Geometric Hair by Vidal Sassoon

This spring  a documentary and book have been made about Vidal Sassoon, the hairdresser of almost every hip, hot and happening celeb in the sixties. Well, that’s all the information I have. The documentary seems to be made and was shown at a couple of film festivals, but it seems it’s not getting a screening for a wider audience. And absolutely no info on the book…. So, to fill the gap, a tiny compilation of his work.

Viddal Sassoon introduced dark, straight and shiny hair cuts. His haircuts were geometric yet organic, as shown in this video:

 

One of his most well know clients was fashion innovator Mary Quant.

Another client: actress Nancy Kwan with sleek Vidal Sassoon bob, 1963.

Model Grace Coddington with the Five Point Cut in 1964.

Vidal Sassoon cut actress Mia Farrow’s pixie hair for the 1968 movie Rosemary’s Baby. Cost of the cut $5.000 (!)

 

Model Ulla Bomser for Bazaar, 1965.

Print, prints, prints: Pucci

Some simple mathematics: summer + prints = Pucci!  The founder of the label, Emilio Pucci, started the brand in the forties, but the label became worldwide know in the sixties through famous customers like Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. Characteristic of the label are the Pucci prints: loud, abstract graphic prints in the most vibrant, vivid colours. Groovy! The prints were used on lightweight (unlined) silk dresses and scarves, so the clothes became very popular for travelling and pool side parties. Emilio Pucci died in 1992, but the brand continued with new designers like Christian Lacroix and Matthew Williamson.

If you are as intrigued by Pucci as I am, this August Taschen will release a book about the designer, with hundreds of photographs, drawings, and candid shots from the archive of the Emilio Pucci Foundation. There are two editions: a ‘regular’ one and a limited one of 500 books. The limited edition is bound in an original vintage Pucci fabric and is accompanied by four art prints of original drawings from the designer. I want!

Colourfull cover art of the new must-have Taschen Pucci-book

Book image

Model Susan Murray, circa 1966

Marilyn Monroe wearing a Pucci print dress. Some bizarre info: she was even buried wearing a green Pucci dress.

Mr. Pucci himself

Veruschka modelling or Pucci, 1964

 Models in ‘Pucci’s hometown Florence, on the rooftop of Palazzo Pucci. The dome of the Cathedral of Florence is in the background, 1966.

Book images from taschen.com

French Hippie Chic by Jean Bouquin

My current obsession is French fashion designer Jean Bouquin.  He’s not a very well know designer, I’ve  recently found out he dressed Brigitte Bardot in the late ’60’s and early 70’s and I’ve been craving info about him, but there’s almost none!

He started as a fashion designer in St. Tropez at the end of the 1960’s. After his success in St. Tropez, he opened a second shop in Paris called Mayfair. His designs can be described as “hippie chic”. His vision was a natural woman, draped with beads, who lives an ironically privileged hippie life wearing luxurious clothing: printed  velvet minidress,  ruffle maxi dresses, beaded transparent tunics and the use of etnic influences. A style adored by another St. Tropez resident: the legendary Brigitte Bardot:

Promoting his clothes in a French Magazine:

He also was a costume designer for movies, like the movie “Les Idoles”(1968), about the rise and fall of three pop stars (someone please release this movie as a dvd!):

Another movie image from the Italian horror movie “Il delitto del diavolo” (1970), aka “Queens of Evil”:

Gangster Chic: Bonnie & Clyde

One of the most stylish movies ever is the film Bonny & Clyde (1967).  The film is based upon the real lifes of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, a bank robbing and murdering gangster couple from the 1930’s, played by Warren Beatty and an incredible pretty Faye Dunaway.

The real Bonny and Clyde

 

The funny thing about the movie is that it has set the standard for the looks of criminal couples: classic suits, pencil skirts, berets and neck scarfs. (The real Bonnie Parker could never have worn a pencil skirt, because they first made an entree in fashion in the 1940’s….).

The movie is more than 30 years old, but still a major source of inspiration for film, fashion and music today. Like in this month’s edition of US Harper’s Bazaar magazine: 

Or this fashion shoot from the New York Post (2009):

They are currently shooting a remake of the film with Hilary Duff as Bonnie (why!?!), it should be finished this fall. This is how they portraited her in Allure magazine (May 2008):

A musical remake was made in 1968 by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. The song is based on a poem written by Bonnie Parker herself, a few weeks before she and Clyde Barrow were shot.

And finally, the Raveonettes paying homage to the duo:

Dig!

Spent this weekend with a good dose of pychedelic rock music: I watched Dig! on video (and I saw the Black Angels play in Paradiso). Dig! is a documentary from 2004 made by Ondi Timoner, and it follows two bands over a a period of seven years: the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Both bands are befriended and are trying to make it in the music industry:  the DandyWarhols love becoming rockstars and make a stupid $40.000 music video with director David LaChapelle for “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth”, the Brian Jonestown Massacre are fucking things up because of a mixture of stubbornness and not conforming themselves to the commerce. The initial friendship becomes rivalry, resulting in the hilarious BJM recording “Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth”.

Although the documentary isn’t very nuanced, it has a lot of brilliant scenes, like a vain Courtney Taylor complaining about his looks in the video for “Junkie”, BJM playing for ten hours for ten people and a very young Peter Hayes as a member of the BJM (now of BRMC). Anyway, definitely worth a watch.

But most of all, Dig! shows, to quote former Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann: ” as soon as a bloke gets a guitar in his hands, he’s unbearable”.

Movie trailer:

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Going to Hell:

The Dandy Warhols – Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth (1997):

More stuff:

www.myspace.com/antonfjordson

www.myspace.com/thedandywarhols

www.thecommitteetokeepmusicevil.com