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Veruschka

The sixties – sex, drugs, rock and roll and a whole lot more

Welcome to the sixties, a decade of controversy, creativity and consumerism; effervescence, experimentation and excess; babes, boutiques and blasphemy.

At the dawn of the sixties, the economies of the US and Western Europe are booming and post-World War II austerity measures are a thing of the past. There’s an air of optimism, tempered by the ongoing Cold War, which comes to a head in October 1962 with the Cuban Missile Crisis – a close brush with full-scale nuclear war. But to every cloud, a silver lining, and for the movie industry the Cold War serves as inspiration for a string of films including The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Dr Strangelove (1964) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) – ironically, From Russia With Love (1963) is not really about the Cold War

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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

No movie better epitomises the paranoia, cynicism and squalor of the Cold War than The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. It is based on a novel by John le Carré, who was familiar with the grim reality, having worked for both MI5 and MI6 in the late 1950s and early ’60s.

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2001: A Space Odyssey

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film is arguably the greatest sci-fi movie ever made. Among other things, it’s been called awesome, influential, mind-blowing, cool, obsessional and pretentious – and it lives up to all of these designations. It also has a quintessentially sixties style, not least the interiors of the spacecraft.

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The first moon landing

3. The first moon landing

In 1969 Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to set foot on the moon with his now legendary words “One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.” The computer on Apollo 11, his spaceship, is much less powerful than a smartphone.

During the sixties, the ideological battle extends way beyond the borders of the Western and Communist powers. In May 1961, in response to the Soviet Union’s rapidly advancing space programme, President John F Kennedy promises to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong makes good the promise. Together with “Buzz” Aldrin, he walks around for three hours, does some experiments, picks up bits of moon dirt and rocks, plants a US flag and leaves a sign. As if in anticipation, three sci-fi movies appear the previous year: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes and Barbarella.

Both the pioneering spirit and the technological advances of the space race fuel developments during the decade. The sixties see the launch of colour television, the audiocassette and quick-drying acrylic paint. Injection-moulded plastic becomes a material of choice, not least for furniture. And the introduction of pantyhose paves the way for the miniskirt. Novelty, instant gratification, disposability, living for the day are all in.

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NASA East

NASA East

NASA administrator George Mueller and astronaut Deke Slayton dub 2001: A Space Odyssey’s production facilities “NASA East” due to the level of accuracy in the designs and the amount of scientific hardware at the studio.

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Scalable solutions

Scalable solutions

All the vehicles in 2001: A Space Odyssey are designed so that the small-scale models as well as full-scale interiors to appear realistic. The modeling team is led by two hirees from NASA, science advisor Fred Ordway and production designer Harry Lange, along with Anthony Masters who is responsible for turning Lange’s 2-D sketches into models.

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The devil in the detail

The devil in the detail

To develop their designs for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ordway and Lange insist on knowing “the purpose and functioning of each assembly and component, down to the labeling of individual buttons and the presentation on screens of plausible operating, diagnostic and other data.”

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Science and savvy

Science and savvy

The design of spaceship Discovery One is based on solidly conceived, yet unrealized science. In practise it would have needed huge cooling fins to disperse the heat produced by its thermonuclear propulsion system. These are eliminated due to Stanley Kubrick’s concern that 2001: A Space Odyssey’s audience might interpret them as wings.

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Modelled on Apollo

Modelled on Apollo

Drawings of Discovery One’s control panels for 2001: A Space Odyssey are based on NASA photos showing astronauts huddled around an in-development Apollo space capsule.

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Space suits inspired by NASA

Space suits inspired by NASA

Hans-Kurt Lange models 2001: A Space Odyssey’s space suits on those of NASA, where he works as an illustrator in the Future Projects Division. The suits use horizontal stitching to maintain a constant volume of air.

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Velcro-equipped boots

Velcro-equipped boots

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, scenes of the astronauts in the Discovery equipment storage corridor and elsewhere, depict walking in zero-gravity with the help of velcro-equipped boots labeled “Grip Shoes”.

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Time capsule

Time capsule

Accuracy might be the lodestar for the designs in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but they are also very much a product of their time. The aesthetic relates to, among other things, the interiors and products emerging from Italy and the fashions of André Courrèges and Pierre Cardin.

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Furniture of the future

Furniture of the future

The Hilton lobby of Space Station Five in 2001: A Space Odyssey is furnished with playful yet functional Djinn chairs designed by Olivier Mourgue in 1965. The desk in the background is a slightly modified variant of a George Nelson design for the Herman Miller 1964 Action Office series.

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Back to the future

Back to the future

The costumes for 2001: A Space Odyssey are designed by none other than established (not to say establishment) British fashion designer, Hardy Amies, best known for dressing Queen Elizabeth II.

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An object of mystery and desire

An object of mystery and desire

The sleek black monolith, which appears in each of the four parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey, is arguably one of the most striking icons in movie history – an object of mystery and desire.

