"Did you ever dream about a place you never really recall being to before? A place that maybe only exists in your imagination? Some place far away, half remembered when you wake up. When you were there, though, you knew the language. You knew your way around. That was the sixties....
No. It wasn't that either. It was just '66 and early '67. That's all there was....."
The BBC documentary about British Summer Of Love emerged recently on YouTube. I vaguely recall seeing it on television when it was originally broadcasted in 2007. This hour-long program is devoted to music, fashion and youth culture in late 1960's Britain. Among talking heads there are Bill Wyman, Donovan, Tony Blackburn, Mary Quant, Barbara Hulanicki, Nigel Weymouth and many more.
Most of the important events that took place in London in 1967 are discussed here (although not in much depth) - there are bits on UFO scene and the birth of counter culture, Redlands bust and following trial of Jagger and Richards, Sgt Pepper, Chelsea boutiques, the rise and fall of pirate radio stations (and the birth of Radio 1) and many more.
Admittedly, the program is packed with various cliches, and it seems to completely ignore the fact that most of the 'phenomena' discussed in it were already going on long before the year 1967 - like Mary Quant's miniskirt or Vidal Sassoon's Five Point Cut. Still, there are enough colourful and lively clips here to keep you entertained for an hour, and the interviewees, if they are not particularly informative, at least try to be funny (apart from Donovan, who neither informative, nor funny). For those who do not know much about 1960's Swinging London, it is a good introduction to the subject.
Some time ago I bought this book (from 1979) about the art of Michael English, titled 3D Eye. It is the collection of posters, prints and paintings of Michael English from the period 1966-1979. Large part of the book is devoted to the years 1966-1968, when English was a part of a design collective Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, which specialised in making psychedelic posters for London's counter-cultural underground.
Michael English was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire in 1940. After quitting his first job at the BBC animation studios (reason: boredom), he enrolled at the Ealing College of Art. After completing his course in 1962, he went on to work in an advertising agency. Then, in 1965, he met Tom Salter, owner of Gear boutique. English started designing various items for Gear: screen-printed carrier bags with slogans like 'Sex' or 'Kiss Me', sunglasses covered with Union Jacks (possibly the first appropriation of it as a Pop Art aesthetic) and T-shirts with a slogan 'Jesus Saves' printed in 3-D. His work got him a lot of attention, especially from various figures from bourgeoing psychedelic underground scene, like John 'Hoppy' Hopkins, who would soon comission English to design the poster for 'Love Fesival'.
Around that time, Michael English painted facades for 'hip' new boutiques - Granny Takes A Trip (below, left) and first Hung On You on Cale Street.
One of the owners of Granny's - Nigel Waymouth (also a graphic designer) became good friends with English, and soon the two started design group Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, who would go on to design some of the most memorable posters of British psychedelic movement.
This is how English remembers his time as he member of Hapshash: Before the posters I was involved in my own kind of Pop Art. Done on my own, the first two paintings were mainly a development of that, but 'Love Festival' was greatly influenced by the work of two artists: Man Ray's painting of lips in the sky - I forget the title - and the lips of women in the work of American Pop artist Tom Wesselman (...).At the same time I was fascinated by the sinuous yet romantic shapes found in Mucha's posters and the work of Beardsley and Rackham. Meeting Nigel brought this to life; I responded to his romanticism. All the Underground posters are packed with secret signs, prehistoric forms and flying saucers.We believed and adopted anything that contradicted the rational world: our science was rooted in alchemy and black magic. Sexuality too was a strong force and there is a lot of happening in the posters. Dragons and pubic hair! (Michael English, 3D Eye, Paper Tiger, Limpsfield, 1979 , p 12).
