"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....."
It is not often you find yourself in such a close presence of your hero(ine), so we are still shaking from excitement. Yesterday evening, 77 - year old Mary Quant made a rare public appearance, giving an hour-long talk at the lecture theatre of Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The main subject of the talk, was of course, her career as a fashion designer in the 1960's. She is currently promoting her recently published autobiography.
Although the book is titled Autobiography it is not a traditional autobiography (some might remember that Mary Quant had already written one - Quant by Quant published in 1966). Indeed, one has an impression that more appropriate title of the book would be "World according to Mary Quant". It is a collection of thoughts and reflections on such diverse subjects as Dogs, Food in France or Position of Women,dominant subjects, of course, being fashion and 1960's. Each chapter is two, three pages long, and each usually contains a humorous anecdote. It is a warm, witty and very interesting account of a career of the most important fashion designer of 1960's.
After the talk, Mary Quant was signing copies of Autobiography. My girlfriend and I were thrilled when she agreed for us to have our photo taken with her. And our signed copy is gonna be one of our most cherished possessions.
Recently, I have been contacted via e-mail by Laura Jamieson - a designer, who in late 1960's ran a boutique in Chelsea called The Sweet Shop. Ms Jamieson shared with me some of her memories from her time as the owner of The Sweet Shop as well as the photos of the amazing clothes she designed worn by top models and pop stars of 1960's London. I am sure that the readers of this blog will find this 'mini - memoir' very interesting:
" I left Chelsea School of Art in 1965 then did a post graduate at Horsey College of Art for year. I started my own collection of knitwear selling to boutiques in the Kings Road and to Alice Pollock and Ossie Clark's Quorum in Radnor Walk. I then rented a building in Blantyre Street from the council at £7 per week, a shop with rooms above and opened The Sweet Shop in 1967. Trevor Miles did some of the designs and I also produced my own designs using outworkers and turning the basement into a workroom. Trevor Miles left to work with Tommy Roberts and they opened Mr. Freedom in the King's Road. Then Willy Daly came on board as production manager - he was working with Ossie Clark until he joined The Sweet Shop. The medieval theme just evolved and I think we were original in using silk velvets, patchwork with appliques of Iconic medieval and space age themes. Dresses sold for £35 and men's velvet tunics £25. Floor cushions £60 Wall hangings £200. The outside of the shop was boarded and painted white initially and, as we were off the beaten track, it was only fashion and style insiders who knew about us, though the shop eventually got loads of publicity in Daily Press and Vogue.
Interior of The Sweet Shop in Vogue Magazine
Some of the press articles about The Sweet Shop from 1967-1969
In fact, I did Grace Coddington's wedding dress when she married Michael Chow - her first husband. Fashion historians and academics have not heard of The Sweet Shop as it was quite ethereal only known to the in-crowd and did not have visibility such as Granny Takes A Trip on the King's Road. Eventually the shop front was painted with strange little running men by Martin Sharp who is now an artist of renown in Australia he worked for OZ magazine and shared a studio flat with Eric Clapton at the Peasantry in the King's Road.
Once inside the shop there were huge floor cushions, wall hangings, and clothes hung from the ceilings and adorned the walls more like an art installation. It was a social hub and friends and customers mingled, they sat on velvet floor cushions drinking jasmine tea while listening to sounds of Bob Dylan playing on an old record player hidden behind Victorian screen and the scent of incense filled the room. It was all very atmospheric and exotic and fun unlike the corporates fringing the King's Road today. Here Julie Christie, Twiggy and Justin, Jean Shrimpton, Lionel Bart, Syd Barrett, Jefferson Airplane, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Keith Richards et al and, local aristocrats and hippies mingled.
Twiggy wearing medieval-style dress from The Sweet Shop
Jean Shrimpton wearing dress from The Sweet Shop, with Laura Jamieson (right), circa 1968.
Mick Taylor wearing a shirt from The Sweet Shop
A Sweet Shop opened in New York at East 53 rd Street in 1969. In 1970 we had to move out of Blantyre Street because the council wanted to redeveloped the area: little Victorian houses and shop gave way to The High rise Worlds End Estate and unfortunately we had to get serious backing because of the new high rent when the shop was relocated to Sydney Street. In 1971 the backers went bust so The Sweet Shop had to close. I think in a way it was the end of an era which gave way to punk and the three day week. The social hippy revolution "make love not war", flower power and "the summer of love" got commercialized by vested interests into Swinging London and by then even bank clerks were growing their hair long. The Sweet Shop was very much part of a creative force at that time where Chelsea aristocrats, film stars, models, photographers mingled in one movement which set London as the power house of creativity that spread into every aspect of design it was a time a freedom and innovation which we do not see today, because everything now has a price and very little value.
Above: Appliqued tunic in silk velvet. Below: Some of medieval-style dresses designed by Laura Jamieson for The Sweet Shop from around 1968 - 1969.