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Man and the universe

Man and the universe

For all its visual and technical wizardry, 2001: A Space Odyssey is also a wondrous meditation on the nature of man and his relationship to the universe. In a 1968 interview with Playboy magazine, Kubrick states:

You’re free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film—and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level—but I don’t want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he’s missed the point.

The sixties – the younger generation

Young people are better off than ever and ready to challenge their elders and betters. They feel a new sense of identity and they’re determined to express it.

Nowhere is this more evident than in London where, in 1963, the bowler-hatted establishment is embarrassed, humiliated and thrown into disarray when Secretary of War, John Profumo, is forced to admit that he has lied to the House of Commons about an affair with Christine Keeler, an alleged call-girl. Unfortunately for him, Ms Keeler is also involved with Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché. Although Profumo assures the House that he hasn’t compromised national security, he is forced to resign and the scandal threatens to topple the Conservative government.

In 1964, Peter Laurie in an article in Vogue observes that:

London is a city of and for the young. Probably no other in the world offers us the opportunities that are here. Wherever enthusiasm, energy, iconoclasm or any kind of creative ability are needed, you’ll find people in their mid-twenties or younger.

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Christine Keeler

Christine Keeler

1963. Christine Keeler leaves the Old Bailey surrounded by police, press and paparazzi after giving evidence at the trial of Dr Stephen Ward. The 50-year-old...

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Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Faithfull

1967. Marianne Faithfull has grown up as a well-bred, West London schoolgirl. At the outset of her career and still a teenager, she looks for...

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Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

1964. Paul McCartney, bass guitarist, singer and song-writer for rock band The Beatles, relaxes at a party. It could almost be a scene from Michelangelo...

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Mandy Rice-Davies

Mandy Rice-Davies

1961. 17-years-old Mandy Rice-Davies poses in front of a window two years before going down in history with the quip “Well, he would, wouldn’t he?”...

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David Bailey and Veruschka

David Bailey and Veruschka

1965. Sixties supermodel Veruschka dances over photographer David Bailey as he writhes on the ground looking to capture an unconventional angle. Bailey, the son of...

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Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee

Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee

1967. Seated on the baroque throne is Patrick Macnee as suave, unflappable, debonair secret agent John Steed. His wardrobe is inspired by that of Patrick’s...

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Sandie Shaw

Sandie Shaw

1964. 17-year-old Sandy Shaw hugs the cover of her first hit, Always Something There to Remind Me. She will go on to rack up more...

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Sarah Miles and David Hemmings

Sarah Miles and David Hemmings

1966. Sarah Miles is an Essex girl whose career as an actress kicks off with two sexy roles. Her debut, age 21, is as Shirley...

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Pattie Boyd

Pattie Boyd

1964. This is a whirlwind year for fashion model Pattie. Cast for The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, she meets George Harrison on set,...

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The people making the headlines come from all sorts of backgrounds, not just from posh public schools. They include pop singers and pop artists, actors, models, hairdressers, photographers, interior decorators and designers. Think The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Hockney, Allen Jones, Michael Caine, Terence Stamp, Tom Stoppard, Vidal Sassoon, David Bailey, Terence Donovan, David Hicks, Alan Fletcher and Theo Crosby. All are concerned in one way or another with “image.” Private Eye refers to this group of talented, self-confident young people as “the new aristocracy”.

The sixties – new and not-so-new attitudes

If there’s a single theme that runs right through the sixties like letters through a stick of rock it’s challenge. Traditional notions of values and morality, style and taste are up for grabs.

Taboos around sex outside marriage, under threat since at least the 1940s, are further eroded by the introduction of the contraceptive pill, which opens the door for the permissive society. As the decade goes by, nudity features more and more regularly in magazines, on stage and on screen, to howls of outrage from the likes of Mary Whitehouse and the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association in the UK. They are fighting a losing battle – as demonstrated by, for example, the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1967 and a rash of movies about sex and power that are released in the early seventies.

Susan Bottomly, aka International Velvet, by Billy Name
Andy Warhol superstar Susan Bottomly, aka International Velvet, in a promotional shot for Chelsea Girls (1966). Photo by Billy Name.

In the US, the civil rights and anti-war movements are gathering pace. The latter, in particular, is associated with alternative lifestyles. This is the age of communes and collectives, of yoga and mysticism, of rock and roll and recreational drugs, particularly marijuana. In 1967, Marianne Faithfull, convent-educated chanteuse, single mother and girlfriend of Mick Jagger (impossible to be closer to the epicentre of swinging London), is found wearing nothing more than a fur rug by police searching for drugs at Keith Richards’ house in Sussex. Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are subsequently sentenced to three and 12 months in prison respectively.

Reactions to the scandal reveal the extent to which underlying attitudes and prejudices have and haven’t changed. The liberals in the establishment are outraged and The Times publishes a leader titled Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?”. Under pressure, the Lord Chief Justice quashes the jail terms, a decision that liberalises drug-enforcement policy going forward. But Marianne will later recall:

It destroyed me. To be a male drug addict and to act like that is always enhancing and glamorising. A woman in that situation becomes a slut and a bad mother.

Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg and Michele Breton in Performance
1968. Sex and drugs and rock and roll. Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg and Michele Breton in Performance.

The theme is referenced in Darling (1965), a British film about an ambitious girl played by Julie Christie, who is happy to sleep around, moving from one relationship to another to further her career only to get her come-uppance. It turns out that the ideal woman of the sixties is perhaps closer to her counterpart of the previous decades than would appear at first glance. As Betty Friedan observes in The Feminine Mystique (1963), the stereotype of the “ideal woman”…

…held that women could find fulfilment only in sexual passivity, male domination, and nurturing maternal love. It denied women a career or any commitment outside the home and narrowed woman’s world down to the home, cut her role back to housewife.

Nevertheless, the counter-culture is in full swing, often taking its inspiration from advertising and fast-moving consumer goods. In London, Bridget Riley is at the forefront of the Op Art movement. In the US, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg shock and amaze audiences with their Pop Art creations. Psychedelic art emerges from the drug and music sub-cultures of London and San Francisco.

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Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick

Andy Warhol

The first part of this five-minute video introduces Andy Warhol’s approach to movie-making and collaborator Edie Sedgwick’s method of non-acting. The second part is an audio recording of Andy and Edie talking about the next day’s filming, illustrated by a collage of movie clips and stills.

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Bridget Riley

Bridget Riley

After working for a few years in a semi-impressionist style, Bridget begins to develop her signature Op (short for Optical) Art style around 1960. It uses black and white geometric patterns to explore visual effects and produce a disorienting effect on the eye. In this brief video clip she talks about her work.

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Italy, the new domestic landscape

Italy, the new domestic landscape

The commentary for this 10-minute video on Italy is authored by Emilio Ambasz, curator of design at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and responsible for the landmark exhibition, Italy, the new domestic landscape. In it, he identifies three main groups of designers. In their work, conformists continue to refine already established forms and functions. Reformists, questioning the designer’s role in a consumer society, redesign known objects with new, ironic and sometimes self-deprecatory social, cultural and aesthetic references. One faction of contestatory designers focus their attention on political and philosophical discussion, the other seeks to develop objects that are flexible in function.

In Italy, a new generation of architects and designers such as Paolo Soleri, Ettore Sotsass, Joe Colombo and Archizoom favour a more personal, expressive, even light-hearted approach. Their utopian visions will find their ultimate expression in the summer of 1972 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition, Italy, The New Domestic Landscape.

In music the headline acts include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, but there are many, many others. What they all have in common is youthfulness and iconoclasm.

The sixties – from futuristic to nostalgic fashion

A new decade needs a new ideal of female beauty. Step forward Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey. She’s been brought up on a farm about 30 miles from London, he’s the son of a tailor’s cutter in the East End of London.

Bailey, together with partners-in-crime Brian Duffy and Terry Donovan, pioneers a new, raw, in-your-face, style of fashion photography characterized by strong contrasts, bold cropping and unsentimental poses. “The Black Trinity”, as Norman Parkinson, a photographer of the older generation dubs them, roam the streets of London shooting celebrities from all walks of life, most notoriously (in Bailey’s case) lethal gangsters the Kray Twins.

In fact, the photographers become celebrities in their own right, going out with actors, musicians and all manner of beautiful people. Nor is it just their photographic style that’s new. In the words of Duffy, “Before 1960, a fashion photographer was tall, thin and camp. But we three are different: short, fat and heterosexual!”

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Blow-Up – Thomas is visited by his fans

Blow-Up – Thomas is visited by his fans

Two teenage fans visit photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) at his studio as he talks to his receptionist (Tsai Chin). The blonde teenager is Jane Birkin; the brunette, Gillian Hills. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – the fashion shoot

Blow-Up – the fashion shoot

David Hemmings, as Thomas, the photographer, shoots a high-fashion session with five models. Left to right: Jill Kennington, Peggy Moffitt, Rosaleen Murray, Ann Norman and Melanie Hampshire. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas relaxes with his favourite model

Blow-Up – Thomas relaxes with his favourite model

Photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) relaxes with his favorite model, Verushka, who plays herself. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas vaults a fence

Blow-Up – Thomas vaults a fence

Photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) attracted by a couple in a London park, vaults a fence the better to stalk his interesting subject. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas hides behind a tree

Blow-Up – Thomas hides behind a tree

Photographer Thomas (David Hemmings), hiding behind a tree, photographs an embracing couple (Vanessa Regrave and Ronan O’Casey) in a London park. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Jane kisses her lover

Blow-Up – Jane kisses her lover

Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) and her lover (Ronan O’Casey) kiss in a London park rendezvous in Michelangelo Antonioni’s first English-language film in color, “Blow-Up.” Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Jane comes after Thomas

Blow-Up – Jane comes after Thomas

Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) chases after Thomas (David Hemmings) who has taken pictures of herself and her lover in a London park. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Jane confronts Thomas

