Astral Boutique's blog

Like A Ross

We recently found a Diana Ross And The Supremes Anthology for the new (!) Vintage Vinyl Section of the shop. It comes with a big book full of color photos of the group back in the 1960s and early 1970s- the era of ultimate Eye Candy! Since The Supremes were an incredibly popular pop group, there was some serious money and artistic effort going into their outfits:

I searched online for more images of 60s/70s Diana Ross, and found some beautiful shots:

Diana took glamor to a whole new dimension. 

(this last one photoshopped by my husband, Chris)

 

From A To BIBA

I got a fabulous birthday gift this year from Jen at Honey Kennedy- From A to BIBA, the autobiography of BIBA founder Barbara Hulaniki. 

I have had an obsession with the English 1960s/1970s era boutiques (see my post on the book Boutique here), and BIBA is one of the most interesting stories out there. It was started by Barbara as a small mail order business, but it grew incredibly fast and, in the end, incredibly large- she had to keep moving the store into bigger and bigger digs to keep up with demand. The final incarnation was a dream come true, an entire multi-level department store (known as Big BIBA) that had everything from a restaurant to a housewares department. Amazingly, Barbara oversaw the design of every detail and every single product! 

One of the first incarnations of BIBA 

I love the theatricality and the fantasy of the clothing and the styling... all those lovely 1920s/1930s glamor puss looks channeled through the overblown, psychedelic lens of the 60s and early 70s. Who can resist?

Here is some more BIBA eye candy for you to enjoy:

 Here is an amazing makeup tutorial from modern makeup artist Lisa Eldridge, using genuine vintage BIBA makeup:

The BIBA look has experienced a huge comeback lately- in fact, Barbara Hulaniki is making new designs for Top Shop. Viva la BIBA!

Ultra glamor babe Barbara Hulaniki

 

Mary Hopkin

Lately, I find myself putting on the 1969 album Postcard by Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin every single day. There are some beautiful folk songs on here, some "show tunes" type songs that are typical of this era (her hit song, "Those Were The Days", is pretty show-tuney, but I like it). My very favorite track, though, is the very first one. It's a cover of a Donovan song (there are at least three Donovan covers on the album- hooray!), "The Lord of The Reedy River". It is just so haunting... perfect. 

My favorite song: 

A bit of musical history: Mary Hopkin was one of the first artists signed to the Beatles' Apple record label!

Mamma Mia! Part 1

I just love looking at pictures of people's mothers "back in the day"-- I think it's a universal fascination. My mom, Mary, has always been an exceptionally beautiful, well-dressed woman, and these photos of her in what are now "vintage" fashions thrill me to bits. She thinks its really funny that I love her "beehive" hairdo, but I guess that's what happens when you live through history-- if someone today was excited about my perm and teased bangs circa 1984, I would be mystified!

My mom grew up in County Kerry, Ireland, and moved to England for nursing school as a teenager. This was one of few vocations available for women in the late 50s, and it was a job that promised good pay and career opportunities around the world. Many of my aunts took the same path, and nursing brought three of them to the U.S. 

 

In Nursing School in Rochdale, Lanchestershire, England, late 1950s

 

My mom (far left) and her classmates, Birch Hill Hospital, Rochdale, Lanchestershire, early 1960s. Nursing school is no piece of cake these days (some of my friends are becoming nurses, so I hear all about it), and at this time things were run basically like boot camp. The head nurse was a terrifying figure, like an army sergeant! The upside was that the students were always fed really well.

 

Christmas card, early 60s
 

 

England, early 60s, with a friend's hairdresser

 

My mom and my Aunt Betty came to Red Bluff, California, in 1964, having secured positions at the local Catholic Hospital. Red Bluff is in remote far northern California, and it was every bit the "Wild West" they had seen in the movies, with real cowboys and people speaking with a country twang! Here she is in their apartment, decorating the tree.

 

Passport photo, early 60s- I just love black and white passport photos. They were so glamorous! But then again, so was plane travel... 

