If 1960s fashion is your bag (baby), make sure to stop by London's V&A museum this year to check out their major exhibit celebrating the work of designer Mary Quant. Dame Mary pioneered and popularized the mini skirt, which came to symbolize the youthful, on-the-go attitudes in the early 60s. Revolutionary in hindsight, Dame Mary has described her process, and I think this can apply to artists working any media, as a focussed labor of love on the projects: "It was a wonderfully exciting time and despite the frenetic, hard work we had enormous fun. We didn’t necessarily realise that what we were creating was pioneering, we were simply too busy relishing all the opportunities and embracing the results before rushing on to the next challenge! Friends have been extremely generous in loaning, and in many cases, donating garments and accessories to the V&A which they have lovingly cherished for many years, so it will be fascinating to see what else will emerge! I am enormously grateful to have been involved with so many talented people whose contribution to that ground-breaking, revolutionary and memorable era will also be recognised.” Hear that, social media-era artists? The trick is to create, create, create, and make the work the focus. And I'm so pleased to see Dame Mary getting this special exhibit. From the V&A press release: "Today, the V&A announces that it has been given unprecedented access to Dame Mary Quant’s Archive to curate the first international retrospective on the revolutionary fashion designer in nearly 50 years. Opening in April 2019, the exhibition will focus on the years between 1955 and 1975, when Quant revolutionised the high street with her subversive and playful designs for a younger generation, from hot pants, miniskirts and trousers for women to accessories, tights and make-up. The exhibition will bring together over 200 objects, the majority of which have never been on public display. It will reveal the real stories behind the myths to explore how Quant democratised fashion and empowered women through her determination, ingenuity and unique personal style, which she exported around the world. The exhibition will be drawn from the V&A’s extensive fashion holdings, which includes the largest collection of Mary Quant garments in the world, as well as the designer’s personal archive and important international loans. Jenny Lister, curator of Mary Quant at the V&A, said: “Mary Quant liberated fashion in the late 1950s and early 60s. Known for establishing high street fashion, inventing hot pants and popularising the miniskirt, she freed women from rules and regulations, and from dressing like their mothers. This long-overdue exhibition will show how Mary made high fashion affordable for working women, and how her youthful, revolutionary clothes, inspired by London, made British streetstyle the global influence it remains today.” The exhibition runs from 6 April 2019 – 8 March 2020. Don't miss it! More info at V&A and Mary Quant. Images below: Dame Mary in the 1960s (at work and with Vidal Sassoon). In other news, I have a new book out (over 700 pages!) about one of America's legendary cartoonists. Check it out! Enjoy!
A few days before David Bowie passed away (January, 2016), we lost another great artist with a knack for futuristic thinking, Andre Courreges (1923-2016). It was odd that, while I contemplated the French designer of the famous Moon Girl look from the 1960s, we should then also lose the great interpreter of the future in Bowie. We also lost Beatles producer George Martin. It was a tough year for Spy Vibers. Designer Andre Courreges rose up as a young talent in Balenciaga in the 1950s and opened his own salon at the dawn of the decade in 1961. He shared credit with Mary Quant for creating the mini skirt, and by 1964, established his space-inspired collections of white plastic boots, stiff helmets, joke glasses (some inspired by traditional Inuit designs), and playful slim outfits sporting cut-outs and Op Art elements. He even designed a prototype Bubble car, which later spawned a new electric model. His vision of combining synthetic materials, metals, white, and silver- and working with young models of the era- helped to define the androgynous Space Age look of the 1960s. Where would be without the mini and his white go-go boots? About her husband, Couqueline Courreges said, "He saw with eyes of his generation- it was a time of missiles to the moon." Artist Andy Warhol said, "His clothes are so beautiful, everyone should look the same, dressed in silver." Courreges was 92. Some gems below: Dali in Courreges glasses, fashion show reversals, and the designer at home in his futuristic apartment (image source: Getty). Learn more at The Guardian. Shop for vintage outfits here. Additional note: Spy Vibers may also remember designer John Bates helped champion the mini skirt before it became mainstream by dressing Diana Rigg's character Emma Peel in a mini in The Avengers. Enjoy!
Happy Sunday, Spy Vibers! It's a long holiday weekend here in the States and the Spy Vibe lair is filled with sunshine and the sound of records spinning on the Hi-Fi. I was exploring some vintage 1960s news footage about fashion shows- as one does- and thought I'd share this great time capsule from 1966. The Space-Fashion era during the mid-sixties was dominated by new ideas that sought to feature geometric designs and accentuate those Twiggy-like figures. Although the narrator in this short Pathe clip suggests we forget Dior and Courreges and concentrate on the "forward look", the collection is indeed a wonderful amalgam of those playful trends of the period such as Op Art, cut-outs, customizable glasses and hemlines, Mini dresses, and Pop Art. The outfits here were designed by Jacques Esterel (Charles Martin), who was an entertainer and designer famous for bringing theatricality and novelties to his designs. His whimsical approach apparently did not impress the fashion press, but he did enjoy wide promotion- even behind the Iron Curtain- and he patented a number of innovations for garment construction. One detail that stood out to me in his bio is that Esterel experimented with built-in lights- a notion that would be right at home in today's "Makers" culture. More about the designer here. Additional photos below of Esterel's Op-inspired work, cut-outs, and his "Dalmatian Show." Want to see more? Check on-line for cool images of Esterel with Bardot, as well as the designer's French LP record covers. Enjoy!
