Deep Purple wearing clothes by Mr. Fish, 1968

Before Deep Purple established themselves as a hard rock band in early 1970's , they started off as one of the most promising psychedelic/progressive acts in Britain. Their 1968-1969 line-up with Nick Simper on bass and Rod Evans on vocals recorded two great heavy psych albums inspired by what bands like Vanilla Fudge or Iron Butterfly were doing around the same time. When they scored their first American number one hit with 'Hush', they invested in some new clobber at Mr. Fish's boutique.As Jon Lord (far right in the photo above) remembers:  That leather coat cost more than I'd earned in my entire life. It was all bought one mad afternoon at Mr. Fish. Working-class lads being dressed by a top designer, we weren't going to say no. We wanted to be a progressive band but we didn't know how. I remember thinking it was the most wonderful time, with total freedom (Uncut, Issue 163,December 2010, p 16).

 Here's some more photos of psych-era Deep Purple from 1968-1969..

From left: Rod Evans, Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Nick Simper, Ian Paice. (1968)

Rod Evans and Jon Lord wearing what looks like the same kaftan, 1968

Deep Purple, with Ritchie's and Jon's girlfriends, Dorchester Hotel, London, 1968

1968

Deep Purple Mk I doing a psych/prog version of Beatles' 'Help!' in 1968. I love that coat Ritchie Blackmore is wearing...

David Mlinaric in his Mr. Fish suit

Interior designer David Mlinaric (second from left) - Swinging London dandy and regular member of the Chelsea Set - wearing suit designed by Mr. Fish  in 1968. Also in the photo: aristocrat Julian Ormsby - Gore (far left), his sister Jane and their chauffeur driven Rolls. Mlinaric later donated the suit to Victoria & Albert Museum, where it's on display in a fashion collection.

Come In 2011, Your Time Is Up

From Draper's Record, January 1968.

Last post of this year should be devoted to the dominant subject of this blog so far - 1960's Peacock Revolution - a style in 1960's male fashion that marked a transition between a sharp elegance of Mod and colourful flamboyance of Hippy. So, here are some more photos of key designers, their amazing clothes, and their famous customers - the dandies of 1960's London.

Also I would like to thank all the readers and followers of this blog and wish you a happy new year!

Clockwise from left: Nigel Weymouth (designer behind Granny Takes a Trip), Rufus Dawson, Jess Down and Amanda Lear. 1968.

George Harrison wearing a jacket from Granny Takes a Trip, and Patti Boyd, 1967

Jimi Hendrix wearing a jacket from Granny Takes a Trip, 1967

John Crittle (right) - the designer and owner of Dandie Fashions, with his wife Andrea in 1967 (Photo by Philip  Townsend)

Brian Jones wearing a jacket from Dandie Fashions, 1967

Velvet suit from Blades (right) and Mr. Fish modelling his own design (left) in Vogue, January 1968. (Courtesy of Get some Vintage-A-Peel by Miss Peelpants )

James Fox wearing a shirt from Mr. Fish at the premiere of his film Duffy, 1968

Christopher Gibbs - 1960's Peacock Style Icon

Christopher Gibbs in 1966 wearing a jacket from Hung On You.

Antique dealer Christopher Gibbs was one of the central figures of the Chelsea Set in 1960's London. Known for his immaculate style, he was a sartorial influence on many menswear designers such as Mr. Fish, Rupert Lycett-Green (Blades) or Michael Rainey (Hung On You) and other of his famous friends such as Mick Jagger or Brian Jones.Gibbs was described by fashion historian Nik Cohn as one of the most avant-garde dressers in Britain - reportedly, he was the first man in London to wear flared trousers as a fashion statement (as early as 1961). Interviewed by fashion writer Paul Gorman , he talks about his life in 1960's Swinging London: I know it's a cliche to say, 'If you remember the 60's, you weren't there', but I definitely suffer from the blown-mind syndrome. The only thing I'll say in my favour is that I was practically the only person I knew who actually went to work at nine o'clock in the morning, whether I'd been up to eight o'clock or not, because I had a job, my own business, and I realised that, if I didn't, I wouldn't have any of those things (Paul Gorman, The Look - Adventures in Pop and Rock Fashion, p 77).