Blow-Up – Jane confronts Thomas

Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) orders Thomas (David Hemmings) to stop taking photographs of her in a London park. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas refuses to give in to Jane

Blow-Up – Thomas refuses to give in to Jane

Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) is infuriated when Thomas (David Hemmings) refuses to give her the films he has just taken of her and her lover in a London park. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Jane visits Thomas' studio

Blow-Up – Jane visits Thomas’ studio

Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) visits Thomas (David Hemmings) at his studio in a bid to get back the incriminating pictures he took of her in a London park. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Jane tries to sneak off

Blow-Up – Jane tries to sneak off

Jane (Vanessa Redgrave) tries to leave the studio of photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) with the camera she thinks contains incriminating pictures of herself and her lover. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas pulls a fast one

Blow-Up – Thomas pulls a fast one

Photographer Thomas (David Hemmings) pretends to give Jane (Vanessa Regrave) the film he has taken of her in a park but it’s only a dummy. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas has an idea

Blow-Up – Thomas has an idea

Thomas (David Hemmings) realizes that the negative he is holding could be the answer to a mystery. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas develops the film

Blow-Up – Thomas develops the film

Thomas (David Hemmings) develops film in his dark room. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas examines the negatives

Blow-Up – Thomas examines the negatives

Thomas (David Hemmings) examines the negative of a photograph with a magnifying glass. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas scrutinises a print

Blow-Up – Thomas scrutinises a print

Having blown up a picture he took in a London park, Thomas (David Hemmings) looks for details with a magnifying glass. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas studies a blow-up

Blow-Up – Thomas studies a blow-up

Thomas (David Hemmings) studies the blow-up of a picture he took in a London park, with Jane (Vanessa Regrave) and her lover as the subject. Photo by Arthur Evans.

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Blow-Up – Thomas at a party

Blow-Up – Thomas at a party

Thomas (David Hemmings) finds himself a bored onlooker at a London party. Photo by Arthur Evans.

There’s no better introduction to their style, attitude and MO than Michelangelo Antonioni’s film, Blow-Up (1966).

Bailey meets Jean Shrimpton in 1960 while he is shooting for Vogue and she is working with Duffy in a nearby studio. She says: “‘Bailey’ was how he introduced himself and that was all I ever called him. We were instantly attracted to each other.” He says: “What attracted me to her was that she genuinely didn’t care how she looked. She honestly never understood what all the fuss was about. That was very attractive to me.” How very sixties!

He books her for a string of shoots (as well as a four-year relationship) and over the next few years they produce a deluge of iconic images that appear in Vogue, the Sunday supplements and other magazines. Suddenly the aristocratic hauteur of fifties fashion shoots is so passé. In its place is something younger, more energetic, more accessible, more fun, above all more overtly sexy.

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Sue Lyon

Sue Lyon

1962. Sue’s work as a child model in a commercial for JC Penney leads to small parts on TV in The Loretta Young Show (1959)...

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Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch

1966. When Raquel Welch appears on screen in a purposely depleted, furry, prehistoric bikini in Hammer Studios’ One Million Years B.C., she instantly becomes a...

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Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

1968. Jane is the daughter of Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath, 12 Angry Men, On Golden Pond). Having become interested in acting in the...

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Twiggy

Twiggy

1967. A skinny, freckled and crop-haired 18-year-old model, Twiggy weighs just six and a half stone. The previous year, she was told she’s too short...

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Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave

1966. This is the first year that Vanessa appears on the big screen – not in just one film, not in two but in three....

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Penelope Tree with David Bailey

Penelope Tree with David Bailey

Around 1967. This is the year that American-born model Penelope moves in with David Bailey – "he had this dangerous, lion-king-on-the-savannah vibe." She’s 18 years...

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Unlike the voluptuous beauties of the fifties such as Monroe, Mansfield, Dors and Sabrina, “The Shrimp” is a fresh-faced, slender girl-next-door. In her wake come a procession of waifs such as Twiggy, Jill Kennington, Penelope Tree, Patti Boyd and, at the more exotic edge of the spectrum, Veruschka, Peggy Moffitt and Donyale Luna. While the skinny, androgynous, doll-faced model dominates the decade, she coexists with her more curvaceous sister, embodied in the likes of Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch.

London designers in particular are quick to respond, creating designs for the new generation rather than expecting them to ape their parents. Mary Quant, Barbara Hulanicki, Zandra Rhodes, Marion Foale, Sally Tuffin, Bill Gibb and Ossie Clark are the new kids on the block and they are not afraid to experiment with new materials – perspex, PVC, polyester, acrylic, nylon, rayon, Spandex, even paper. Their fun, eye-catching, easy-care outfits are sold through boutiques. The most famous is Biba but many others cluster around Carnaby Street and the King’s Road.

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Blow-Up

Blow-Up

Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 movie, set in swinging London, stars David Hemmings as a fashion photographer who unwittingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park. It’s both a stylish and intriguing mystery and a brilliant period piece. And at a deeper level it’s an exploration of the relationship between perceptions and reality.

