Tuesday, June 28, 2011

"You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive..."


 Afghan coat - a sheepskin or goatskin coat made with fur on the inside and soft suede-like leather on the outside trimmed with fur. Sometimes with intricate embroidery decoration, but often crudely made, they were very popular from the sixties to the early seventies and were particularly associated with the mods, then later the hippie subculture. As boundaries were being broken between social classes, it became acceptable for anyone (including the young generation) to don one. Often they were lined with patchouli to cover the terrible smell of the fur - that is, if the fur wasn't artificial, as favored by the ecologically conscious. For those who could afford it, imports from the Middle East were preferred. Especially popular with British invaders like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, the trend faded when more streamlined man-made designs and fabrics took over in the late seventies and eighties.









































(Photos from Radical Rags, Rolling Stones 365 Days, vintage Vogues, Eye Magazine, and my screencaps.)

Sunday, June 26, 2011

A Day In The Life: Music Video


 The promotional video for "A Day In The Life" by the Beatles is fabulous. As it is, the song is rated the best Beatles song by Rolling Stone, so it only makes sense that it would have a trippy, star-studded video to accompany it! Most of the video (shot on February 10, 1967 during the recording of orchestration) contains clips recorded for a planned TV special and included shots of studio guests Anita Pallenberg, Donovan, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Marijke Koger of the Fool design collective, Michael Nesmith, Mick Jagger, and Pattie Boyd. Also in attendance were Brian Jones, Simon Posthuma (also of the Fool) and Graham Nash, though they aren't seen. I love how that dizzying amount of famous people are just hanging about, talking or laughing, like it's a party. It seems to paint a perfect portrait of the late sixties, 1967 in particular - trippy, psychedelic decadence enjoyed by a wilderness of stoned harlequins.

Anita Pallenberg


Donovan



 Keith Richards


Marianne Faithfull

Marianne and Mick Jagger

Marijke Koger





 Michael Nesmith


Mick Jagger



 Pattie Boyd














Nerd that I am, I searched out an alternate extended version, which included a sequence of Pattie in a feather boa:







(Screen caps by me, with a little help from Fanpix on the super fast Pattie shots.)