with a skirt (which could be long or short apparently) but clearly is extremely wearable on its own.


In the catalogue’s own description “Spider lace peplum suit. A close fitting waisted jacket with narrow sleeves, buttoning to a high Edwardian neck.” The full suit was £7 7s in 1969.

Starting bid of £45 over at eBay

But that ain’t all…..there’s also a delicious couture label Ossie Clark ensemble, a superb bohemian Janice Wainwright, a super sweet candy pink Jean Varon dress and some other lovely non-designer pieces. Please do go and check it out!

Alice Pollock and a Vintage Holy Grail

1960s, alice pollock, british boutique movement, celia birtwell, ossie clark, website listings

There are a few holy grails in the vintage world. Some you start to suspect don’t exist, others you are lead to believe absolutely do not exist by the numerous tomes written about the history of fashion. I certainly never thought I’d see the day when I encountered an Alice Pollock-designed piece bearing a Celia Birtwell print. We all know how jealously Ossie guarded Celia’s work, and Alice’s work lent itself more towards plain block colours or more graphic prints than Celia’s.

But, this is an Alice blouse and it is a Celia print (shown in the V&A’s Ossie Clark retrospective book on page 120 and described as one of Celia’s earliest. It is, as yet, the only time I’ve seen this print in real life!).

That it’s an early Celia print is very apparent. It’s much more regimented and restrained than the flowing, weaving florals we usually see. The floral butterflies are contained within frames, rather like framed butterflies on the wall of a Victorian study. The blouse is pure, understated Pollock chic. Those ‘in-the-know’ know that often a Pollock piece can be ten times more wearable than an Ossie, perhaps because Alice knew what women needed in reality (not just in their Ossie-fuelled fantasies). Two of my favourite vintage pieces are Alice (both blouses, both crepe and both wonderful) and this piece is only available for sale because, as regular readers will know, I can’t wear this colour to save my life. It’s weird, most people I know can wear it with aplomb, but not me. So here it is, one of the rarest creatures you’ll ever see…much like the butterflies within the frames who so inspired Celia’s print.

Available over at Vintage-a-Peel.co.uk

Katy and Crowthers

1970s, british boutique movement, doctor who, doctor who companion fashion, personal collection, vintage fangirl squee
Katy and Crowthers
Now I’ve managed to get my pesky scanner to start working again, I hope to get back on track blogging for you a lot more than I have been of late. Oh, and listing more gorgeous items too of course! But I must admit I often become absorbed by the piles and piles of magazines and photos I’ve accumulated and keep meaning to show and tell for you all.

I remembered I had finally got around to photographing a piece in my private collection (wonders will never cease!) which is a superb example of why labels aren’t always important to a collector.

I had often wondered who designed the dress I’d seen worn in a tiny publicity photo of Katy Manning (Jo Grant in Doctor Who: the companion who seemed to live and breathe the Biba Girl ideal). Eventually I saw the dress by chance on eBay one day and noted it was by the lesser known boutique Crowthers, who were in the habit of some very nifty Ossie and Biba knock-offs (but then, who wasn’t at that time?). I put it on my watch list, safe in the knowledge that no one knew what it was, it wasn’t a big name label and was unlikely to go out of my price range. Well, I was wrong. I think people just fell in love with its boutique-y gorgeousness, I’m fairly certain no one else was geeky enough to know about Katy wearing it.

Katy and Crowthers

So I sulked. For a bit. Well, maybe more than a bit. [Shhhh!! Don’t tell anyone how much of a brat Miss Peelpants can be when she’s thwarted!] But now armed with the knowledge that it was by Crowthers, I could keep looking for it and hope that lightning might strike twice. And – thank heavens – it did. Plus, courtesy of a good Doctor Who-fan-friend of mine, I was also able to nab a higher res. image of Katy wearing it. Hurrah!!

Katy and Crowthers

Pale and Proud

Uncategorized
Both my grandmothers were Irish. Perhaps inevitably, I am possibly one of the palest people in the world. You think you’re paler than me? Don’t be so sure. I’ve only met one person of comparable paleness (a natural blonde), most people who claim to be pale will invariably stick out one forearm alongside my own fair freckled one and gasp in astonishment at how tanned they look compared to me. Sometimes they actually seem quite crestfallen about it, perhaps a sign of changing attitudes to what used to be something of an affliction. It’s becoming something to be proud of, as all other skin colours already are.