Christopher Gibbs in 1966

Gibbs came from an upper-class family. He was educated in Eton (although he got expelled) and at the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1958 onwards he was making numerous trips to Morocco, during which he accumulated a large collection of garments and antiques. Around the same time, in the late fifties, he started his antiques shop on Sloane Avenue in Chelsea. Being a shopkeeper, I used to sell things sometimes. Then I used to parade around in them - he says, before modestly admitting: Yes, maybe I did have an effect on a few people (Gorman, p 77).

By mid - 1960's, Christopher Gibbs had become a style leader, a Swinging London's Beau Brummell. At the time his regular hangout of fellow dandies included interior designer David Mlinaric, owner of Dandie Fashions Tara Browne, owner of Hung On You Michael Rainey (and his brother-in-law Julian Ormsby-Gore), and upper-class socialites Neil Winterbotham, Mark Palmer and Nicholas Gormanston.

The Dandies of Swinging London: Julian Ormsby-Gore (left), Christopher Gibbs (centre) and Nicholas Gormanston (right), 1965

You had to be monumentally narcissistic and have time on your hands, and just about enough money to do it (Gorman, p 77) - said Gibbs about being a dandy in 1960's. In those days he would often call one of his stylish friends, and spend as much as forty minutes discussing which ties should they wear for a night out. Forty minutes spent on a tie - not even Brummell could call that sloppiness - wrote Nik Cohn in Today There Are No Gentlemen.

Gibbs was the original 'Peacock'. He was a big influence not only on King's Road designers, but also on Rupert Lycett-Green of Blades and Mr. Fish. His position as a style guru was assured when he became an editor of shopping guide in Men In Vogue - first ever male edition of this famous fashion magazine. Men In Vogue was published quarterly between 1965 and 1970, and it coincided with 'Peacock revolution' in English male fashion.

Actor Edward Fox (brother of James Fox) on a cover of first issue of Men In Vogue published in November 1965.

Christopher Gibbs in the same issue of Men In Vogue. The double breasted jacket is from Blades.

In his impressively furnished home in Cheyne Walk, Gibbs absorbed his Montesquieu, Beau Brummell and Beaudelaire and determined to adapt their aesthetic sensibilities to contemporary style (Gorman, p 77). his home became 'a place to be' for anybody who was anybody in Swinging London.

Party at the home of Christopher Gibbs with fashion designer Mr. Fish (far left) and interior designer David Mlinaric (far right), 1966.

In 1966, Gibbs's Cheyne Walk home was used by director Michelangelo Antonioni as a set for a marijuana-smoking party scene in Blow-Up, where completely stoned model Veruschka tells David Hemmings  probably the most memorable line of the film:" I AM in Paris!". Avant-garde film director Kenneth Anger also used Gibbs's home to shoot some of a scenes of his infamous masterpiece Lucifer Rising there in 1971.

Gibbs was also a close friend of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg. In 1967 he took them to Morocco. The trip was a tremendous influence on all of them, especially Jones, who recorded an album with Moroccan musicians Masters of Joujouka, and introduced african elements to his already very flamboyant look.

  Brian Jones in 1967

 Sartorial influence of Morocco on The Rolling Stones, 1967

Christopher Gibbs was an important part of a group that sparkled off a Peacock Revolution. The group consisted of  upper class socialites, fashion designers and flamboyant pop stars.In a rapidly changing world of 1960's London, these young men, through the peacock style, re-invented the idea of dandyism, echoing the words of writer and poet Charles Beaudelaire who wrote in 1836: Dandyism appears especially in the transitory period when democracy is not yet all-powerful, and when aristocracy is only partially unsettled and depreciated. In the confusion of such periods, some few men who are out of their sphere, disgusted and unoccupied, but are all rich in natural force, may conceive the project of founding a new aristocracy.

