Greetings Spy Vibers! I've just returned from the UK, where I spent a month traveling with friends to see special events, classic filming locations, and exhibits. Some highlights included chatting with Bond screenwriter Robert Wade, stuntmen Paul Weston and Ray Austin, and with pop culture scholars Andrew Pixley, Mike Richardson, and Alan Hayes. I have much to share with you! My teaching schedule picks up in a couple of weeks, but I will make sure to start posting photographs and observations from my mission. One image that crossed my radar today really resonated with something I've been thinking about for quite a while. I've always found it interesting to see how Victorian and Edwardian styles became a major ingredient to mid-1960s pop culture. The popularity of Art Nouveau posters, Edwardian fashions, stories based on early-century ideas like Fantomas, Judex, and London's TheAssassination Bureau (starring Diana Rigg), the continued interest in Jules Verne and H.G. Welles, and the costume designs for John Steed (The Avengers), Adam Adamant (Adam Adamant Lives!), and Doctor Who are just a few examples. We also saw many adaptations of Lewis Carroll (at least 6 filmed versions of Alice during the decade) and a direct influence of his Wonderland stories on the works of John Lennon and the new surrealists. The Wind in the Willows also impacted new artists, most notably Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd). Just as society seemed fixated on the Space Race and ultra-modernism, it is interesting to note how people looked back often enough for this revival to gain traction in the culture. One event of note that captured the zeitgeist of this wave was the opening of a major exhibition of Aubrey Beardsley at the V&A museum in 1966. And through exploring that exhibit, I found this image to share with you today. Designer Paul Christodoulou created a pastiche of Beardsley imagery in this 1966 advertisement for "Alice Boots" by T. Elliot & Sons, London. According to the V&A, the piece included "elements from Beardsley's illustrations to 'The Wonderful History of Vergilius the the Sorcerer', 'Salome' including 'The Stomach Dance', 'The Woman in the Moon', 'Enter Herodias', 'The Eyes of Herod', 'The Toilette', and the title-page; 'Lysistrata haranguing the Athenian Women', 'Messalina returning from the Bath', 'Neophyte, and... the Black Art', 'The Kiss of Judas', 'Sganarelle and the Beggar'; The Pall Mall Magazine, cover designs for 'The Yellow Book', Vols I and IV and a self portrait." I love how the poster wraps up 1960s fashion and Art Nouveau-chic into one stylish time capsule. More info here. Enjoy! Related posts: Edward Gorey's 1960s, Satire/Surrealism Boom, The Prisoner Fallout & Surrealism, Peter Sellers to John Lennon.
Spy Vibe's vintage TV spy book contest ends tomorrow (Dec 16th)! Go to contest details and please enter to win free prizes! Spy Vibers, I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the semester. As my students go on break, I'm psyched to finally have some extra time to spend with you here in the Spy Vibe lair and to work on projects. There's a new 1970s/1980s-related project in the works- more on that later. But if you are interested in that era, you might enjoy a smaller blog I created called Atari Days. In other news, I'm still slowly working on a Spy Vibe coffee table book for Hermes Press, and my spy novel MIKI ZERO is making the rounds with agents. I'm actively looking for a publisher for Miki. Although Spy Vibe gets a lot of hits every day (our total visits are nearing 2 million), I'd like to see the story reach a wider audience through the help of a traditional publishing house. Please let me know if any of you Spy Vibers out there have someone on mind who might be interested. Today I thought we'd take a brief look back at one of my favorite topics- Moon Girls! Fashion for women in the 1960s embraced the playful and experimental attitudes of the times. Yves Saint Laurent's Mondrian dress and the mini skirt popularized by Andre Courreges and Mary Quant were stand-out creations. In 1964, the year Beatlemania really hit on the global level, Andre Courreges' fascination with the Space Age resulted in a fabulous line of clothes inspired by NASA's white and silver. He launched his 'Moon Girl' Collection, which included high skirts and dresses with geometric patterns and cut-outs, space-like helmets, and mid-shin PVC boots. With all those cosmic rays, it was clear we were going to need some protective, synthetic materials, helmets, and visors! Paco Rabanne, Pierre Cardin, Rudi Gernreich, and others followed with their own Futuristic lines. The movement had a great effect on costume design in a number of iconic 1960s films, including The 10th Victim (Elio Petri/1965- I contributed the Gallery Feature on the Blu-ray), Barbarella (Vadim/1968), and Moon Zero Two (Baker/1969). Here a few favorite examples of Moon Girl fashion. Enjoy! Related posts: Courreges RIP, Trina Robbins interview, Catsuits,Black and White Friday, Tokyo Beat 1964, Space Fashion, Lestoil, Star Warps, Sylvia Anderson Fashion, Ikarie XB1, Fear and Fashion, Mods to Moongirls, Star Trek 50th, Mod Japan, Peeling Off the Trench Coats, Mad For Mondrian, Dressed For Space, Designer Gene Winfield, Braun Design, Honor Blackman at 90, Diana Rigg motor Show, Avengers Pop Interview, Cold War Lairs, The Curious Camera, Elsa Martinelli Autodromo, Logan's Run, Interview: Making Casino Royale 1968, Fortunatato vs. Panton, Set For Adventure, Barbarella Returns, Mod Target, Interview: Mod Tales, Interview: Mod Tales 2.
One of the great time capsules from 1965 is The Music of Lennon and McCartney TV special. With its use of elements like modern geometric staging, Mod stripes and suits, mini dresses, and white space boots, the production was firmly tapped into the aesthetics of that particular year. And so many compositions by John and Paul had been covered around the world at that point, the scope of their success became the raison d'être for the program. Many performers, including The Beatles, mimed to various versions of Fab tunes and wandered the industrial corporate set. Joining the musicians on-stage were go-go dancers and fashionable models posing like mannequins. Keep your eye out for the Scuba outfit! Granada television broadcast the special on December 16 1965, and the program went out around the rest of the UK the following day. Guests included Cilla Black (who just passed away), Peter and Gordon, Lulu, Henry Mancini, Marianne Faithfull, Dick Rivers, Peter Sellers, George Martin Orchestra, and many others. A highlight for me was the Japanese cover of Can't Buy Me Love (available on the From Liverpool to Tokyo compilation). Parts one and two of the program below are great reminders of Swinging London during the Spy Boom. By the way, the Go-Go meter really kicks into gear at the start of part two! You can also find Cilla's performance in part three on Youtube, though it's often muted for rights reasons. Throw a 1965 party with these cool releases: Thunderball, The Ipcress File, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Doctor Who and the Daleks, Help!, The Knack... and How to Get It, She, Ten Little Indians, I Spy, Get Smart, The Wild Wild West, Thunderbirds, The 10th Victim, Honey West, Doctor Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, and Emma Peel's debut on The Avengers. Not a bad year! Happy Monday, Spy Vibers!
Sixties Beat Wear joins the select companies that produce marvelous mod clothes patterned after famous Beatles fashion. Included in their line are a number of collarless and Nehru jackets inspired by gear the band wore in early press photos, films, and concerts like Shea Stadium. Their catalog even offers high and low-heeled Cavern, Lennon, and Winkle Picker boots in many colors! If you have been hoping to outfit your band or just need to go Nehru, check out details here. Thanks to Agent K (Mod Tales) for getting this on our radar. Related post: Spy Vibe's Jason Whiton goes Nehru here.