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Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street

1968. In the 1960s Carnaby Street’s independent fashion boutiques are where it’s at whether you’re one of the mods (a clan of youthful dudes) or, a few years later, a hippie. With bands such as the Rolling Stones, The Who and the Small Faces working, shopping and socialising in the area, it becomes one of London’s coolest destinations. By the mid-sixties its fame has reached the US courtesy of Time magazine. According to the leading article in the 15 April 1966 issue, London: The Swinging City:

Perhaps nothing illustrates the new swinging London better than narrow, three-block-long Carnaby Street, which is crammed with a cluster of the 'gear' boutiques where the girls and boys buy each other clothing...

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Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?

Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?

The fashion show at the beginning of William Klein’s zany, irreverent, subversive 1966 movie is a scathing satire on the Paris couture houses of the time. It’s familiar territory for him – he’s been working for Vogue US for almost a decade.

 

Meanwhile, space-age fashion dominates the catwalks of Paris. André Courrèges, Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin in particular put a bomb under traditional notions of couture with their emphasis on short skirts, white boots, chain mail – clothes that can be carried off only by the jeunesse dorée.

During the first half of the decade, the direction in which fashion is moving is pretty clear: skirts are getting shorter and silhouettes boxier, with an emphasis on new materials and bold colours. Then the pendulum begins to swing from futuristic towards nostalgic. In the search for something more romantic, styles proliferate. Towards the end of the decade three different looks coexist:

  • Flower-power blossoms at San Francisco’s Summer of Love in 1967 and at Woodstock two years later.
  • Its close cousin, the ethnic / peasant look, is built around items such as Afghan coats, Mexican blouses and ponchos, Indian pantaloons, floor-length gipsy skirts and head scarves.
  • Finally there’s the ruffles-and-ringlets look  – all velvet, lace, frills and beads, taking its cues from Louis Malle’s Viva Maria! (1965), a romp set somewhere in early-20th century Latin America, where Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau get involved in various high jinks with a bunch of revolutionaries.

Want to know more about the sixties?

I embarked on this piece as a showcase for some of the sixties photos in my collection. In order to provide some context for them, I’ve highlighted various themes, events and movies. Inevitably my choices have been subjective and partial. There’s no way that this collage of words, images and video clips can do justice to the sixties. But hopefully it will give you a flavour of the era and pique your interest to find out more.

Three books from my library inspired and informed this piece:

  • Sixties Design by Philippe Garner
  • Antonioni’s Blow-Up by Philippe Garner and David Mellor
  • In Vogue: Sixty years of celebrities and fashion from British Vogue by Georgina Howell.

The Internet is full of information about the sixties including specialist websites about specific models and movie stars, directors and films, events and designers. Just google your interest.

Other topics you may be interested in…

Donyale Luna – the fashion world’s wayward moon-child
Paris after World War II – fact, fashion and fantasy
Veruschka and Rubartelli – a fashion legend

Filed Under: Fashion, Films, Photographers, Stars Tagged With: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Andy Warhol, Anita Pallenberg, Blow-Up, Bridget Riley, Carnaby Street, Christine Keeler, Darling, David Bailey, David Hemmings, Diana Rigg, Edie Sedgwick, Italy: the new domestic landscape, Jane Fonda, Jean Shrimpton, John Profumo, Julie Christie, Mandy Rice-Davies, Marianne Faithfull, Michelangelo Antonioni, Mick Jagger, Patrick Macnee, Pattie Boyd, Paul McCartney, Penelope Tree, Polly Maggoo?, Qui êtes-vous, Raquel Welch, Sandie Shaw, Sarah Miles, Sue Lyon, Susan Bottomly, The Avengers, The New Domestic Landscape, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Twiggy, Vanessa Redgrave, Veruschka

Short stories – for a quick break

Aenigma is all about images from the the worlds of fashion and the movies and the stories behind them.

Short stories is a good place to come if you don’t have time for one of the longer pieces. Below you’ll find a selection of shots that illustrate the range of subjects covered by aenigma. It’s a deliberately eclectic mix with, hopefully, something for everybody.

Use the filter buttons to home in on topics that might interest you, and then the Read more button to go to the whole story.

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Bull shoots Gardner

Bull shoots Gardner

1945. Clarence Sinclair Bull, head of MGM's stills department, with his thumb on the shutter-release button, looks intently at Ava Gardner. The year is 1945, Ava is 23 years old...

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Marilyn Monroe nude

Naked and glistening

May 1962. Marilyn Monroe sits on the edge of a swimming pool on the set of Something’s Got To Give. In the film she swims naked, and to generate advance...

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Age after beauty

Age after beauty

1956. Odile Rodin is well aware of her greatest assets and dresses to set them off to perfection. Born Odile Bérard, she has adopted the artistic name of Rodin to...

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Photography as a sex act

Photography as a sex act

1966. David Hemmings, as Thomas, straddles the writhing Veruschka in a scene from Michelangelo Antonioni's cult film, Blow-Up. It's about a hip fashion photographer who believes he has unwittingly caught...