    

Blades and Savile Row's reaction to 1960's Peacock Revolution

Rupert Lycett-Green

Tailoring establishment known as Blades was started in 1962 by three partners: Rupert Lycett-Green - a 22 year old ex-Etonian with aristocratic connections, Eric Joy - a cutter from Clerkenwell, and an accountant Charlie Hornby. They specialized in bespoke suits, but they were also selling ready-to-wear ones in their shop on Dover Street. Although as far as prices were concerned , they were at the same level as Savile Row (around £60 for a suit), their clothes were far more modern and innovative. The early success of Blades was a result of combining the novelty of clothes from Carnaby Street with the quality and fine tailoring than has been a trademark of Savile Row. The man responsible for this success was cutter Eric Joy. As Nik Cohn wrote: Before this, if you'd wanted to dress adventurously, you travelled to Carnaby Street and suffered agonies of bad fit and tightness. Now Joy would make you look just as wild and you'd be comfortable as well (Nik Cohn, Today There Are No Gentlemen, p 98). But it was the designer and owner, Rupert Lycett-Green who gave Blades the most publicity.

Rupert Lycett-Green, 1965.

Lycett-Green might have not been the first aristocrat who invested in tailoring, but he certainly was the first who was doing it so openly. His good looks and impeccable style also played important role in his success. Nik Cohn on Lycett-Green: Very tall and very skinny, he was married to John Betjeman's daughter and was charming, quick with a quote and well equipped with enemies. All in all, he was a columnist's dream (Cohn, p 98).

Despite all this Blades made made hardly any money during first few years of existence.In 1965 the shop was faced with an uncertain future when Charlie Hornby left, and was quickly followed by Eric Joy (who went to work for Mr. Fish before opening his own shop in Cork Street).Rupert Lycett-Green was faced with a dilemma.As he remembers: In 1965, I asked myself , am I going to start doing this properly or should I get out? - and I decided to carry on. So I moved to Savile Row and became a professional (Cohn, p 99). His new shop was situated at 8 Burlington Gardens, in Georgian townhouse that overlooked one end of Savile Row. The atmosphere in this discreet new location resembled more gentlemen's club rather than tailoring shop. This brave move was a form of a challenge. 'Hip' new tailors took on conservative 'old guard' of Savile Row. 

Lycett-Green in typical Blades suit during shop's early period.

In Burlington Gardens, Lycett-Green started putting more emphasis on himself as a progressive designer rather than on Blades as tailoring venture. Apart from suits, Blades was now also selling coats, shirts and various accessories. Keeping up with rapidly changing fashions , by 1967 Blades started offering 'bespoke hippie gear'. Nik Cohn described it as a period of utter disaster. He wrote: Not wishing to be left behind, Lycett-Green began feverishly to turn out fancy dress - kaftans  and fringes and Nehru suits, the full psychedelic production.  

Rupert Lycett-Green in a Blades suit that must have given old tailors of Savile Row heart attacks. The lady in the photo is Lycett-Green's wife, Candida. (1967)

Financially it worked. The press still loved him and his turnover rose to £200.000 a year. But clownishness was not truly his style, and he found himself continually outgimmicked and out-outraged by Mr. Fish, just around the corner. In the end, he gave up and reverted to what he did best, well-cut and unfussed suits, knocked down for £100 a time (Cohn, p 100). 

Although Lycett-Green returned to simplicity, he stayed innovative and in touch with latest male fashions. The combination of velvet suits with Liberty print shirts was one of his specialties.

Velvet suits from Blades, 1969.

On the left: Typical late-1960's suit from Blades - double breasted and with wide lapels.

Blades held first ever ready-to-wear men's fashion show in Savile Row in 1967. It was a great publicity stunt and it received a lot of press attention. It also caused the outrage of future Prime Minister Edward Heath who lived in Albany apartments adjoining Burlington Gardens and made a formal complaint about the noise.

