FULL MARKS FOR TRYING (18 page)

‘Autumn Girl' was the name of the 1960
Daily Express
fashion feature illustrated with this photograph by David Bailey. The model was Paulene Stone – this was one of her first jobs, but she went on to fame and fortune.

 

Window dressers in Mary Quant's boutique, Bazaar, on the King's Road, Chelsea, 1959. The shop's witty and unorthodox displays stopped people in their tracks. The gingham skirt in the window inspired thousands of young women to make their own versions at home.

 

This picture, taken in 1966 by Terence Donovan, illustrated an article called ‘The Trendsetters', about the most powerful fashion editors of the day. It appeared in the prestigious trade magazine,
Trends
. From left: Clare Rendlesham,
Queen
magazine; me, Young Fashion editor of the
Sunday Times
; Jill Butterfield,
Daily Express
; Ernestine Carter, my boss and uber-fashion editor of the
Sunday Times
; Gillian Cooke,
Honey
magazine; Barbara Griggs,
Evening Standard
; and Felicity Green,
Daily Mirror
.

Photograph Terence Donovan © Terence Donovan Archive

 

Judging the
Sunday Times
colour magazine's Eurofashion Contest in the mid-Sixties. From left: Godfrey Smith, editor of the magazine, Felicity Green of the
Mirror
, Marjorie Bowron, me, and a back view of Meriel McCooey, fashion editor of the magazine.

 

Vidal Sassoon trimming Mary Quant's fringe in the 1960s. Sassoon's geometric cutting revolutionised hairdressing – first with his shorter-at-the-back straight ‘bob' and then with this clipped, all-fringe style.

 

Designers Marion Foale (left) and Sally Tuffin, photographed by James Wedge relaxing in their showroom in Ganton Street, wearing their own jersey minidresses.

 

Marit Allen was an influential young journalist, first on
Queen
magazine and then as editor of the ‘Young Idea' pages in
Vogue
. On her wedding day in 1966 she wore a silver and white minidress and a matching coat with big silver lapels, designed by John Bates.

 

In 1965 Jean Shrimpton went to the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne wearing this above-the-knee dress and no hat. (Note that every other woman in this picture is in a hat.) Though her skirt was only just above her knees it shocked and scandalised Australia and caused a huge furore. Some think this was the day the miniskirt was born.

 

David Bailey poses Jean Shrimpton, modelling a fur coat with a big collar, in his studio. The soon-to-be celebrity photographer Terry O'Neill took this picture in 1963 before any of them had become famous.

 

Nicole de Lamargé was one of the greatest models – she could adapt her look to suit any outfit. These ‘before and after' pictures of her with and without make-up were taken in 1966 for the hugely influential
Elle
magazine by Peter Knapp, the photographer and art director who was her partner at the time.

 

This picture of the Beatles' women was taken by Ronald Traeger for my farewell fashion article for the
Sunday Times
, in the autumn of 1967, before I went off to try and be a war correspondent. From left: Pattie Harrison, Cynthia Lennon and Maureen Starr; in front is Pattie's sister, Jenny. They are all wearing hippy clothes by a group of Dutch designers who called themselves The Fool.