It's A Mod, Mod Spring!

Traveling in style!

This past year has been an exciting year, albeit one with my nose firmly to the grindstone. I am now dreaming of distant lands and escape. 

Long past are the days of dressing luxuriously for travel, with the rare exception of course. Once, in a European terminal, I saw Donatella Versace wearing head-to-toe skin tight sleek black leather and sporting razor-sharp platinum hair, a study in graphic contrast. She moved like a leopard.

Dressing for travel can be an exercise in fantasy and costume. One can take on a mysterious persona, like a femme-fatale in a spy movie or a 50's film star traveling incognito, half-hiding behind an oversized picture hat and dark sunglasses. Of course, one probably shouldn't dress as scantily clad as the lady in the photo above, even in first class! One can wear whatever they want on a private plane... or nothing at all.

Below is a photo of Brigitte Bardot and Gunther Sachs disembarking a private jet.

Below is a candid photo of Elizabeth Taylor sunning on a yacht. Is that Richard Burton's hand holding the hat, or another handsome stranger?

This year, as winter turns its back, spring will arrive fresh and revived with clean, sharp lines and bold graphics. Crisp black and white and bold, punchy colors will hearken back to the mod 1960s. As a collector of 1960s fashion, I am thrilled! I adore the geometric tailoring, the futuristic abandon of the designs and the use of reflective chrome in the accessories. Hats were particularly genius in the 1960s. I love the black patent helmet with the chinstrap and leopard pouf worn by the gorgeous actress Claudia Cardinale in the photograph below. 

Another brilliant example of a mod hat...

Below is a photo of the actress Linda Thorsen from The Avengers. I love the reflection and the tilt of the hat. The mod makeup is perfect and reminds me of this incredible Japanese film I just had the great pleasure of viewing at the Museum of Modern Art last month entitled "Funeral Parade of Roses" from 1969 directed by Toshio Matsumoto.

Below is a photo of the beautiful Hong Kong actress Chin Fei looking chic and mod in the perfect floppy hat and cat-eye makeup. 

Here is a short clip from a movie with Chin Fei called "Summons to Death" from 1967. The clothing, accessories and set design are campy and fun.

Below is a photo that I love from the September 1963 issue of Bazaar magazine.

Next is a photo from Mademoiselle magazine from 1965.

Below is an amazing 1960s Space-Age necklace from Trifari.

                                                                            available here


I have always had a real affinity for stark black and white. Maybe it comes from growing up watching too many old French films!

Below is a Pierre Cardin photo shoot from 1969 by Yoshi Takata. 

In the photo below Space-Age fashion meets the 1920's flapper with a quilted plastic dress.

Below is a 1980s mod dress by Courreges.

                                                                     available here 

Below is a Courreges outfit from the 1960s.

Next is a short video of fashions by Andres Courreges from 1969.

Below is a graphic black and white coat from 1963.

Below is a checkered mod coat designed by Bill Blass in the late 1960s.

                                                                     available here

I would absolutely love to have the Op-Art patterned outfit in the photo below from 1965.

Another great Op-Art ensemble...

Next is a super-fun song from 1968 by Pussycat called "Aucune Fille au Monde".

Next are a few mod fashion illustrations that I think are great.

Below is a beautiful photo from the 1960s of the actress Sharon Farrell. The image is very sensual and romantic and illustrates the softer side of late 1960s fashion. 

Next are two photos of the mysteriously beautiful singer Esther Ofarim from the 1960s.

Esther Ofarim's voice is absolutely enchanting! 

Next are two different videos of Esther Ofarim. First is her wonderful version of "A Taste of Honey" from the late 1960s.

Next, Esther Ofarim performs the song "Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair" from the 1970 film "11 Uhr 20".

Below are a few examples of bold color and fresh mod design.

Next is an image of the great actress Faye Dunaway from 1968 wearing an ultra chic black hat. Her gaze is so intense!

I absolutely love this next photo of the actress Candace Bergen. She looks so alluring in pure white.

Next is a photo that perfectly sums up London's Carnaby Street style.

The photo below from 1968 looks so modern, it could be from today. 

Next is a great photo of the French actress Claudine Auger, best known as the Bond girl "Dominique 'Domino' Derval" in the James Bond film "Thunderball" from 1965. 

Below is an adorable photo of the actress Suzanne Pleshette from the 1960s that perfectly represents mod done in a super-cute way that reminds me of Japanese 1960s mod style. I love the matching bow in the hair and the exaggerated Peter Pan collar. 

Below is a photo of the Austrian Playboy Playmate Susan Denberg looking cool in a nautical peacoat and big square framed sunglasses. 

Next is a photo from the September 1965 issue of British Vogue. This is the epitome of classic mod style, the Mondrian dress. 

I end with a wonderful photo of Veruschka from 1966 that is slightly surreal and wholly captivating. 

Paper Dolls In Paradise

As a young fashion obsessed girl growing up in a small California enclave, I took my fashion where I could get it. 

Raised by a single working mother, I entertained myself after school at the library, pulling great stacks of photography books, books on fashion photography such as "Scavullo's Women" and books by Irving Penn, David Bailey, Horst, et cetera. I read every art book I could get my hands on. I even read whole sets of encyclopedias from Brittanica to the How-To library. I have always been almost pathologically image obsessed. 

In a need to overcome adolescent boredom, I one day adventured into a sewing supply store, and walking past the spools of technicolor thread and endless skeins of yarn, I discovered a new library. On a large wooden table, there was one massive volume after another, laid out with names like "Butterick", "Simplicity", "Vogue", "McCalls"... a pattern book revelation!

In these volumes, there were drawings of cute, button nosed girls with dark eyes and high ponytails wearing frilly, fun dresses in crazy patterns and bell bottoms with t-shirts sporting slogan patches. All of the girls had tan skin, the color of butterscotch. 

The Vogue pattern books were so elegant, with sophisticated ladies dressed in sharp looking suits and glittering gowns. They wore wild hats and big jewelry and had expressions on their faces of haughty dissatisfaction, as if they were thinking that they would rather be drinking champagne on a yacht. 

These pattern books were full of endless fashion possibilities. One could look like a Disney princess or a hippie chick in a patchwork poncho and leather short-shorts. The illustrations for the most part were very accessible, not the flamboyant fantasies of a couturier designing dresses for only the gilded few. These were drawings of girls one could actually look like, a feat, of course much more easily accompished if your mother could sew.

 

Below is a fun Pop-Art romper that was made in Miami in the 1960s.

                                                                                                                                         available here

Below is a fantastic lime green sundress designed by Oleg Cassini in the 1960s.

a                                                                                                                                        available here

Below is an adorable pink gingham party dress from the 1960s.

                                                                                                                                           available here

If you have any early fashion memories that you would like to share with us, please do!