By the late 1960's, Blades was more successful than any tailoring establishment fin Savile Row. There is nothing in all London as elegant and as wearable as the simple Blades suit -announced The Times in March 1969. In the same year Blades opened a branch in New York on Madison Avenue, right opposite the New York branch of uber-hip London boutique Annacat. Unlike Annacat though, which closed after few months, Blades remained opened for four years. 

As for Blades' attempt to challenge the old Savile Row, it was more than successful. Nik Cohn wrote: Savile Row, at first was unimpressed by Rupert Lycett-Green (...) For five years, the established firms sat back smug and waited for the upstarts to collapse, and for Carnaby Street to come to nothing, and for everything to return to pre-war sanity. By the time they saw it wasn't going to happen like that, most of their younger customers had left them (...) By 1970, if it hadn't been for the American tourist trade, Savile Row would have been a wreck (Cohn, p 101).    

About Lycett-Green, Nik Cohn wrote: His reputation varies. One view puts him very high indeed, possibly the best designer in England; another dismisses him altogether, giving all the credit to Joy and to the ideas of customers like Christopher Gibbs and Michael Rainey. For myself, I'd put him about halfway: a good shopkeeper and clever self-publicist, but with undue pretensions. What is certain, however is that Blades itself had mattered. (Cohn, p 100).

Lycett-Green remained in business much longer that any other innovative 1960's menswear designer. He sold Blades in 1980. Of his reasons he said: I sometimes think I was put out of business by people like Giorgio Armani. Not literally, of course. But while our clothes were well made and expensive, I just couldn't see how to diversify so as to compete effectively (...) I thought, if Armani is going to be the man of the future, where am I? The writing was on the wall. I thought, this is the moment to get out. Otherwise I am going to have a bespoke, slim suit, tailoring business and I will be sitting here for 20 years waiting for the business to come back. I was 41 and still young enough to do something else (Geoffrey Aquilina Ross, The Day Of The Peacock, p 102).

Today, Rupert Lycett-Green is a chairman of oil exploration and production company. He has his place in fashion history however, as the innovative 1960's menswear designer, and a man who, along with Michael Fish and Doug Hayward brought colour, originality and freshness into the British bespoke tailoring.

Blades suit from 1968 displayed in Victoria and Albert Museum.

   

  

Patrick Lichfield - 1960's Peacock Style Icon

Patrick Lichfield in 1969

Fashion photographer Patrick Lichfield was one of the most flamboyant dressers in 1960's Swinging London. His full name was Thomas Patrick John Anson, the 5th Earl of Lichfield. He was Queen's first-cousin-once-removed.  Born in 1939 , he inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960. Educated in Harrow and Sandhurst, after brief spell in Grenadier Guards, he decided to pursue his passion for photography in 1962. He chose the name 'Patrick Lichfield' - a combination of his christian name and his title - as his artistic pseudonym. He started his career as a photographer for Queen magazine shooting debutantes. Because of  his aristocratic background, he struggled for a long time to be taken seriously as a photographer, especially at the time when a lot of other leading fashion photographers - such as David Bailey, Terence Donovan or Brian Duffy - were from working class backgrounds. His first breakthrough came in 1965, when he was commissioned by Vogue magazine to take photos of Duke and Duchess of York - a reclusive couple who lived on exile in France. Lichfield's photos presented them as a relaxed, happy-looking couple. Diana Vreeland, an editor-in-chief of Vogue, was so happy with the results that she offered Lichfield a ten year contract.

Lichfield quickly became part of Swinging London's 'In-Crowd'. He was known for his distinctive, very flamboyant style. He was a close friend and a big fan of Michael Fish - during late 1960's he wore  clothes from Mr. Fish's boutique on almost daily basis. He also supported other young designers."Everybody who was anybody had an interest of some sort in a boutique - he wrote in his autobiography - "Mine was in Annacat in South Kensington, started by two of my old girlfriends, Maggie Keswick and Janet Lyle" (Patrick Lichfield, Not The Whole Truth, p 116). Lichfield's financial backing for Annacat - small boutique which opened in 1965 on 23 Pelham Street, certainly added to the prestige of the place. It was one of the few small boutiques which was featured regularly in Vogue. Janet Lyle's designs were characteristic for the use of vibrant, coulorful fabrics combined with lace trimming. Annacat doubled its first year's takings during its second (Richard Lester, Photographing Fashion: British Style in The Sixties, p 152) and in 1967 it moved to the new location on Brompton Road, and in 1968, it opened a branch in New York. Apart from the financial backing, Lichfield also had lent his name to the short - lived line of male clothing in Annacat.