Poster for 'My White Bicycle' - single by Tomorrow, 1967
Poster for The Jimi Hendrix Experience gig at Fllmore Auditorum, 1967
Love Me - poster by Hapshash and Coloured Coat, 1967
Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, The Soft Machine and Liverpool Love Festival at UFO, 1967
Pink Floyd at UFO, 1967
Julie Felix in Royal Albert Hall, 1967
Poster for Crazy World Of Arthur Brown gig, 1967
Save Earth Now - poster by Hapshash and The Coloured Coat, 1967
Poster advertising 'I Can See For Miles' by The Who
Michael English: Nigel Waymouth worked with me on each poster. Nigel would do a bit and i would add to his work and he to mine until the poster was complete. The posters were silk-screened. the artwork for each colour was transferred to its own individual screen and the elements of the image were married together in the actual process of printing. We developed our own technique of putting two or three colours onto the screen, merging them together as the squeegee was pulled across. that was our most successful innovation. We used metallic and fluorescent inks - day glo! (English, p 12).
Poster for Incredible String Band tour, 1967
Poster for 5th Dimension club in Leicester, 1967
Poster for Middle Earth club in Covent Garden, 1967
Poster for International Pop Fesival in Rome, 1968
Artwork for Albion magazine, 1968
Poster for Granny Takes A Trip boutique, 1967
Welcome Cosmic Visions, poster by Hapshash and the Coloured Coat from 1968
Posters designed by English and Weymouth for OZ magazine, 1968
Michael English: After Hapshash and the Coloured Coat produced a record (featuring The Heavy Metal Kids) on not a black but a red semi-transparent disc, Nigel remained infatuated with music at the expense of graphics, and the Hapshash partnership died (English, p 12).
Hapshash and The Coloured Coat featuring The Human Lost and The Heavy Metal Kids. Album cover, 1968
Michael English photographed by David Bailey in 1978.
All the images and quotations taken from "3D Eye" by Michael English (1979)
(I love finding people's names in second hand books. There's something thrilling in the fact that somebody was flicking through the same pages years before I was even born...)
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
A boutique called Granny Takes a Trip had opened its doors in December 1965 at 488 King's Road - an area known as World's End. The entrepreneurs behind the boutique were graphic designer Nigel Weymouth and his girlfriend Sheila Cohen - part time actress and fanatical collector of vintage clothing. Her collection constituted a large part of early stock at Granny's - mostly second hand Victoriana and oriental garments. It was a true mish-mash of influences - garments had to be either colorful or unusual or both. The name of the boutique was giving away its policy - 'Granny' symbolized the influence of the past, and 'Trip' , a colourful world of bougeoing hippie movement and its drug of choice - LSD. The third important person behind the boutique was John Pearse - an ex- mod and former apprentice tailor at Hawes & Curtis on Savile Row. He was using his tailoring skills to adapt vintage garments to the contemporary trends. When he reminisces about early days of Granny's and his influences, he says: "We were dealing in vintage clothes. What appealed to us was Aubrey Beardsley and the Victorians, 'Against Nature' by Huysmans. So we were all doomed Romantics at the time. Not new Romantics, Doomed Romantics. So that was the influence - art Nouveau" (Max Decharne.King's Road, p.182). He indicates the Beardsley exhibition that took place in Victoria and Albert Museum in the summer of 1966 as a source of inspiration. The ever changing facade of the shop was also expressing its eclectic influences. The author of mural paintings was Michael English - graphic designer involved with a company called Hapshash and The Coloured coat. In 1966 shop front portrayed big painting of Chief Running Bear - a nod to Native American culture favored by the hippies. Year later it was changed into an Art Nouveau-style painting of 1920's Hollywood star Jean Harlow.
1967
In 1968 the whole shopfront was painted yellow and decorated with a front half of 1947 Dodge Automatic.
