she was a working girl north of england way, now she's hit the big time in the usa

I am currently so inspired by the swinging sixties fashions of the 1968 film Petulia, starring Julie Christie - fresh from her megastar-turning roles in Doctor Zhivago and Fahrenheit 451 - in the title role. Directed by Dick Lester (the kook genius behind both the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night and Help!), the film tells the story of a young San Franciscan socialite named Petulia who is unhappily married to an abusive man. At the start of the film, Christie's character announces, "My name's Petulia Danner. I've been married for six months and I haven't had an affair yet." Well, this fact quickly changes when Petulia becomes smitten with a doctor by the name of Archie Bollen, falling for him after she watched him treat an injured young boy. On their first formal evening together, Petulia tells him that they ought to get a hotel room and details for him her plans for their marriage. As luck would have it, Bollen has recently begun divorcing his wife and is able to begin a relationship with the beautiful Petulia as he seeks to sort out his now complicated relationships with his ex-wife (and her new boyfriend), his children, and friends. 

The film is a treat not just for it's fashions, but also for it's appearances by a Janis Joplin-led Big Brother & The Holding Co. and the Grateful Dead. Fourth down on the far left side of the collage is a photo of Petulia taken out of an apartment on a stretcher, and you can see members of the Dead as well as Janis among the hippie onlookers. 

I think this film is one of the most important films of the Swinging Sixties period in London - not just for its fashions (which are to die for - there were too many outfits for me to even include!) but for its daring plot, quirky take on romance and marriage, and it's cutting edge non-linear structure. 

Title: from "Honey Pie" (The Beatles)

and you, you keep me warm

I'm going through bit of a Doctor Zhivago stage - all I want to do is wear ridiculously delicious-looking (faux) fur cossack hats. I blame the blistering winters of upstate New York. I'm not advocating or even condoning the wearing of fur - in this day and age, with so many other fantastic-looking alternatives are out there, I don't understand why you'd want to buy the real thing - but it surely is a fantastic look, isn't it? Websites like ASOS have excellent faux versions of the look, so now all of us (even the veggie-eaters!) can look like we're living la vida Zhivago

Pattie Boyd (but were any of you surprised I put her on the list?)

High society gals in the sixties even gave the look a try

Janis Joplin, with good friend Grace Slick, in her signature hippie-luxe threads

A page from a 1967 issue of Look Magazine

Jean Shrimpton keeps warm

Audrey Hepburn braves the cold in 1963

A Love Story-era Ali MacGraw

Dhani Harrison and Sasha Pivovarova in a sixties-inspired shoot for Fashion Rocks 

The cast of Doctor Zhivago - Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, and Omar Sharif 

I have a strange obsession with the style of Grace Jones, and her take on the cossack hat does nothing to quell that obsession

Former Disney starlet Hayley Mills

Elizabeth Taylor does the fur look (and - no surprise - she looks glam doing it!) 

A fantastic Jane Birkin-inspired photoshoot

Ingrid Boulting on the cover of the November 1974 issue of Vogue UK

The beautiful Miss Gemma Ward

Knowing a heavy fur jacket isn't enough of a statement outfit, Jane Asher adds a fur hat for good measure

Kate Moss poses for a winter-inspired photospread for Vanity Fair

Lauren Hutton, in a very luxe look

A shot of Marilyn Monroe, from her infamous "Last Sitting" portrait session with photographer Bert Stern

The inimitable Marlene Dietrich

Folk-starlet Melanie Safka

The model of this gorgeous Vogue cover is a mystery - a lot of people credit the pic to Penelope Tree, but I agree with the genius over at Youthquakers, who believes it's Lesley Jones

Here's the actual Penelope Tree, doing her take on the fur hat look

Always the fashion icon, Penny Lane tries her hand (or head) at the look

The lovely Romy Schneider 

There's a reason why those Moscow girls made Paul McCartney scream and shout

An excellent street style example of how to rock the fur hat

Another from Fashion Rocks - this time taking inspiration from Janis Joplin

In this statement-making look, it's easy to see why Jean-Paul Belmondo was so in love with Ursula Andress

A timeless - yet incredibly on-trend - example of the fur cossack hat

No surprise that perennial fashion risk-taker Cate Blanchett pulled off this look without a hitch in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Title: from "Keep Me Warm" (Ida Maria)

there is a blizzard occurring outside my window now...

I think I'm going to have to pull a Doctor Zhivago look today if I ever want to make it outside my door. I knew I should have bought that vintage fox fur hat when I saw it!