Patrick Lichfield (right) with two designers whose work he supported - Janet Lyle of Annacat (left) and Michael Fish (centre) circa 1968.

But Annacat was not the only 'hip' investment of Patrick Lichfield. He also financed two successful West-End shows - "Hair" and "Oh, Calcutta!". The star of 'Hair', singer Marsha Hunt posed nude for Lichfield, providing him with probably the most memorable photograph he took in the 1960's.

His other  photographic work includes the wedding of Mick and Bianca Jagger in 1971, various portraits of Royal Family, and most famously, the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981.  

Patrick Lichfield modeling Mr. Fish's designs in 1971.

Patrick Lichfield died of stroke in November 2005. He contributed to the colorful world of 1960's fashion not only as a photographer but also as one of the most notorious wearers of the Peacock Style.

Swinging London's rich and famous portrayed by Patrick Lichfield.

Back row (from left to right): Susannah York, Peter S. Cook, Tom Courtenay, Twiggy.

Centre row (left to right): Joe Orton, Michael Fish

Front Row (left to right): Miranda Chiu, Lucy Fleming.

18.07.1967.

Jane Birkin by Patrick Lichfield, 19.09.1969

Cecil Beaton by Patrick Lichfield, October 1968

David Bailey by Patrick Lichfield , April 1969

Patrick Lichfield, 1965

Patrick Lichfield with Allegra Carracciolo in the Bahamas, 1968. 

Above and below: Lichfield with fellow photographer (and close friend) David Bailey and his girlfriend Penelope Tree circa 1968.

Mr. Fish

Michael Fish was born in 1940 in Essex. He started his career in fashion from working for a respectable fashion house - Collet's , in the mid-1950's. Quickly, he progressed to working first at New & Lingwood and then Turnbull and Asser - well known Jermyn Street shirtmakers who specialized in inventive, made-to-measure shirts. Michael Fish's arrival at Turnbull and Asser was a breath of a fresh air for the company. His highly imaginative and colourful designs helped the company to move with the times. Their first ready to wear shirts designed by Michael Fish were significantly different from their standard offerings. He changed the cut of a high collared shirt - he made the points larger and more widely spred and he introduced embroidery and ruffles. His designs for accesories were also revolutionary - his ties were wide and his pocket handkerchiefs were specially hand-blocked and printed.

Michael Fish and his customer at Turnbull and Asser, Sean Connery.

In 1966, after nine years at Turnbull and Asser, and a brief period at John Stephen's as an assistant designer, Michael Fish opened his own shop, Mr. Fish. His business partner was Barry Sainsbury - a wealthy young entrepreneur from upper middle class background , with good social connections. Their idea was to sell upmarket, fashionable clothes for the elite customers. The boutique was situated in 17 Clifford Street in Mayfair. The exclusivity of the shop was determined by high prices - usually around £35 for a jacket, £100 for a whole suit,  and anything between £8 and £20 for a shirt. The reason for such high prices lied in the generous use of expensive fabrics. The originality of  Mr. Fish's clothes was expressed in the slogan written on his shopping bags: "Peculiar to Mr. Fish". The shop was famous for its colored silk and cotton shirts, often ruffled, which fitted loosely around the body, rather than tightly (like typical shirt of , for example John Stephen). Another design typical for Mr. Fish was velvet jacket - it was usually double - breasted and elegantly draped. His famous paisley-patterned wide ties - also known as 'kipper ties', had become one of the symbols of 1960's male fashion. Mr. Fish was also one of the first designers to venture into gender-bending territory with his designs for dresses for men. The most memorable one is a white dress worn by Mick Jagger for The Rolling Stones free concert in Hyde Park on  5th July  1969.