1968
1969
The interiors of the shop were painted purple and decorated with Aubrey Beardsley's erotic prints. The was a heavy scent of incense in the air. The overall effect was supposed to be intimidating for customers who were not a part of an 'In' crowd. And so were the prices. The high prices at Granny's were determined by the use of expensive fabrics. Weymouth and Pearse were buying Liberty fabrics at retail prices and they were using the same outworkers as Savile Row tailors. As a result, shirts from Granny's were prized at anything between 4 to 10 guineas. A floral jacket inspired by William Morris designs would set a buyer back an extortionate 15 guineas. Skinny trousers made out of velvet or satin ("They were sort of more foppish alternative to levi's" - John Pearse(Decharne, 182)) would cost 6 guineas, and satin ties were priced at £1.10. However, the quality of the clothes was very good and John Pearse was putting a lot of emphasis on fine tailoring. Velvet suits were tightly-fitting with tight buttoning. Double - breasted jackets were tailored in floral-printed fabrics. One of the sales assistants, Johnny Moke remembers: "We used to cut up blouses and dresses and turn them into shirts or tops for men. What was great about Granny's was that there were no boundaries. Anything went and they kept on changing"(Paul Gorman. The Look - Adventures in Rock and Pop Fashion, p 78).The effect of Granny's clothes was foppish, flamboyant and decadent - a 1960's reinvention on fin-de siecle dandyism.
Probably the most iconic garment made by Granny Takes a Trip - William Morris chrysantenum print jacket as worn by John Lennon...
Dennis Hopper..
Dick Taylor from The Pretty Things (1967)..
..and Roy Wood from The Move (1967)
Jess Down, Rufus Potts Dawson, Nigel Weymouth (wearing William Morris chrysantemum pattern jacket) and future disco queen Amanda Lear, 1967
George Harrison wearing William Morris Golden Lily pattern jacket from GTAT, May 1968
Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon, 1967
Mitch Mitchell from The Jimi Hendrix Experience wearing William Morris pattern jacket, 1967
Noel Redding wearing Granny Takes a Trip Liberty print jacket, 1967
Granny Takes a Trip jacket from 1967. It is made of William Morris 'bachelor's button' pattern, which was first produced by Morris & Co. in 1892.
Granny Takes a Trip quickly developed elite clientele. Nigel Weymouth says: " The first people to sniff us out were the mixture of Chelsea gays and debutantes(...) Then pop stars started quickly coming after them. We had all these personalities coming through, and groups like the Animals would have their photos taken outside".
The Animals outside Granny Takes a Trip, 1967
Julie Driscoll outside Granny Takes a Trip, 1967
Short promotional film for a single "Granny Takes a Trip" by The Purple Gang from 1967. The song title was supposed be an ad for a boutique.
Promotional poster for the single by Michael English (1967)
The Purple Gang outside Granny's , 1967
Ad from 1967
Ad from 1969
John Pearse also points out that: "We were the first bisexual shop, if you like - We had woman's clothes big time, frocks and blouses, and there was no hard sale because everyone knew everyone else"(Gorman, p 76). One of the female clients of Granny Takes a Trip, actress and model Anita Pallenberg remembers: "If I wore mini-skirts, I'd have them made by Granny's. We'd try on clothes and have a joint in the back. Granny's was very small, just two rooms, so everyone knew each other" (Mojo Classic, vol.2, issue 4, 2007, p59).
Plan of the interior of Granny's in London Magazine, October 1966.
Actress Linda Thorson in Granny Takes a Trip, 1967
This is how another famous customer - Salman Rushdie, remembers interior of Granny's: The air was very heavy with incense and patchouli oil and also the aromas of what the police called Certain Substances. Psychedelic music, big on feedback, terrorised your eardrums. After a time you became aware of a low purple glow, in which you could make out a few motionless shapes. These probably were clothes, probably for sale. You didn't like to ask. Granny's was a pretty scary place (Gorman, 79).