It’s not just your face you worry about when you’re pale, but Dita Von Teese has shown the true beauty and appeal of pale skin.

I spent the best part of my teens and early twenties stressing about many aspects of my appearance, and my skintone was one of the most irritating. You have spots, you wear concealer. You don’t like your haircolour, you dye it. Small boobs? Padded bras and clever dressing. Pale skin? An endless stream of streaky fake tans (and orange hands, possibly the worst aspect of all) or you risk serious skin damage and long term health problems by frazzling yourself in the sun or on sunbeds. There is never a clean, healthy alternative to your natural skin tone. It’s possibly one of the most fundamentally unchangeable things about your appearance, without serious risk to your health I mean.

I’ve sunbathed. One summer in my early twenties I spent entirely in Bournemouth, I actually went a rather delicious nut brown on my back and shoulders. But that was only after an accidental frazzling early on and daily exposure (with SPF I might add) for several months. And then it faded and the idea of frazzling my pale, mole-dotted skin the next year to try and effect the same change……good grief, no thank you.

I’m not sure how much of it is maturity and how much is just sheer boredom (or perhaps both, since maturity does seem to have stemmed from boredom and aquiescence so far for me), but I really couldn’t care less about it now. I still occasionally slap a little fake tan (the lightest, least effective I can find) on my pins, simply to save the general public from being blinded by the glare, but I’ve otherwise consigned the notion of bronzing to the back of the beauty cupboard. People comment on my paleness, but there’s almost a sneaking admiration. In an age of perma-tanned footballer’s wives and over-styled girl groups, someone daring to stand out as an ivory anomaly is truly startling.

Nicola Roberts. Former fake-tan addict and newly revealed pale and proud girl.

Speaking of which, the motivation behind this train-of-thought post was the news that Nicola Roberts from one of those girl groups, Girls Aloud, has started her own make-up range for pale girls. Now, now. Don’t all start complaining that that market is already catered for, because believe me – it isn’t! We ghostly pale gals need specialist make-up as much as those with darker skins. The difficulty in finding an appropriate foundation colour is greater than you could ever imagine. The embarrassment of buying the palest on offer, only to find that you look like a clementine-head in daylight is pretty excruciating. And don’t get me started on blushers. I don’t wish to have orange cheeks either thanks very much. Most of the pink blushers end up making you look like Aunt Sally from Wurzel Gummidge.

It remains to be seen just how good this range will be, and whether it will encourage other pale girls out there to ditch the fake-tans and join us proud-to-be-pale-ers. But it’s a good sign, alongside the current popularity of porcelain doll-like models and actresses, that the snobbery against pale is starting to dissipate. Although as with so many things in my life, I wouldn’t want to become too conventional. So perhaps it’s best for things to stay as they are, and for pale girls to be as unusual and unique as we already are. Just think how much younger we’ll all look when we’re middle-aged!

More pale icons. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Kylie and Rachel Weisz. All fond of vintage clothes, are we seeing a pattern here?

As for tips (if anyone is vaguely interested), I can highly recommend Rimmel foundations for paleness. I currently sport the Renew & Lift in 100 Ivory (you can never start too early with the anti-aging malarkey…..I wish to remain proud of my skin), but Boots 17 also do good pale shades in their range. As for blusher, well I’m currently very happy with my Benetint by Benefit. Pricey but the bottle lasts for ages and I love being able to use it on my lips as well for a very natural English rose look.

Celebrate your natural skin tone, whatever that may be!!

Get It On…

1970s, british boutique movement, glam rock, marc bolan

Super rare piece of Glam Rock memorabilia from the early Seventies. This frankly awesome jacket is externally pretty fabulous with its yellow and purple panels and bright yellow buttons. The silhouette and colour scheme is very reminiscent of Mr Freedom pieces, and its definitely a manufactured piece, but sadly any label it may have had is no longer there.

The real excitement comes from the inside though. The repeat print of Marc Bolan is just so vivid and so fabulous I can’t even put it into words. If you’re a Marc/T-Rex fan – you absolutely need this jacket. It’s a rare piece of early Seventies fashion, and a rare slice of pop history!

Over at eBay (alongside some other incredible goodies, including Miss Mouse, Ossie Clark and Bus Stop!)