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Ava Gardner, Virginia Hill and friends celebrate Hallowe'en

Hallowe’en in Hollywood

1941. Ava Gardner and friends at a Hallowe'en party. This is Ava's (front left) first year in Hollywood and it will be another six until she makes her breakthrough as...

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Picasso chats up Bardot

Picasso chats up Bardot

April 1956. Brigitte Bardot takes time out from the Cannes Film Festival to visit Pablo Picasso in Vallauris. In the sunny garden outside his studio, Picasso, one of the 20th...

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Marriage on the rocks

Marriage on the rocks

November 1945. Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, at the zenith of their careers, are out on the town. But things aren't going well. He is giving her the most furious...

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Romantically linked

Romantically linked

1963. One of the 20th century's greatest, most glamorous and tempestuous romances, played out in the glare of the media spotlight. Lust, booze, ­diamonds, yachts, jealousy – it had them...

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Dressed to thrill

Dressed to thrill

1999. Sophie Marceau steals the show as Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough, the 19th James Bond film. Beautiful, elegant, sophisticated, complex – really just your average Bond...

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Sylvia (Anita Ekberg) cools off in the Trevi Fountain in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita

Midnight fantasy

1959. Dawn has yet to break as Anita Ekberg (as Sylvia in Federico Fellini's iconic movie, La Dolce Vita) wanders into the Trevi fountain in Rome. This iconic scene in...

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Gene Tierney and Oleg Cassini at a fancy-dress party

Gene Tierney and Oleg Cassini at a fancy-dress party

26 January 1941. Gene Tierney, dancing with Oleg Cassini, exchanges smiles with actress Ruth Hussey (dressed as a rag doll) and producer Raphael Hakim (a sheik), reputed to be...

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Ludmilla Tchérina with Salvador Dali

Truly, madly…

11 December, 1969. Salvador Dali and Ludmilla Tchérina attend The Paris Lido's new show, The Grand Prix. Dali, the mad surrealist artist, attributed his "love of everything that is...

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Not what the studio ordered

Not what the studio ordered

8 April 1937. Two Tinseltown stars are caught off guard – no artful lighting, considered poses, careful composition. A true candid and not what the studio ordered. Here's the story,...

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Fashion and film

Fashion and film

May 1956. Richard Avedon looks over photographs with Arlene Dahl. Avedon, one of the 20th century's greatest photographers, is in Hollywood as technical advisor for Funny Face, starring Fred Astaire...

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Other topics you may be interested in…

Donyale Luna – the fashion world’s wayward moon-child
Movie stars of the 1940s – talent, savvy, looks and luck
Barbara Stanwyck in The Two Mrs Carrolls
Unsafe sex – the starlet’s dilemma

Filed Under: Behind the scenes, Events, Fashion, Films, Photographers, Press, Stars Tagged With: Anita Ekberg, Ann Rutherford, Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, Bill Josephy, Blow-Up, Brigitte Bardot, Clarence Sinclair Bull, David Hemmings, Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Tierney, La Dolce Vita, Ludmilla Tcherina, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Rooney, Odile Rodin, Oleg Cassini, Orson Welles, Pablo Picasso, Raphael Hakim, Richard Avedon, Richard Burton, Rita Hayworth, Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, Salvador Dali, Sophie Marceau, The World Is Not Enough, Veruschka, Virginia Field, Virginia Hill

Veruschka and Rubartelli – a fashion legend

Veruschka and her sisters
1968. Veruschka (second from left) and her sisters – Gabriela, Nona and Catharina. Photo by Franco Rubartelli. Read more.

Of all the 1960s models, none has a stronger presence, more distinctive looks or greater charisma than Veruschka. Franco Rubartelliʼs photos of her helped to create a fashion legend.

Diana Vreeland, US Vogue’s exotic, no-holds-barred editor-in-chief, gave the couple (and they were a couple, living together in a loft in Rome) carte blanche and they repaid her with some of the era’s most iconic editorial shoots, epitomizing late-sixties boho chic.

Veruschka’s story

The story starts in 1963 with Veruschka’s mother approaching Dorian Leigh. Leigh was one of the great models of the 1950s and has set up her own modeling agency. Her verdict:

She looked like a deer, awkward and yet so graceful. Her mother wanted me to take Vera’s younger sister as a model. The sister was smaller, blonder, prettier, but not magnificent like Vera. The next day Charlotte March took pictures of her, and they were incredible.

But Veruschka, still using her real name – (Countess) Vera von Lehndorff – is well over six foot tall. So in spite of Dorian’s advocacy, she has a tough time breaking into modelling. Nevertheless, there’s interest from a few photographers, among them Franco Rubartelli. Like Veruschka, he has yet to make a name for himself. But he’s mesmerized by her and the attraction is mutual. They are destined to become lovers.

1964 and 1966 are the turning points in Veruschka’s modelling career. In 1964 after an abortive visit to New York, she decides to take matters into her own hands and create a new persona:

Veruschka – contact strip
Around 1968. Veruschka by Rubartelli.