Jacket from Granny Takes a Trip in a collection of Metropolitan Museum in New York
Jackets from Freddie Hornick-era Granny - early 1970's ( via Freakshow)
Velvet 'Western' jacket from Granny takes a Trip
Customer being fitted for red and black velvet 'western' jacket at Granny's, circa 1971
Velvet 'panel' jacket from Granny Takes a Trip, around 1971
Green velvet jacket with worn by Keith Richards, from around 1971
Dress from Granny's from around 1967 as worn by Jane Asher
Poster by Nigel Weymouth advertising Granny Takes a Trip, circa 1967
Article about council - ordered removal of famous half-Dodge, 1969
The relaxed atmosphere was one of the attractions of Granny's. Anybody who was rich enough to shop there - young upper middle class men, young aristocrats and pop stars (Such as The Rolling Stones who wore clothes from Granny Takes a Trip on the cover of their 1967 album Between The Buttons, or The Beatles who wore Granny's shirts in the photo on the inner sleeve of Revolver ) enjoyed buying fancy clothes in the casual atmosphere of the boutique which epitomized Swinging London as a fashion epicentre in the 1960's. Granny's initiall success, however started losing its momentum by 1969.When Granny started selling Afghan coats, there was a row between Pearse and Weymouth over the priorities of their business establishment. Pearse did not like the increasingly hippy image of the shop: "My partners went more in that direction, but I was considered to be more urban creature(...) I never wore jeans (...) I was always more streamlined in my appearance. We may have been construed as being in the centre of hippydom, but we weren't; what we did had a subtle difference"(Gorman,p 80). Weymouth's involvement with Hapshash and the Colored Coat as a designer caused his gradual withdrawal from shop's affairs. Weymouth, Pearse and Cohen ended up selling the shop to manager Freddie Hornick (who previously co-managed Dandie Fashions boutique with Alan Holston) in 1969.
Press profile of Freddie Hornick
Hornick's arrival provided much needed shot of fresh energy and ideas. He brought in two American managers - Gene Krell and Marty Breslau. Krell had a tailoring experience, and Breslau took care of a business side. Under their directorship, rejuvenated Granny Takes a Trip has become a mecca for rock stars - by early 1970's clientele of Granny Takes a Trip included Paul McCartney, Gram Parsons, Robert Plant, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, David Bowie, Marc Bolan and Rod Stewart. And that's just for starters...
Glam Rock-style jacket from Granny Takes A Trip (via Freakshow)
Gold and black lurex suit made for Marc Bolan (now in V&A collection), 1971
The Faces on TOTP in 1971, Rod Stewart is wearing a Granny takes a Trip jacket
Rod Stewart wearing leopard print suit from Granny Takes a Trip, 1972
Roger Taylor from Queen wearing velvet western jacket from Granny Takes a Trip circa 1973
Velvet trousers from Granny Takes a Trip worn by Keith Richards around 1971
Jacket from Granny Takes a Trip. Model unknown (or is it Steve Peregrine Took?) .
Granny Takes a Trip in early 1970's
Boots from Granny Takes a Trip, early 1970's
Keith Richards wearing snakeskin boots from Granny Takes a Trip, 1969
Hornick opened highly successful branches of the boutique in New York and Los
Angeles.
Granny Takes a Trip on Doheny Drive in Los Angeles, which opened in 1972
Granny Takes a Trip after the move to Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles circa 1974
Paul Raymond outside LA branch of GTAT, circa 1973
Granny Takes a Trip and its American branches enjoyed great success and continued to cater to the young and hip until late 1970's.
Granny Takes a Trip became a legendary boutique that defined King's Road of the 60's.Original garments from Granny's - especially from Pearse-Cohen-Weymouth era, are highly sought vintage items which often reach prices of thousands of pounds.
Royal Mail stamp from 2012, commemorating contribution to British fashion by designers from Granny Takes a Trip.
As far as the original founders of Granny's are concerned, two of them are still around. Weymouth is a graphic artist living in Los Angeles. John Pearse had left tailoring in the 1970's but came back to it in the mid-1980's. He opened his own shop in Soho, and today is one of the most successful London tailors. One of his most famous clients (as well as his Meard Street neighbour) was (recently deceased) artist, writer and dandy Sebastian Horsley
Sheila Cohen has not been in touch with her former partners for years and her whereabouts are unknown.
Photos used here come from personal collection of Roger Klein (former employee and manager of LA branch of Granny's) who shared them via Granny Takes a Trip Facebook fan page.
