fill me with song, allah, kiss me once more, that i may, that i may wear my love like heaven

I always knew that the readers of DRG were special little dollies - everyone I've spoken to, emailed with, and blog-stalked has a passion for the retro, the beautiful, the impractical, the magical, the bohemian, and the glamorous. Imagine my excitement when I opened my message inbox this morning to see emails of links on museum exhibits (ooh la la McQueen à la MoMA), concerts, and interviews with glamazons like Debbie Harry and Florence Welch. A special merci to a certain fabulous San Franciscan who thought of moi when she saw a piece in the Los Angeles Times. 

The piece is on Pattie Boyd and her upcoming photography exhibit on Catalina Island. As it turns out, Catalina holds a spot close to Pattie's heart. A recent rediscovery of photographs from early 1971 contained images of Pattie's first-hubby George Harrison deep-sea fishing off of Catalina just weeks prior to his landmark Concert for Bangladesh event. 

I am definitely diggin' this article because it captures the dreamy sweetness and loveliness that Pattie was so known for. The article says, as follows, "Boyd gazed at those photos with her cornflower blue eyes. She broke into the slightly gap-toothed smile that made her stand out among the other models of her era and reflected on the image ... She sighed and added: 'We were all so young and beautiful.'" 

Her last comment is such a definitive statement of the sixties - it was a decade when everyone was young and beautiful, a collection of multi-colored dream children walking so high they didn't touch the ground. Despite what she thinks - and despite the passing of years and youth - Pattie is still incredibly beautiful. 

Check out the article here, as well as a sneak peek at Pattie exhibit  

Title: from "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" (Donovan)

summer romance

This is my first attempt at personal style photos, and I am going to offer up a disclaimer: I am not trés chic. I enjoy fashion, but I do not fancy myself to be a bohemian Glamourai, nor a gal who can dive into a Sea of Shoes (though, in all honesty, I could dive into my shoe collection... it's just not as enviable as that of my fellow Texan). I love photography, but I'm never done selfies so please don't judge the (low) quality of my pictures. Hopefully I'll improve in time. 

I found this fantastic white macramé fringe piece, dubbed the 'Gypsy Rose' vest, by Winter Kate during a recent visit to Neiman Marcus (the vest can be purchased here). Nicole Richie (the designer of the line) has an excellent 70s style and her penchant for vintage-inspired looks is perfectly channeled into her clothing line. 

I paired the vest (which I took the liberty of spinning around like a six-year-old in) with a red paisley tunic from Winter Kate's debut collection. It's not visible in the photos, but the tunic has a super deep v-neck so a camisole and clever styling is necessary in order to maintain my modesty. I love the tunic's light billowy feel made from vintage silk, the long drape-y sleeves, and the rough unfinished edges at the cuffs and hem. 

With the two Winter Kate pieces, I completed the look with a pair of my beloved Hue jeggings, some trusty chandelier earrings in colors of pink and red, and a pair of Deco-inspired shoes by Minna Parikka. I love the combination of red, purple, dusty rose, muted gold, and chocolate brown - it is so romantic and summery to me. The overall look was inspired by the 70s-meets-30s soft photography of David Hamilton, whose models are always the embodiment of vintage and modern. With the 70s-inspired bohemian Winter Kate pieces, with the Deco-style shoes and modern-day jeggings, the look was aimed to reference both past and present. I wanted the colors to reflect the romance of seventies summers. 

I am still in the process of figuring out what I want to do with my hair. A couple of months ago I took the plunge and darkened my blonde locks so that I could try the ombré look. After almost six months, I think I am ready to try something new - I'm not sure if I want to go back to full-on blonde (so boring to me after twenty towheaded years) or try a redder strawberry blonde, or something completely wild altogether - like peroxide Debbie Harry blonde or something. 

My hair is naturally wavy, and I lucked out that the waves were somewhat presentable that day. I've become less and less of a fan of brushing my hair over the years, which usually isn't the best on days my hair looks full-on Carrie Bradshaw during the early years (... and I've learned from personal experience what works on SJP doesn't necessarily work on little old me). One of my favorite looks for my hair is to twist the front pieces back and clip on the sides of my head - it's incredibly easy to do and it looks so cute, and it has helped me out on many occasions when I simply don't know what to do with my still-growing-out fringe. Plus, I think it looks better as the day goes on and pieces begin the fall out of the clips - it looks so effortless and hippie fab. 

So, what do you think? Should I continue with personal style posts, or should I abandon this fashion foray? Is there any missing - or have I rambled on too much? I would love any and all feedback, except comments that one eye is smaller than the other. I am already paranoid about that. 

submerging from your world and back into my bliss, a day rolled into one is burning on my lips

I can’t believe I never put two and two together – but the model of one of my all-time favorite Esquire covers (under the art director of George Lois) was none other than Warhol superstar Susan Bottomly. Susan was featured as “The New American Woman: through at 21” in the February 1967 issue as the glammy girl sticking out of a rusty trash can. Of the infamous image, Lois said “So I had her with her tush in the garbage can. I gotta tell you, some women hated it, but plenty of them were laughing their asses off. My wife said that she went to a beauty parlor that week, the month when it came out, and they hung it in the beauty parlor and the women were laughing their heads off.”

The cover article for which Bottomly posed for was heavily revised to fit the statement-making image – “The article described a pseudotypical Los Angeles woman, prone to suicide, sexually jaded, hooked on pills and astrologically obsessed, who was supposed to be the wave of the future for all American women coming into their early 20s,” explained a Time article from 1967.

The image comes from a 1966 photo session that Susan (who was by then Andy Warhol's partying partner-in-crime and dubbed "International Velvet") posed for with Warhol, by legendary photographer Carl Fischer. 