I said to myself, “You have to think of something,” … You shouldn’t just go to a photographer and show your book. Hundreds of girls do that. You have to do something so they will not forget you, so they will say, “That girl was really something different.” I had no doubts about myself. I knew I had something which was interesting and I wanted to work with that. So I said, “OK, now we have to find a way to make sure that others see it too.”

So I thought, “I’m also going to be a whole new person. And I’m going to have fun. I’m just going to invent a new person; I’m going to be Veruschka.” Veruschka was a nickname I had when I was a child. It means “little Vera.” And as I was always too tall, I thought it would be nice to say that I’m little Vera. And it was also nice to have a Russian name because I came from the East.

I decided this person has to be all in black. At that time everybody wasn’t wearing black. So I bought myself a cheap copy of a Givenchy coat — very narrow and just a little bit flared on the bottom, quite short, just covering the knee — a black velvet hat, and very soft black suede boots, which at that time people didn’t have. You could really walk like an animal in them. I thought I had to have this very beautiful walk. When I come in, it should be really very animallike.

So when I came back, I went right away to see Barbara Stone. I said to her, “You must tell all the photographers about this girl coming from the East, somewhere near Russia. Never be too clear from where exactly. She wants to travel to the States, and she wants to meet you because she likes your photographs. She’s very interested in photography. She’s really quite extraordinary. You should see her.” So of course they always said yes, because they were interested in another kind of girl.

I would arrive and say, “Hello, how are you?” And they would say, “Can we see some pictures?” And I said, “Pictures? I don’t take my pictures around with me. For what? I know how I look. I want to know what you do.” And then of course they got interested. I remember Penn saying, “Would you mind going over to Vogue?” He made the call.

My first trip to Vogue was very funny. I had seen Vreeland at Bazaar already, and she had made remarks. “Oh, you have wonderful legs,” or, “Your bone structure is wonderful,” or something. But then at Vogue she said, “Who is that girl? Put her name right on the wall. Veruschka,” she said, “Veruschka, you’re going to hear from me.”

Vreeland was after me all the time. So I called her and I said, “Listen, I would love to do a story about jewelry on the beach.” And she said, “Take everything and go,” and she would publish the whole thing. I could call up and say. “I would love to do this or that,” and she said, “Wonderful!” or often, “Maybe not,” but anyway you could talk. We were then becoming teams…

Rubartelli and Veruschka
Around 1970. Rubartelli and Veruschka relaxing. Photo by Pierluigi Picture Feature Service. Read more.

Rubartelli’s story

Born in Florence, Franco Rubartelli is a self-taught photographer, inspired by Swiss model Françoise Schluter, whom he meets, falls in love with and marries. His jealousy at his wife’s flourishing career prompts him to have a go at photographing his wife himself. He send the resutls to Vogue and gets the thumbs-up from Diana Vreeland. Soon the couple find themselves working for Vogue Italia but it’s not enough to save their marriage and in 1965 they part company.

Waiting in a hotel to meet a potential client, “a tall, skinny woman in a black cloak and long knee-high boots walked past and caught my attention.” No marks for guessing who she turns out to be. He asks Veruschka to drop by his studio with her portfolio, the two get on like a house on fire and the rest is history. They’re together for the better part of the next nine years.

The collaboration

There is no better team than Veruschka and Rubartelli. After a few shoots, Vreeland encourages Veruschka to come up with her own ideas. Taking her up on the offer, Veruschka poses in Japan’s snow country wearing a lynx coat and standing next to a sumo wrestler. In 1966 she does her first shoot wearing nothing but body paint (it will become a lifelong artistic pursuit). Most of the time she does her own make-up, hair and styling.

The most successful ones were done like that, because I was in charge of it. With the photographer we created the whole thing on the spot. We cut up the clothes even, if it looked better.

But Rubartelli remembers things a bit differently and highlights the contribution made by a third member of the team – Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, a textile designer turned stylist and designer.

Giorgio was unlike anyone else; his creativity was superior. He had been born in Florence, Italy, but had spent so much time outside of the country that he had forgotten the language a little; when he spoke, it was a funny [argot]. He was an original and very imaginative designer.

According to Rubartelli, the three would meet to develop themes and stories for shoots. The process involves many hours of thinking, sketching out ideas, doing tests, visiting museums, studying books and watching movies – sounds like fun.

For the next eight years, Veruschka and Rubartelli produce a series of editorial spreads that epitomize the free spirit of the late-60s/early-70s – fusing fantasy with glamour. It’s a partnership that calls to mind that of David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton in the early 1960s. But while Shrimpton was clearly the muse who sparked Bailey’s creativity, Veruschka plays a much more active, perhaps even the leading role in her collaboration with Rubartelli. She will go on to work with others such as Holger Trulzsch with whom she produces Veruschka: Transfigurations.

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Sant’Angelo collar

Sant’Angelo collar

1968. Veruschka models a collar by Sant'Angelo. Quite apart from the collar itself with its fetishistic overtones, there are so many wonderful things about this...