More pictures coming soon- and a big thanks to my mom and dad, who scanned these photos for me!

        

Vintage Vinyl: Marianne Faithfull, Come My Way

In 1965, Marianne Faithfull released two albums: a self-titled, mainstream "pop" album, and this record, "Come My Way" which focused on traditional folk songs. 

It took a while for this record to grow on me-- perhaps because it launches into an experimental and somewhat disconcerting reading of "Jaberwoc" (from Through The Looking-Glass) on only the second track! Soon enough, her public would tar and feather her for being a "bad girl", but in 1965, Marianne still had to prove to the world that there was a whole different side to the "pretty, harmless little blond girl singing lilting pop songs" that was her official image in the U.K. 

Though she has penned a few famous songs (1969's "Sister Morphine" is included on the 2006 vinyl reissue of this album) Marianne's greatest strength is in her interpretation of other's work. 
It was far more common in the 1960s for an artist to win over new listeners by covering and improving upon popular or traditional material-- a marketing ploy used very little these days, probably because of rising cost of licensing other people's music. When men of this era cover traditional ballads, they often sound plodding and wooden to my modern ears, but Marianne... well, she was a bit of the drama queen, and she understood that there was someone's true story behind these songs, and she was intent on Taking You There.
 

 Her version of "House of the Rising Sun" gives me chills-- and honestly, when has that song last really moved you? "Portland Town" is the old story of the wasted life of a mother and wife who has raised her children only to send them to war; "Spanish Is A Loving Tongue" a bittersweet remembrance of a forbidden love; "Black Girl" a haunting drama of mistrust, violence, and poverty in the Deep South that would thrill any modern goth to the core; "Down in the Salley Garden" a heartbreaking warning from an old poet not to take true love for granted. 
My favorite of all is the ballad "Four Strong Winds". It doesn't have the vocal acrobatics of some of the other songs on the album, so you could miss it the first few times through, but once you tune into to the words-- matched with the perfectly bittersweet delivery-- you will probably join me in turning on the waterworks. 
It is sung from the perspective of a man who has loved a woman during the easy days of summer, and is now moving on to find work with the harvest. His casual "our good times are all gone, and I must be moving on... I'll look for you if you're ever back this way" plays against the aching "I wish you'd change your mind, if I asked you one more time... but we've been through this a hundred times or more". Later in the song he is strangely ambivalent: if he sends her the fare and she joins him, what will she do in the middle of winter anyway, he argues? Each lover seems to be waiting for the other one to prove their love first before making a move, and in the process, their love is being carelessly thrown to the winds of fate. We've probably all been there at some point in our lives. Stupid humans.... sigh.
 

In 1966, the year after this album was made, Marianne would begin her much-publicized affair with Mick Jagger. Imagine trying to outdress Mick in this era when he was the king of the male Peacocks! She seems almost a little lost beside him and his "optical illusion plaid" suit.


This same year, she was splashed across the headlines in a famous drug raid in Keith Richard's house, where she was found wearing nothing but a fur rug. Though no one these days would bat an eye at such an incident, to be found "partying with the boys" when you were not just a woman but the mother of a toddler was the kiss of death for Marianne's career. 

Marianne was homeless, drug-addicted, and sick off and on for decades in the 1970s and 1980s, and her voice was all but destroyed in the process. She is one of our great Survivor stories, however, rising from obscurity to resurrect her career in the late 1980s. Today she is a respected and revered actress and performer, and has collaborated with everyone from PJ Harvey to Jarvis Cocker. I can't say I know much about this modern Marianne, as my relationship with her was forged in the vintage vinyl bins, but it is cool that even young women know her name these days.

You can find loads of Marianne Faithfull in the used bins at any good record store (remember always to shop local or shop small, and avoid Amazon whenever possible!). I recommend all of her 1960s work, but obviously "Come My Way" is a personal favorite. I hope you love her as much as I do!