A year later, David Bowie, on the cover of his album The Man Who Sold the World wore colourful velvet frock designed by Mr. Fish.

David Bowie wearing frock from Mr. Fish on the cover of Curious. 1970 

I tried to break down the frontiers for man - said Michael Fish in the interview for Nik Cohn. Do I care about the masses? Jesus Christ had only twelve disciples and one of them was doubting Thomas (Nik Cohn, Today There Are No Gentlemen, p 145). Whatever masses might have thought of Mr. Fish's clothes, he certanly became a sensation in fashion world. he was praised by journals such as Elle or Woman's Daily Wear. He did joint fashion shows with Mary Quant, Valentino and Annacat. His clothes were worn by fashion photograpers  such as David Bailey, Patrick Lichfield, Lord Snowdon (Tony Armstrong - Jones) and actors  Terence Stamp and James Fox.

Above and below: Patrick Lichfield modeling Mr.Fish's clothes circa 1971

James Fox on the set of Duffy wearing shirt and dice-motif suit by Mr. Fish. 1968.

It seemed like the clientele of Mr. Fish boutique consisted mostly of rich and famous or those aspiring to be rich or famous. Michael Fish himself tried to sound like he was unconcerened by it: A lot of top faces come to me  but I don't give names, that's not my bag. I could reel off the list that's unbelivable, pop stars and film stars almost anyone you could mention, but I despise all that. I loathe vulgarity. I think I have a certain humble kind of chic and chic is something rather special (Cohn, p 148). In the same interview, however, he states: I don't care about taste. I think taste is a word like love; it should be forgotten for fifty years, I don't even know what it means. Actually I think I'm very vulgar. Revolutionaries have to be (Cohn, p 145). Though it may seem that second quotation is much more honest expression of Mr. Fish's true politics, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle of those two statements. What he tried to do, one may argue, was to make flamboyancy chic. It was an attempt to challenge traditional notions of dandyism. Beau Brummell famously said that to be well dressed meant not to be noticed. It seems like Mr. Fish's reply would be: Not anymore. Not in the 1960's. The success of his shop and the elite list of his clientele gives him a power to say it and remain a credible authority in fashion.

Janet Lyle (Annacat) and Patrick Lichfield in a shirt from Mr. Fish. 1971.

Michael Fish in purple silk tunic jacket and poplin roll-neck, 1967 

Michael Fish and Barry Sainsbury. Photo shoot for Sunday Times, 15.10.1968 

It is important to say, however, that both, his success and his time as an authority in fashion did not last long. The withdrawal of Barry Sainsbury as a financial backer, the expiry of the lease of Clifford Street premises, the fore-mentioned use of expensive fabrics and Michael Fish's tendency to give generous credit to his famous clients had quickly caused him financial problems.  Nik Cohn in Today There are No Gentlemen (1971) sensed that Mr. Fish's star as a designer was fading. He expected him to go wholesale or strike a deal with chain stores. This did not happen. Barry Sainsbury's replacement as an investor - Captain Fred Barker, bewildered by financial losses decided to shut the shop down in the early 1970's. Michael Fish tried briefly to resurrect his business  - in 1974 he opened a new shop in Mount Street, this time with rock managers Robert Stigwood and David Shaw as investors. However 1974 was not 1966 - London was no longer a 'swinging' place it used to be, and the idea of the boutique ran in the laid back manner and selling expensive clothes to the elite clientele seemed out of place in the country struggling with recession. Michael Fish withdrew from fashion world altogether, and spent the rest of his days as the nightclub owner. The significance of his boutiques, however , should not be underestimated. Large collection of his designs in Victoria and Albert Museum is a proof that between 1966 and 1970, he was one of the most important fashion designers in Swinging London, and the inventor of the Peacock Style.

Suit from Mr. Fish from 1968. Donated to V&A by David Mlinaric.

Above and below:  Mr. Fish's suits in V&A Museum