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The shirt dress

The shirt dress

1969. It's the year of Woodstock and this has to be the epitome of hippie chic with the gingham-print, suggestively-open shirt dress, beaded belt and...

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Romance in the air

Romance in the air

Around 1968. The earring is like a Christmas bauble. The bead-trimmed gauze shirt, the gently wind-ruffled hair and the parted lips make for a super-romantic...

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Shirt of the century

Shirt of the century

1968. It’s like a madcap, 60s take on Nell Gwynne, the celebrated mistress of Charles II of England, what with the costume, the wig and...

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I love this one, Franco

I love this one, Franco

1966. “I love this one Franco” reads the inscription by Diana Vreeland on the original print. Regally (how often do we talk about Veruschka in...

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Arizona dreaming

Arizona dreaming

1968. Veruschka, Narcissus-like, contemplates her luxuriant locks in the clear waters of a rock pool. This is a variant of a photograph that appeared in...

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Extravagant nomad

Extravagant nomad

1969. Surely the peak of boho chic, a fabulous embroidered maxi-coat trimmed with ostrich feathers. The ensemble completed by a pair of golden boots and...

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Hair by Alba and Francesca Rona, clothes by Mary Quant

Hair by Alba and Francesca Rona, clothes by Mary Quant

Around 1970. Forget about the clothes, dig that hair! Veruschka has no qualms about supplementing her own tresses for a mod take on big hair...

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Abstract art

Abstract art

Around 1968. Perched in an abstract landscape, Veruschka’s perfectly toned and bronzed torso provides a suitably sculptural foil for serpentine braiding that adheres so closely...

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Uncompromising

Uncompromising

Around 1968. With such a regal profile (reminiscent, perhaps, of Queen Nefertiti), it’s hardly surprising that Veruschka was born a countess. This is a strong...

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Sunset idyll

Sunset idyll

Around 1968. Veruschka eclipses the setting sun as she poses on a rowing boat in diaphanous drapes. And who could resist her come-hither gesture? This...

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Ebbing hem

Ebbing hem

1966. Big, bold prints like this have enjoyed several revivals but there's nothing quite like the original, especially when modelled in such a romantic tropical...

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Fairy tresses

Fairy tresses

1968. Tresses that seem to have a life of their own – snaking, frizzing and meandering from foreground to background to frame Veruschka’s contemplative profile....

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Queen of the jungle

Queen of the jungle

Around 1968. The days before animal rights… A combination of animal furs and prints that makes for an ideal jungle camouflage and perfectly complements Veruschka's...

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The ultimate cat suit

The ultimate cat suit

1968. Love the geometry of this shot. And even more, the fashionista approach to keeping fit! This image was published in the 15 April issue...

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In 1966 Veruschka stars as herself in Blow-Up, Michelangelo Antonioni’s cult film set in swinging London. With a nonchalance and audacity that only she could carry off, the single line she utters in the five-minute scene in which she stars is: “Here I am.”

Blow-Up seals Veruschka’s status as a celebrity in her own right. Offers come flooding in. In 1967 she is one of the highest-paid models in the world and she appears on the cover of Life magazine. The accompanying feature is titled Bizarre, Exotic, Six Feet Veruschka – The Girl Everybody Stares At.

But success is the beginning of the end for her relationship with Rubartelli. Always possessive, he gets more and more jealous. Even as things are falling apart, he invests all his money in Stop Veruschka, a film that bombs. With a mountain of debt, he leaves Rome for Venezuala and disappears from the limelight.

And the arrival in 1972 of Grace Mirabella to replace Diana Vreeland as editor of Vogue spells the end of Veruschka’s stint as a fashion model.

Veruschka with cheetah
1967. Veruschka and Rubartelli collaborate with a cheetah. Read more.

Want to know more about Veruschka and Rubartelli?

Unfortunately, Veruschka’s own website is currently offline. As well as an article in Vogue, which includes a link to Rubartelli’s Instagram diary, there are various books, including an autobiography, in German (which unfortunately I can’t read). Here, to be getting on with,  are my main sources…

  • Michael Gross’s book, Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women, for a great overview of Veruschka’s career as a fashion model (the lengthy quote above comes from here)
  • A.G. Nauta Couture’s article, Veruschka, the Amazonian Barbie, for a nice online summary (especially if you can’t get hold of Michael Gross’s book)
  • George Gurly, The First Supermodel-Veruschka, for an account of an encounter with the model
  • A.G. Nauta Couture’s article, Veruschka in perhaps the Most Epic Fashion Story, for an account of a shoot  in the mountains of Japan.

Other topics you may be interested in…

Donyale Luna – the fashion world’s wayward moon-child
Monica Vitti
Monica Vitti – a sad childhood, a glittering career and a bitter old age
The sixties – sex, drugs, rock and roll and a whole lot more

Filed Under: Fashion, Photographers, Stars Tagged With: Blow-Up, Diana Vreeland, Franco Rubartelli, Veruschka, Vogue

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