Beauty Goes Out On A Decorative Limb - 1966

The beauty business is going out on a limb these days. Cosmetic firms, rushing to fill the empty spaces caused by the hike in skirt lengths, are providing products that dramatize and prettify legs. More challenging is the painting process, here a girl not only has to be handy with a brush but also limber enough to pull the leg up into working position-or run the risk of painting everything upside down.

For sometime now, adventurous girls have been decorating their legs all on their own, with rouge and eyebrow pencils. Such rudimentary approaches are replaced now by more sophisticated procedures. Basic to the new beauty in leg make-up, a base similar to that used on the face, which not only covers blemishes but can be shaded to create shapelier contours. From here on, things get giddier. Revlon sells a kit selling colours and brushes and also distributes sketches made by Joe Eula who designed the butterflies below. Max Factor suggests painting on an eye to match your own: Faberge promotes Western brand marks; Viviane Woodard proposes drawing a favourite hobby; and Estée Lauder likes to blaze a comet trail with iridescent beauty marks.

               Butterflies (above) are painted over make-up base . Base $5 and kit $6.50 are from Revlon.  

            Paste on decals (above) suggest a Betty Boop face. Decals cost $ 3 and $5 at Michel Kazan.

Well turned leg is entwined by Joe Eula's snake, a colourful companion to the silver dress by Betsey Johnson $35. The make-up base and paints don't rub off, are soap and water soluble, so it will all come out in the wash.




                                                            IMAGE CREDITS

All images and original text scanned by Sweet Jane from LIFE magazine May 1966. Photographs by Milton H. Greene.

Vintage Illustration: Milton Glaser 1971

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Image scanned by Sweet Jane from Gebrauchsgraphik International Advertising Art January 1/1971 B 3149 E.     Illustration by  Milton Glaser.  (Note: the scan didn't quite pick up the colour, in reality the lightest area is actually a metallic silver).

Plexus: Issue No.30 December 1969

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All images scanned by Sweet Jane from Plexus No.30 December 1969. Cover illustration by Bonneville, additional illustrations by Graham Rogers.

Gear Guide 1967... Who's Who in Carnaby Street & Kings Road etc.

To those of you who have gazed longingly at this cover in various 1960s fashion source books over the years or for anyone who eventually found a tattered copy of it listed on ebay (usually for sale at an exorbitant price) only to have it snatched away from your virtual grasp by another bidder seconds before the auction ended, you'll be happy to know that those days are well and truly over!  Gear Guide: a hip-pocket Guide to Britain's Swinging Fashion Scene originally published in May 1967 is currently back on the book shelves, lovingly restored to it's former glory and available at an extremely reasonable cost thanks to Old House Books who have recently republished it. The title accurately describes the contents - it is a concise guide to the most notable shops around at this point in time, quite similar in many respects to Millicent Bultitude's Get Dressed which was published a year earlier, as both books were a response to the burgeoning boutique scene which had emerged in London throughout the decade. However, while  'Get Dressed' covers an array of shops from various locations around the city, the Gear Guide narrows it down considerably, focusing the attention on Carnaby Street in Soho where the new fashion scene originated and also on the King's Road in Chelsea which by 1967 had become an equally strong contender in it's own right.

The book consists of 72 pages plus folded endpapers, and is interspersed throughout with some great illustrations, photographs and maps, there is also an informative introductory chapter which describes in detail how the boutique trend initially began and developed. It covers all of the John Stephen shops, as well as Gear Boutique, Bazaar, Donis, Dandie Fashions, I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet, Top Gear and Countdown, Just Men, Lady Jane, Granny Takes a Trip, Foale & Tuffin and Simon Shop etc plus one or two others that I wasn't previously aware of such as Hat Gear (Men and Girls) 12 Ganton Street. It also features 4.30 (Girls Boutique) run by Carol Derry located at 430 King's Road which apart from a brief mention in Get Dressed and The Young Meteors by Jonathan Aitken is still a fairly unfamiliar one to me, it sounds really interesting but seems to have been quite short lived as most of these boutiques were and the premises would soon become the location for Michael Rainey's Hung On You (1967-1969) and thereafter Tommy Roberts' Mr Freedom outlet (1969-1970). The closing chapters discuss the current fashion trends, noting that although the idea of 'functionalism' was quite strong with an emphasis on simplified mass produced designs in disposable materials, 'Revivalism' was equally prominent, it also looks towards possible future fashion trends. So, all in all, a very worthwhile acquisition and a unique insight into boutique culture from this period. The Gear Guide can be ordered directly from the publisher here.

