Fashion Milestones 1916 – 1976

UK Vogue Diamond Jubilee issue

Vogue oct 1976 back cover

This is a fascinating look at how fashion has evolved and changed from the beginning of the century through to the mid 1970s . I’ve scanned it from the Vogue Diamond Jubilee issue, October 15th 1976. It’s a shame that they put so many thumbnail pictures on each page. It would have been invaluable as a supplement with bigger views and more blurb.

Major fashion changes over 6 decades 1/5

Major fashion changes over 6 decades 2/5

Major fashion changes over 6 decades 3/5

Major fashion changes over 6 decades4/5

Major fashion changes over 6 decades 5/5

Suitcase full of memories

So, what’s a girl to do when it’s another grey and dismal day? Get back into the attic is what. It would be fine if it was one of those swish attics where you press a button and a staircase glides down.I’d be up and down all day. But no, the way into this one is via a trapdoor and a rickety old wooden ladder that weighs a ton and has to be lugged from the outhouse. A laugh and a half for someone who hates heights and you should see me coming down with bundles of stuff, a bit like Sherpa Tensing in reverse. Still. if this bad weather carries on until the end of June (so they’re telling us) I should be able to get at least one corner of the attic sorted out.

Here’s what I just brought down;

a suitcase full of memories, there’s some Biba in there

Yes, it was all folded nicely for storage some 30 or more years ago, but I just couldn’t resist diving in.

Isn’t the the suitcase fab ? Leather with a moiré interior.  But look, all the clasps are rusted. It would be nice to get it spruced up. I’d love to know if anyone has some tips on removing rust……….

Can’t dance,can’t sing and too wet to plough

crinkly hippie dress

It’s certainly far too cold to be casting any clouts just yet. Can you imagine, we had a hailstorm yesterday…frozen rain the size of peas pinging down all over the place and today was even worse, grey and thoroughly miserable. One of those days that gets under your skin… if you let it.  Easy to just do nothing but on the other hand, a good day to do some of those might -as-well  jobs, you know, the ones that get put off so often they never get done (the ones you’ve been saving for a rainy day!!!!).

I’d been meaning to go up into the attic for ages now. Lots of sorting out to do up there but that can wait, I had a specific purpose in mind . I must admit, I did get slightly side tracked  by a huge pile of  70s magazines but after a quick riffle I got on with searching for all the body parts I needed to put Flower back together again. The poor old girl has been languishing up there in bits for about 30 years and she was certainly pretty dusty but she’s scrubbed up nice. I’ve put her in a modern vintage hippie maxi dress by Creem to celebrate the end of her incarceration.

En mai, fais ce qu’il te plaît

Warm weather at long last!

The weathermen are predicting a hot and sunny day tomorrow. I’m not really one for sun and a beach holiday would send me crackers but the weather has been so ghastly that a clear blue sky would be such a mood booster.I am being cautiously optimistic though because  spring weather just can’t be relied upon. I guess that’s true for a lot of places.The French have a wise proverb;

En avril, ne te découvre pas d’un fil. En mai, fais ce qu’il te plaît. En juin, tu te vêtiras d’un rien

En mai, fais ce qu’il te plaît/do what pleases you in May

which roughly means

In April don’t dare shed a thread of clothing, do what you like in May, you’ll be wearing nothing in June.

But of course the French are further south than us Brits so they  get the good weather before us.

Here in Britain we’re probably better off sticking to our own proverb which tells us to ne’er cast a clout till May be out which sagely tells us to keep our vests on until June. Nevertheless, I’m having a sort through my summer vintage and deciding what to sell. I found this sweet 1970s vintage Monsoon sun dress with thin shoulder straps and a ruched and elasticated bandeau top. It’s in semi sheer chiffon with a blue, grey, black and red splodgy abstract print. It’s got those funny narrow ties at thigh level to pull in some of the fullness of the skirt(I don’t really see the point of them but they were a 70s design detail featuring on clothes that gave a nod to the hippie culture) and adjustable shoulder straps.

vintage 1970 Monsoon sundress

The glorious illustration at the top of this post is by Georges Léonnec. He did many fabulous and decadent Art Deco style covers for La Vie Parisienne as well as designs for adverts. I love his work.

Thank you

A great big thank you to masonbentleystyle.com for nominating me for a Versatile Blogger award. You can see that I didn’t waste anytime in sticking my plaque up on my side-bar.I feel very flattered to have been nominated…and especially by someone whose blog I really enjoy and admire.

pondering

It does come with responsibilities though and I in turn have to nominate my  pick of blogs. I will have a good old ponder .There are so many that I like, it will be hard to narrow them down but when I do, I will post.It’s a nice way of finding and sharing kindred spirits in the vast blogging world.

Another condition of accepting the VBA is that you are expected to share 7 facts about yourself. That’s a bit of a toughie but here are a few things off the top of my head

I love crystallised violets. They are so beautiful that it is almost a crime to eat them. But oh! that delicious sugary,violety crunch.

I understand and read French pretty well but I cannot speak it. I quite regret not having gone to live in Paris when I was younger, but I fully intend to go and live there, at least for a few months, when I am une femme d’un age certain.

I adore printed fabrics but won’t  wear them because I feel much more comfortable in plains

ruby goes floral, not
(image adapted from a 1950s Dick Sargent illustrated advert)

I go bonkers if things are not symmetrical (a picture which is even slightly askew on a wall will bug me til I’ve straightened it)

When I was a child my father used to call me Jezebel (after the Frankie Laine song…if ever a devil was born, without a pair of horns). Now this was in the days when children had sensible names. No Apples, Chardonnays or Sunday Roasts (oops, sorry Nicole K, I meant Sunday Rose). Although I was mortified then, I quite like the idea of being a Jezebel now. Mind you, outlandish names ( like tattoos) need bags of elan to pull off when you reach old age.

