Strolling around Derby yesterday – a fine city much damaged by the motor car and the urban planner – I dropped in to a grand Georgian house that I'd never visited before: Pickford's House museum of Georgian life and costume, the former home (and professional showcase) of a successful provincial architect, Joseph Pickford. I had a look around the re-created interiors, all very nice, and a rather charming display of toy theatres, but what most caught my attention was a temporary exhibition titled The Peacock Revolution, an Exhibition of Men's Fashion from 1966-1970. The clothing on show all comes from the private collection of Peter Feely, a Derby man with a particular interest in the late Sixties – which was of course the period in which I lived out my late teens, of which the less said the better. The clothes come from such famous boutiques as Granny Takes a Trip, Hung on You, Take 6, Lord John (where I bought my wedding suit) and Apple Boutique. Wandering around, enjoying the accompanying period-appropriate music, I found myself marvelling at how utterly gorgeous these creations were, in design, in cut, in materials. They were mostly high-end products, too expensive for most pockets, but something of their decorative gusto and design flair did filter down into the wider population (myself included, I guess: I remember a black velvet jacket of rakish cut, a dangerously tight and long overcoat, some rather startling crushed-velvet trousers, an embroidered kaftan...). And now look around you at what men, even young men, are wearing – did we ever live in a most sartorially dreary, unglamorous age? A new Peacock Revolution is long overdue.
Another picture: I call this one Self-Portrait with Fab Threads –
Ha! Couldn't agree more, Nige. That's why I buy my jackets from the women's section of Joe Brown's catalog. It helps being small enough to fit...
ReplyDeleteGood thinking, Ron!
Delete"No man before ever ate such elaborate dinners in such ugly clothes." said GK Chesterton somewhere, presumably referring to the early 20th century. Perhaps the 60s were one of the brief bright flares of male fashion and actually, sadly, the norm is usually dull and drab.
ReplyDeleteI fear you're right, Zoe, though before the 19th century male dress was anything but drab – look at those Elizabethans! The rot set in with Beau Brummel, godfather of the three-piece suit – not that I've anything against suits. The sheer slovenliness of contemporary male dress is as bad as the drabness, if not worse. Thank heavens there are still some gay men making an effort...
Delete