I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet 15 Fouberts Place.

                                   * The original back cover of Gear Guide published in 1967.

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All images scanned by Sweet Jane from Gear Guide 1967 by David Johnson and Roger Dunkley, Drawings and design by Julia Stone, Photographs by Bob Baker, published by Old House *except for the original back cover of Gear Guide which was scanned from Boutique a 60s Cultural Phenomenon by Marnie Fogg.


                                                                         LINKS
                            Gear Guide 1967 is also available for sale online through Amazon here.
                   The entire catalogue of Old House Books can be found on the publishers website here.
                  Some of my previous post about the British Boutique scene, including information about  
                                          Get Dressed by Milicent Bultitude can be found here.

John Kloss - Geometric Pop Design 1966

Some really great examples of John Kloss's geometric pop art inspired designs, I've put this post together from two separate publications which featured his work, as it was evident that both photographs originated from the same photo shoot by Henry Grossman. They were taken in the designer's apartment in May 1966, the canvas in the background is by pop artist Robert Indiana, a friend of Kloss's who, like so many other creative types was also a resident at the Coenties Slip building in Lower Manhattan at the time. Kloss had originally studied architecture in his native city of Detroit before moving to New York, he then turned his attention towards fashion design. After graduating from the Traphagen School of Fashion he moved to Paris where he apprenticed with couturier Bob Bugnand (1957-58) and also with Serge Matta. In 1959 he declined an offer to work with the long established firm of Nina Ricci, opting instead to design with Lisa Fonssagrieves, former top fashion model and wife of the photographer Irving Penn, who had launched her own design label a couple of years earlier. He eventually established his own successful business in the early 1960s, the influence of the pop art movement from this period abounded in his work to great effect, so much so, that when Yves Saint Laurent launched his Mondrian inspired collection in 1965, the New York Times claimed that Kloss had achieved the same result two years previously. Kloss also specialized in lingerie design for which he received two Coty American Fashion Critics Awards in 1971 and 1974. 

Behold the latest in underwear, all stylish and pretty with outer-wear flair. This new lingerie is the work of designers in the ready-to-wear field who are no longer content to stick to what shows. Nor are their effects intended necessarily to be worn only under their own designs but rather to be a stylish extension of their personal point of view. Shown here with a Robert Indiana painting are designer John Kloss's off-beat Romper-slip (Cira $16) and equally geometric dress ($135).

                                             John Kloss dress ($135) and matching lingerie.

                                                             IMAGE CREDITS

Images and original text scanned by Sweet Jane from Radical Rags Fashions Of The Sixties by Joel Lobenthal and LIFE Magazine may 6th 1966. Photographs by Henry Grossman. Models Ulla Bomser and Colleen Corby.


                                                                       LINKS

A John Kloss dress worn by fashion journalist Marit Allen which was featured in British Vogue  May 1966 can be found in the V&A collection here.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art also have a wonderful selection of his work from this period in their archive which can be found here.
A biography of the artist Robert Indiana and a catalogue of his work can be found here.

Dandy Fashion: The Man Who Always Peaked Too Soon - Illustrated by Tom Wolfe 1976

                                                              

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All images scanned by Sweet Jane from Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine by Tom Wolfe 1976. All Illustrations by the author.