I went on to do collections for Rome, designs for "Hair" in Paris. Then film with Kenneth Anger, "Lucifer Rising" where I had a free reign. We did some of the filming at the country house of style doyenne Christopher Gibbs and starring Marianne Faithful and Keith Richards. Kenneth had a very stylish flat in Mayfair filled with Egyptology and occult accessories. He was, as far as I knew him, very into Alistair Crowley but he was very nice and not at all menacing.
Lucifer Rising - Kenneth Anger's infamous art-house masterpiece and his tribute to Alistair Crowley. Shot in 1971 , but released in 1980. Costumes by Laura Jamieson.
In 1995 I opened a shop featuring my own label in the Fulham Road selling ball gowns, Ascot wear and wedding dresses to the local establishment. Then after 7 years I moved to a bigger shop in the Fulham road and opened The Chelsea Collections which promoted new designers, sold in 2001. I then concentrated on painting, writing and consultancy work, and have just launched The Sweet Shop Online ". (Laura Jamieson, 2012)
Ms Jamieson had also started facebook page devoted to King's Road in the 1960's where you can find a lot of interesting information and photos from 1960's London. I recommend it to all of you who, unlike myself, are facebook users.
Following my recent post about Tara Browne, I am posting this newly uploaded film about Tara Browne - a French documentary from 1966. A fascinating insight into a life of a socialite in 1960's Swinging London - we get a rare glimpse of clothes , music, cars and girls....and of course, Tara.
Two members of British Psychedelic band John's Children are modeling kaftans designed by John Stephen in 1967. The band was mostly remembered for their 1968 song "Desdemona" (which was banned by the BBC for containing the line "Lift up your skirt and fly") as well as the fact that their line-up at one time included Marc Bolan.
Mark often summed up his youth by bragging that had always been a star, 'even if it was only being the star of three streets in Hackney'. To the few close friends in Stoke Newington who shared his hopes, he probably was - wrote Marc Bolan's biographer , Mark Payntress.Before T.Rex, before Tyrannosaurus Rex, before John's Children, even before his brief stint as Toby Tyler, Marc Bolan - then known under his real name, Mark Feld - was an 'ace face' in a Mod community of Stamford Hill, North London. Since the age of twelve, young Mark had been obsessed with clothes and he'd stop at nothing to get hold of the latest fashions: I was quite a villain (...) although I never hurt anybody. It came about because I was really into clothes, I mean obsessionally into clothes. I was about twelve and I'd steal or hustle motorbikes to pay for them. Clothes were all that mattered to me (Mark Payntress, Marc Bolan in The Sharper World - A Mod Anthology , ed. Paolo Hewitt, p 43). Diminutive Mark often used services of Bilgorri - a tailor popular among East End gangsters - to have his suits adjusted to his small stature. One of Mark's friends from that time remembers his visit to local meeting place in Clapton: He came in with his crowd from Stamford Hill Jewish youth club, who were rivals of ours, and I hadn't seen him for a while. The change was unbelievable. He was very slim, obviously taller, and was dressed from head to toe in his Modernist clothes : bumfreezer jacket, button down shirt, all the gear. He was obviously the leader of this gang and he came in and took the place over. We all thought, "Who does he think he is?", he was so sure of himself. But he always had a strong personality, even when he was nine (Hewitt, p 42). Mark Feld's position as 'ace face' was assured when in September 1962, he was featured in Town magazine in an article titled : "The Young Take The Wheel" written by Peter Barnsley. The photographs in the article (taken by Donald McCullin) showed fifteen year old Mark, and two of his twenty year old mates - Peter Sugar and Michael Simmonds. Town called them 'Faces Without Shadows', presumably because the pace of a Face's lifestyle was too intense to cast one (Hewitt, p 45).
Barnsley, impressed by young Mark's arrogance, articulacy and knowledge of the scene, made him a star of the article. That gave Mark an opportunity to enlighten the public on the subject of main priorities of a Mod 'ace face': 'You got to be different from the other kids' , says Feld. 'I mean, you got to be two steps ahead. The stuff that half the haddocks you see around are wearing I was wearing years ago. A kid in my class came up to me in his new suit, an Italian box it was. he says, "Just look at the length of your jacket," he says, "You're not with it," he says. "I was wearing that style two years ago," I said. Of course they don't like that (Hewitt, p 46).
Peter Sugar, Michael Simmonds and Mark Feld in Town magazine, September 1962. Note Mark's leather waistcoat - an extremely expensive garment at the time, and almost impossible to find in Mark's size. It was custom made by his neighbour, Mrs Perrone.
In the article,apart from clothing and lifestyle, Mark Feld also shared his views on why he unusually supported both, The Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament (It's all exhibitionist, isn't it? I'm all for that) and The Conservative Party (they're for the rich, so I'm for them).
