Cheap Chic in Oui, 1975

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Share the fantasy

Chanel No. 5 commercial directed by Ridley Scott, 1982

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May The Furs Be With You

"On occasion, I have been called upon to perform unexpected functions in circumstances which would have appalled my designers" 

- See Threepio

A rather awesome, if nonsensical, editorial from Vogue, 1977

starring Jerry Hall, C3P0, Darth Vader, Jawas, Snaggletooth, and Stormtroopers- in the shop.

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Chloe in the afternoon in the 90's

Chloe Sevigny by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin
From the book Fashion Photography of the Nineties, in the shop.





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Drunken Sailors

From Cosmopolitan, 1972 

One thing you don't see much of anymore are these Avedonian model w/ non-model action-oriented group photos. Fortunately our library is loaded with them!

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Why no jump in the pool?

A good question from our 2.5 year old. (And she doesn't jump, no matter how many times you play it again, to see if she will. And the doggies don't either. ) Otherwise, what a great little film.

Pierre Balmain, Spring/Summer 13

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Mr. Mort Trompes les Oeils

Mr.Mort almost out-trompes Roberta di Camerino with these fantastic trompe l'oeil sweaters from 1975.

from an old American Home Crafts magazine, which are all worth picking up if you ever come across them.

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Debbie Harry, Eric Idle, Lauren Hutton and Princess Leia

Cool people hanging out together, 1982.

 from Monty Python's Autobiography.

Considering this v-neck and no shirt look this fall... (but not the medallion)

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Charity Shop

So the kids can be alright: Roger Daltrey's Fillmore East jersey from The Who's 1976 US Tour, on Ebay UK to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust. (click here)

I love that he still has it.

Top: Michael Zagaris' photo of The Who at Oakland Coliseum, Oct. 9, 1976

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Madman Across the Water

"Mr. Freedom- Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero".

One of the most innovative boutiques in rock fashion history, Mr. Freedom was as much a show as a shop—a fashion, art, and design mecca for Swinging London’s most outré set. In his new book, Mr. Freedom—Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero (Adelita), Paul Gorman tells the story of the boutique’s driving force: the stocky maverick entrepreneur Tommy Roberts, “one of those unpindownable figures,” the author says, “who fast-tracked vanguard ideas right into the mainstream.” Roberts was the first to sell slogan T-shirts, license images from Disney, and integrate the new Pop aesthetic into everything from the clothes and furniture he sold to the decorating of his shop, a task he regularly put in the hands of young designers and artists just out of art school. Hot pants, chairs shaped like dentures, and window displays of huge detergent boxes were the order of the day. Though Mr. Freedom’s moment was fleeting, such was its impact that when Cecil Beaton organized the Victoria and Albert Museum’s first fashion exhibition, in 1971, he featured 24 of the label’s pieces alongside loans from the British royal family, Madame Grès, Balenciaga, and Mary Quant.
-from Diane Solway's article in W


Paul Gorman's brilliant new book is my new favourite. Tommy Roberts is absolutely fascinating: entrepreneur, shopkeeper, designer, curator, restaurateur- like a more fantastic Terence Conran. The book is filled with creativity and inspiration- it reminds me of Conran's House Book in the regard that virtually every page has something incredible on it that you need to bookmark. Roberts makes one want to do more- be more creative, to push it. The clothing and furniture designs he had made for his boutiques (Kleptomania, Mr. Freedom, City Lights Sudio, Practical Styling) and restaurant (Mr Feed'em) were all amazing, fun, and ahead of their time. Paul Gorman and Tommy Roberts were on BBC radio last week, and Robert Elms asked Tommy, "Where are all these fantastic things? What happened to them?" "Well, we didn't keep anything, we just moved on to the next thing". Thankfully it was all documented, and thanks Paul Gorman for bringing it all back and into our bookshelf.

Mr. Freedom on Amazon
Paul Gorman's blog
related (literally) Mrs. Paul Gorman's blog, which you'll also like.

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In Bloom

Linda made totally sweet kids' pants from this vintage flowery terry cloth. 

Sorry grown-ups, but there's only enough to make a few tiny pairs!

In our kids shop!

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Pierrot le Fou

Some of the millions of reasons to love Godard's Pierrot Le Fou, to the tune of Francoise Hardy singing "La Mer".
Put together brilliantly by youtuber Akaisoul.
Happy Weekend!

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Flying Colors

Linda's egg jeans , Gerber sneakers, a vintage Fischer lullaby toy, and The Beatles.

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Helmut Newton in the Springtime

Speaking of boobs, here are some favorite spreads from Helmut Newton's books White Women, Big Nudes, World Without Men, and Pages from the Glossies.
This could go on and on, though, of course.
And if you're in Paris before June 17th, it does, as Le Grand Palais has exhibited giant retrospective of Newton's work.

More info about the retrospective here, and at the luxuriously classy Pacific-Standard, who have a little film preview as well.

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Lauren Hutton, Richard Avedon, and a super cool clear hair dryer- Jun Rope, 1973

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New Yorkers in Their Favorite T-Shirts, 1979

By Their Fruits of the Loom Ye Shall Know Them. But if you don't, there's Andy, Debbie, Grace, Patti, The Smothers Brothers, Meat Loaf, Glenn Close (loving mutts even back then!), Legs McNeil, Suzy Chaffee, and a bunch of Broadway people, Punks, Penthouse Pets, and New York Rangers. All wearing their favorite t-shirts and shot by Jean-Paul Goude for Penthouse Magazine, July 1979. Gotta love Karla de Vito's classic "If it ain't Stiff...", but I think my favorite is Debbie Harry's Glaser-esque, Chwastian "Telluride Film Festival".

related:

Published!

from a Salvation Army in Bay Ridge Brooklyn a few years ago.

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Celia Birtwell, by Celia Birtwell & Dominic Lutyens, and some Birtwell inspiration

There's finally a book about Celia Birtwell and it's fantastic.

Birtwell, if you don't know, is a legendary British textile designer, ex-wife and better half of the late designer Ossie Clark, and muse to David Hockney, who's made endless drawings and paintings of her, most notably 1971's Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, a portrait of her with Ossie. 

The new book, written by Celia with author Dominic Lutyens, is just as research-and image-loaded as his previous book 70's Style & Design, and laid out the same way- every stunning spread being packed with beautiful visuals.
I became interested in Celia's designs a few years ago after Linda kept adding vintage Ossie Clark dresses to her ebay watch list. Thankfully none of these were actually won, as they're bank-breakers, but the photos stuffed an inspiration file, and led me to pilfer some of Celia's designs for a couple of projects I was working on at the time: the Eames chair and canoe both use her grid-with-dot motif- just in the trees behind the left pagoda and a couple squares, mind you; and then a full-blown Ossie Clark dress with Celia Birtwell Mystic Daisy print for a 2008 painting for our interior of Linhardt Designs Jewelry Shop. I really think all three of these look so cool, and I had a great time painting them in part because I knew I was going to add a little Birtwell touch.

Anyway, I really can't say enough about the book- I'm already partial to its two authors, but if you're at all interested in beautiful prints, design, the 70's, Hockney, Ossie Clark, ...even Jane Birkin, you should absolutely go buy the book. 

Related: David Hockney's Vogue Paris 1985

And be sure to check out these videos on Celia's site:
http://www.celiabirtwell.com/heritage/sound-vision/

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A little Heinz Edelmann inspiration

How awesome would it be paint an actual wardrobe like this one from Heinz Edelmann's masterstroke Yellow Submarine ?  This is just a 5-second non-sequiter scene from near the beginning, but look how great this room is- white go-go boots, Hockney-esque rattan chair, Biba-esque Nouveau Deco everything else. But the dressing table and the wardrobe are the best. I'm on the lookout...

Related: Our half painted Lichtenstein dresser from our book,



and Jessica Lange, 1976:



...also a giant fur and purple leather King Kong hand would be a pretty awesome chair.

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