Frisco and Lorenzo Wong and Wildman Michael Chow by Peter Blake 1968

Peter Blake's portrait of restaurateur Michael Chow, which was commissioned for the interior of Mr Chow's, the Knightsbridge restaurant that celebrated London's melting pot of internationalism in the '60s. Chow is depicted sitting between two wrestlers, namely Frisco and Lorenzo Wong, which was a play on the fact that the restaurant's concept was to introduce authentic Beijing cuisine to the British public by combining it with elegant european style service - therefore, the food was cooked by Chinese chefs and served by Italian waiters with a menu that the British could understand, in an extremely chic environment. The combination of  these elements has continued to contribute to the establishment's success since it first opened it's doors on St. Valentines Day 1968. It instantly became a mecca for celebrity diners, such as  The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Federico Fellini and Jeanne Moreau. The walls were decorated not only by Blake's portrait of the owner but also by the original works of many more notable artists including David Hockney, Allen Jones and Jim Dine etc, several of which were initially paid for with an ample amount of meals at the premises, definitely an offer that any starving artist couldn't refuse! In the true spirit of entrepreneurialism, Michael Chow recognised exactly the right moment to expand the business, so the essence of Mr Chow's success in swinging London, eventually transported another version of itself to the next hotspot on the planet, which in 1974 was Beverly Hills, and along with it came a new host of celebrity diners such as Ingrid Bergman and Ava Gardner. In 1979 the business expanded yet again, this time to Midtown New York, once more the establishment was frequented by well known local artists and musicians, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Mapplethorpe were regulars, it was also the place in which John Lennon was to have his last meal before the fateful events which transpired later that evening in december of 1980. And in the future, the launch of  three more Mr Chow restaurants in equally prime locations would follow suit.

Michael Chow on his wedding day with his new bride Grace Coddington - Grace is wearing an apple green devore silk velvet dress, appliqued with wild rose, scalloped below the knee with a daisy chain belt of brown and cream suede around the hips - designed by Laura Jamieson of The Sweet Shop,  29 Blantyre Street, Chelsea S.W. 10 (1969).





Michael Chow however, is much more than a restaurateur, he is a man of many achievements and also quite the dandy. Born in Shanghai in 1939, the son of extremely talented, wealthy parents, his mother an heiress who's family had made their fortune as tea merchants and his father Zhou Xinfang, was the country's most famous actor of his generation and a leading figure at the Peking Opera.  He was sent to Britain to be educated at the tender age of 13, where he was immediately dispatched to Wenlock Edge boarding school in Shropshire. After an understandably difficult transitional period, he eventually found his way, quickly realising that aesthetics could play an important part in shaping his future and how he wanted to be perceived. And so, he developed a unique, slightly eccentric but very stylish look which he felt helped him to bridge the cultural divide while still remaining intrinsically faithful to his Chinese heritage. Upon leaving Wenlock Edge, he enrolled as a student at St Martins School of Art, immersing himself in London's Nightlife in his free time. Chow also went on to study architecture, which he  put to good use down the line when designing his various restaurants, he spent a period of time working for the Robert Fraser Art Gallery, and  later opened a hair salon 'Smith and Hawes' in Sloane Avenue with his business partner Robin Sutherland which they subsequently sold to Leonard of Grosvenor Square, it then became known as 'Leonard and Twiggy'. Amidst all of this, he also managed to find the time to fall in love and marry on more than one occasion, became a renowned art collector and to date, following in his father's footsteps, has also appeared in approximately 18 films, some of the best known from this period are actually on my personal favourites list:  Modesty Blaise (1966) - Weng; You Only Live Twice (1967) - Spectre #4 alongside his sister Bond Girl actress Tsai Chin;  The Touchables (1968) - Denzil; and Joanna (1968) - Lefty.  Sadly, Michael was never again to see his parents or his brothers who had remained in China during the cultural revolution, with tragic results. But it is obvious that his life and his career are a testament and celebration of all that was magnificent about them and his country of origin.




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Image scanned by Sweet Jane from Radical Rags - Fashions Of The Sixties by Joel Lobenthal, Original  Artwork by Peter Blake courtesy of the private collection of Michael Chow. Photograph of Grace Coddington and Michael Chow scanned from Grace - A memoir, by Grace Coddington. Photograph by Barry Lategan 1969.



                                                                     LINKS

                                   The Official Website of Zhou Xinfang can be found here.
                        One of my previous posts about the artist Peter Blake can be found here.
     Further information about Michael Chow's sister, the actress known as Tsai Chin can be found here.
MR CHOW - London, Beverly Hills, NYC 57th Street, NYC Tribeca, Miami, Malibu can be found here.     Epicentre of Creativity - World's End Chelsea S.W 10 in the 1960s - a tribute page dedicated to this area, created by Laura Jamieson of The Sweet Shop 28 Blantyre Street can be found here.