I’m going to have to do some more pondering on the remaining  3  2

Ska- rf

If you are anything like me you have a drawer stuffed full of all sorts of scarves which you dig into whenever an outfit looks a bit flat (or to fashion a head wrap on a particularly bad hair day). Mine are  were all in a jumble and I would yank them out by colour or pattern as and when needed. But the thing is, I’d just fling them on, knot them, twist them without ever really looking at them. With 8″ of snow outside (hello 4th day of spring!) I started to have a proper sort through that bird’s nest that was my scarf drawer. ironed and folded and really enjoyed looking at the amazing patterns and designs I had (re) discovered.

vintage black/white/coral head scarf with graphic print of hip guy

Here’s one that was right at the bottom I had totally forgotten. It’s a fabulous graphic print of a bluebeat(?)ska(?)mod(?) guy with a porkpie hat, chelsea boots, tiny ear-stud and can of drink sitting in a post modernist style chair set off by a black and white gingham background which tones with his houndstooth check jacket.There’s a zigzag strip of coral colour to contrast with the black and white and a panel of assorted black and white patterns in the top right corner.

Black and white check was kind of a ska statement;

one step beyond ad

Suggs of Madness

mod/ska graphic scarf

Wouldn’t this look great, framed and hung on the wall of a minimalist room?

It’s difficult to date but I know that I’ve had it since the late 70s and I probably bought it pre owned. It is polyester and “an exclusive design” made in Italy. If any one has any ideas I’d be glad to know. I’d also love to see any scarves of a similar design.

Celia the little match girl

Coincidentally another post about Celia Birtwell.

I was looking through a box of my old accessories which have been in storage for at least the last 25 years and found this match book tucked in the zip pocket of a handbag.

It is  gloriously  illustrated on the front by Celia Birtwell and complete with her printed signature across the bottom of the design. A little bit dog eared around the edges but there are 2 matches left!

Decorative & useful.

celia birtwell matchbook

celia birtwell match book open

Alice Pollock had a hugely successful but tiny boutique called Quorum in a house in Radnor Walk just off the the King’s Road . She was a designer herself but she had an amazing eye for spotting talent and she forged a partnership with Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell . The shop had a glittering clientele and  a laid back approach to business. You would go there never knowing if it would be open or closed on that particular day so eventually the business was bailed out of potential financial ruin by Alfred Radley.

This match book dates from the early 1970s when Ossie and Celia were designing for Quorum under the Radley umbrella.

Vintage spring flowers

The days are getting brighter and longer and tiny green shoots are popping up all over the garden. I am longing to pack away all my winter clothes but it just isn’t warm enough to go into spring just yet.

This vintage dress is just the thing for mid seasons. It has print and colour, yet it is made from a fine wool so warm enough to keep some of those early spring chills at at bay

Anne Tyrell for John Marks 1970 vintage dress

Anne Tyrell floral wool dress 1970

This is a  1970s vintage dress by Anne Tyrell for John Marks.Made from a very fine, light wool it has a glorious floral print in shades of ochre, wine, green and pink on a black background,
It has a small stand up collar and an oval bib front which is finely pin-tucked and has a small central tab at the base. Button fastening to the bust line.
Waist seam and a flat panel between the waist and hip level then softly pleated for a full skirt. Pull through tie belt at the waist.
Long sleeves softly pleated into cuffs fastening with 2 buttons.
Full back zip.

Biba vintage for men

You don’t get very much Biba menswear turning up on the vintage circle. This is a chocolate brown crepe de chine shirt with a beige dot pattern…although if you look closely it’s not actually a dot but a tiny diamond. It has a stiff rounded point collar and self fabric covered buttons.

1970 vintage Biba men’s shirt

Biba man’s shirt close up

The menswear department was located on the tiny mezzanine floor in Ken High Street and then occupied the 3rd floor across the road in “Big” Biba where it got a whole lot more space.

Looking back, I would say that the collections were very much modelled on Barbara’s husband Fitz. He was tall and broad shouldered with almost a military bearing and the clothes suited him extremely well. There was quite a lot of tailoring…long length jackets with small stand-up collars with matching trousers and smart shirts in luxe fabrics and quirky prints. Maybe a bit too far out for the 1970s business men who were more comfortable in their non descript Trevira-era suits. Of course the menswear floor had its own tshirt collection but most of the men (actually, boys) who shopped at Biba were waif-like skinny, long haired hippie types (the total opposite of Fitz’s Hollywood movie star physique). They would shuffle to the girl’s T shirt counter on the ground floor where the classic Biba long sleeve T with the drawstring at the cuffs and neckline possibly sold  even more to guys than girls. Every Ladbroke Grove groover and would be rock star  had one.

More Biba items on my Biba page.

Celia Birtwell for Uniqlo

Amazing news!

Celia Birtwell who designed the most incredibly beautiful and magical fabrics for the iconic designer Ossie Clark is  to produce a capsule collection of t-shirts, vests, shirts, jeggings, pyjama pants, tote bags and more for Uniqlo.

Priced from £9.90, the collection launches into stores on March 21

“Most of the prints featured in the collaboration are from my archive collection. Some are from the Seventies, like Candy Flower and Pretty Woman, but I’ve also added Cherry Spot and Romanian, which are much more recent prints. I think Romanian is one of my favourites.”

Celia Birtwell for Uniqlo 2013

Beautifully timed for spring and  in my mind, a little dig in Debenham’s direction for their ill thought out ‘revival’ of the Ossie Clark name. (Debenhams have recently launched a synthetic collection of clothes purporting to have been inspired by Ossie Clark……which  most definitely have not)