Mark Feld with the copy of Town, 1962
The article in Town shows that even at the age of fifteen, Mark Feld had all the qualities required for the rock star in making - immaculate style, arrogance, a desire to be rich and famous. But it also captures the Mod movement in the period of transition - Feld and his friends were not the original Modernists - they did not discuss existentialism while smoking Gitanes in cafes. But it is also hard to imagine them in parkas battling Rockers at the Brighton beach (Although Mark Feld, who was sometimes picked on because of his small stature, would get into occasional brawl in Mod clubs). The original Modernist indicate this period as the beginning of the end of Mod. One of them, Steve Sparks said: Mod has been much misunderstood. Mod is always seen as this working class, scooter - riding precursor of skinheads, and that's a false point of view. Mod, before it was commercialised was essentially an extension of the beatniks. It comes from 'modernist', it was to do with modern jazz and to do with Sartre. It was do do with existentialism, the working class reaction to existentialism. Mark Feld (who later became Marc Bolan) was an early example of what was the downfall of mod, which was the attraction of people who didn't understand what it was about to the clothes. Mark Feld was only interested in the clothes, he was not involved in thinking (Jonathon Green, A Days In the Life in The Sharper World - A Mod Anthology, Ed. Paolo Hewitt, p 50).
As for Mark Feld himself, he was unimpressed with the article in Town magazine.It came out about seven months after they'd actually come down to see me and taken the pictures - he said - During that time, a Face's wardrobe would have been completely transformed - several times over (Hewitt, p 48).
18 year old Mark Feld in 1965.
Always ahead of everybody else, Feld eventually ditched the Mod look around 1965 , at least a year before it went out of fashion for good.He also changed his name to Marc Bolan (having also tried Toby Tyler) He did remain obsessed with clothes, however, and within next few years he went through few different incarnations - a singing guitarist with psychedelic proto-punks John's Children (who performed all dressed in white), a hippie minstrel with Tyrannosaurus Rex, before becoming a precursor (and perhaps, an inventor) of Glam Rock and finally achieving superstardom with T.Rex in 1971.
Marc Bolan with John's Children, 1967
'The Third Degree' is a forgotten gem from Bolan's early career. He recorded it in 1966 - before he joined John's Children. It is one first singles to feature Bolan as a singer.It is alsoa great dance number.
Here are some photos I took at the New Untouchables NYE party at 229 in London. When I go to NUTS, taking photos is never a big priority, which should explain why my photos are low in number and poor in quality. They should however, give you a general idea of how much effort NUTS regulars put to recreate various 60's fashions. Among hundreds of Mods in sharp suits, I spotted quite a few people dressed in psychedelic/peacock style.
This double breasted jacket is from Pretty Green - Liam Gallagher's boutique. It will set you back a considerable £540.
The clubnight was traditionally divided between 3 rooms: Beat/Psych room (where we spent most of the evening), Northern Soul room and Skinhead/Ska room. The rooms were not synchronized as far as time was concerned, which gave us a rare opportunity of witnessing two New Year countdowns - first in beat room and then in soul room. Apart from top dj's of London Mod scene, the other attraction of the evening was a tribute band to The Small Faces called The Small Fakers who performed Small Faces' classic 1968 album 'Odgen's Nut Gone Flake' in its entirety, as well as a few hit singles such as 'Whatcha Gonna Do About It' or 'Tin Soldier'.
The Small Fakers
Although it was a great evening, I, personally left the venue feeling slightly 'unfulfilled'. In spite of having quite a good knowledge of sixties psych/garage music, throughout the six or seven hours I spent there, I have only heard about six songs I actually knew. Despite being used to the fact that at NUTS dj's often compete with each other to see who will play the rarest and the most obscure records, I find it slightly irritating, that they treat their dj sets solely as an opportunity of 'displaying' their expensive record collections. They seem to forget that people come to those clubnights to dance, not to admire taste and musical knowledge of the dj's. I quietly hoped that on NYE, the 'obscure stuff only' rule would be loosen up a little, but clearly I was wrong. I did not expect to hear Beatles or Stones, not even The Seeds or Electric Prunes, but surely throwing 'I Cannot Stop You' by Cherry Slush, or 'A Question of Temperature' by Balloon Farm (which I heard on past NUTS nights) wouldn't destroy dj's credibility.I realize of course, that the dj's (most of whom had been on the 'scene' for decades) might be bored of playing certain songs,but after all, djing is not always about playing songs YOU want to play. Sometimes you have to play a song you hate, or are bored of. I feel strongly about it, because, as a 60's Psych/Garage obsessive, I rarely have opportunity of hearing my favorite songs in the club. And I think the fact that I spent money on the ticket and travelled all the way from Brighton gives me a right to complain.
Despite all this, I am sure I will be coming to the future NUTS clubnights, and I encourage any other 60's obsessive to do the same (after all, my criticisms are based on my personal taste). I certainly look forward to their Easter event on the the 6th of April when they are putting on The Pretty Things, Crazy World of Arthur Brown and recently reformed July. This amazing line-up will be followed by all-night psychedelic freakout inspired by legendary UFO events at Roundhouse in 1967.
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