Title: from " As If By Magic" (La Roux)

David Bailey: Rock and Roll Heroes

Just a sampling of contact sheets of the 'rock and roll heroes' from the sixties captured by the photographer who defined the decade, David Bailey 

 A photo sheet of Bailey's wife from 1965-1972, Catherine Deneuve, pictured here just following her stint in Repulsion and her marriage to the photographer in 1965

British Pop Artist David Hockney, creator of the 'joiner' style of art (otherwise known as photomontage) and one of the leaders of the British art scene

David Bailey's former fiancee Jean Shrimpton, who has stated that she owes her entire career as the most prolific model of the Sixties to the photographer, pictured here in 1965 

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, of whom Bailey said, "I felt a bit of animosity between these two, that's why I did them looking different ways..."

The famed Kray Twins, Reggie and Ronnie, well-known perpetrators of organized crime in London's East End who become celebrity-nightclub owners of the Swinging London scene. Bailey was friends with the brothers, saying of his time with them that, "Ron was scary. Reg wasn't so scary. 'Dave, Dave,' he used to whisper, 'I wish we could have done it legit-like.' He used to send me poems ... I mean they were terrible people. Don't get me wrong." 

Mrs. Frank Sinatra, Mia Farrow

An Alfie-era Michael Caine

Of Mick Jagger, Bailey said, "Mick was a mate. He was always around ... It was a pleasure to work with Mick." 

Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate, taken shortly before her pregnancy

The happy couple seen during the same photo shoot but goofing around a bit more than the tender embrace they held in the set of photos in the previous contact sheet

The Rolling Stones, a group that Bailey called "the best rock and roll band that ever was," pictured in 1968. A photo from this session, with Brian Jones turned the opposite direction of the camera was used on the release of the single "Child of the Moon" 

David Bailey, describing how his friend Jagger differed from the rest of the band: "He was a bit bourgeois Mick, but the rest were wild ones." 

While Bailey was more of a Rolling Stones fan than a Beatle nut, Bailey did some great work in this photo session with John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Bailey noted that the Beatles "were just a boy band in the beginning with silly suits and silly haircuts, they were way out of date. I only liked their stuff after the White Album."

Ironically, this photo session took place three years before Bailey started 'liking' their work. 

you got me heels over head

Earlier today, I was doing some casually internet-stalking (as I so normally do) and I found a photograph of Edie Sedgwick on tumblr that really reminded me of a previous photo I'd seen of her. It wasn't just the peroxide blonde cropped 'do or the painted eyes or even the monochrome-minimalist wear that she so rocked that triggered my memory - it was her pose. 

Hoisting her lower body up in the air, allowing her dancer legs to be shown off to the nth degree, was Edie's go-to pose in a lot of modeling as well as Factory shots. There's a light-heartedness to these photos, and that's how I like to think of Edie - a free-spirited young woman, happy enough with her life to kick up her legs and have a laugh. 

(*sidenote: my yoga instructor says that this is a really good position to practice, especially if you want to strengthen your back*) 

change clothes, and go

Natalia Vodianova was granted the wish of girls everywhere when she dressed up as some of fashion's most iconic models. Look through the photos to see how she and the Vogue crew successfully captured the essences of everyone from Dovima to Veruschka.

credit: US Vogue Magazine, May 2009

Bardot does Chaplin

Brigitte Bardot is photographed on break from filming Viva Maria! in Mexico 1965. According to Willi Frischauer's biography on the star, Bardot: an Intimate Biography, Bardot would perform splendid impersonations of the legendary Charlie Chaplin in order to pass the long months on the hot Mexico set, despite never seeing a Chaplin film. These are several photos from the rarely-seen shoot.

Photographer: James Hyman, London

a harrison boy is always in fashion...

Wow, this spread from Fashion Rocks! is so old it's practically vintage now, isn't it? While you ignore my lame attempt at a joke, please enjoy reminiscing to a simpler time full of opulence and fantasy - I'm talking about circa 2007, when these photos were taken, NOT the sixties. Again, lame joke aside, this is perhaps one of my favorite photoshoots of recent years. And I love that Dhani's outfit in the lower left corner is quite similar to his dad's at the rooftop concert so many years before.

those freaks was right when they said you was dead

Okay this freaked me the fuck out when I saw this. Look at Paul's feet in the first photo, and compare to the second photo. Haha all you Faul theorists! Our boy was wearing shoes for the first part of the photo shoot, but then obviously just wanted to walk barefoot on hot asphalt instead. Duh.

there's a little bird that somebody sends down to the earth to live on the wind

When I was younger more naïve, I used to believe I was Ruby Tuesday from the eponymous Rolling Stones song. I don’t know why – after all, I was a teenager from the 21^st century city, not a swingin’ sixties groupie who got busy one time with Keith Richards (no matter how much I wish my life was otherwise). Well, I guess if Anne Hathaway can believe that Blackbird is about her, than I can be forgiven for thinking Ruby Tuesday was about me.

She would never say where she came from

Yesterday don’t matter if its gone

That’s the only bit of the song I don’t really agree with. But then again, its so freaking gorgeous that I love it anyways. I understand the whole “you can never go home again” thing, so not talking about your past is not only the best solution, but the only solution. The lyric that follows, "yesterday don't matter if its gone," is the one that really has kept me from being Ruby Tuesday. I can't embrace it into my life, I can't make myself believe it. If I agreed with the sentiment that whatever happened in the past doesn't really count for anything, I wouldn't have a blog which celebrates decades past, now would I? Not only does the past matter to me, its everything to me. I am not a full-functioning 21st century gal - I need the past to give me a little help in my boring hum-drum life. Vintage Vogues and Sixties memoirs are my kind of heroin - daily doses of the retro help me to get by. I need my fix.

And now for your fix, here are some lovely ladies from the sixties: