Britt Ekland

Beautiful Britt Ekland

Britt and Peter Sellers

Long Blonde Hair and Eyes of Blue
Swedish-born actress Britt Ekland had the kind of sensual, pouty, kittenish blonde looks that had worked such wonders for French bombshell, Brigitte Bardot and while the Swedish beauty never quite reached the Goddess stature of Bardot, she nonetheless left her mark on the swinging 60s set and beyond, acquiring some famous love-interests along the way.

Ekland's rise to International fame began while she was making a film in Rome in '63. Sitting in a side walk cafe sipping a cappuccino with an American  friend, she was approached by a stranger who, struck by her extraordinary beauty, asked her if she'd like to meet the then head of 20th Century Fox, Daryl F Zanuck. Following the whiff of stardom to the US, Britt was signed to a contract and sent off to drama school to sharpen her acting skills and ready her for the English speaking market.
Some of Ekland's more notable  film credits include The Man with the Golden Gun, The Wicker Man, After the Fox and The Bobo.

Teenage Idol

Ever since the term "teenager" was invented, there's been moves to create the one, a role-model youth who would have the rest of the mob longing either to be them or have them. The first post-war, manufactured, young teen idols (as opposed to bobby soxer magnet Frank Sinatra, who was a mature man of 45 by 1950) were probably Frankie Avalon and Ricky Nelson, who were a 1950's phenomenum and there have been teenage idols in every decade since. Usually the idols were male but females have been on top of the teen pedastal too - Sandra Dee, Gidget and Hayley Mills, just to name a few. However they never had quite the same pulling and selling power as the boys, which yank all the right strings in the tender hearts of tweens.

WC Fields

A Clown with a Voice

Born William Claude Dukenfield in 1883, WC Fields was one of the most popular comedians of the 1930's. His rotund physique, irascible visage, drawling, elongated voice and cynical, wisecracking personality was irresistable to depression-era filmgoers, looking for relief and a temporary escape from the harsh conditions of the time.

1960s Shoes

The Influential Mods

Modern Go-Gos

The British Mod movement in the early half of the 1960s defined much of that decade's style - as everyone knows, it was a revolutionary period in fashion as well as attitude. Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon, Ben Sherman helped set the tone for hair and clothes and for shoes, designer Beth Levine re-introduced the boot to 60s women and Andre Courrages took it to new levels of funkiness and the white boot became emblematic of the era.

Boots came in various colours and designs to suit mods and non-mods -fur lined ankle boots, white gogo boots in various heights, riding boots, brown or black leather knee-highs, classic blue and white canvas gym boots and later, lace-up Granny boots.

A Shallow History of the Face Lift

The Eternal Quest for Youth and Beauty
As we grow older, we (some of us) become susceptible to the lure of the fountain of youth, preferring to believe in the promise of plastic surgery, rather  than accept the realities of aging. Thus notions of "growing old gracefully" are vanquished to the outer reaches, while we do a cost/benefit analysis of  plastic surgery.

Although we do live in a particularly shallow media-driven culture where youthful image rules, the desire to extend the appearance of youth is nothing new. Even the ancient world dabbled in plastic surgery and in modern terms, surgeons have been performing face-lifts since the beginning of the 20th century.

It began with the discovery that a simple incision in front of the ear,  the removal of a slice of skin and stitching the whole thing back together as discreetly as possible could make the face tauter and thus more youthful. This 'mini-lift' was popular in Paris among film stars and the vain and well-to-do.

Scottie Dog

Sweet Scottie vintage fruit box label

Scottish Terriers: The Decorative Dog
Scottie dogs, with their distinctive, stylised looks and appealingly earnest facial expressions, have long been a popular 20th century motif for fashion, ornaments and various what nots and bric a brac. They ooze character and have a kind of retro, old-fashioned charm - possibly because their image can be found on so many old  tea towels, cake tins, calendars and brooches etc. Like the poodle, they possess a serious style cachet and were particularly sought after, as decorative accents, from the 1920s through to the 1950s. They even had the distinction of being a Monopoly playing piece.

Raffles Hotel: A Colonial Icon

Raffles Hotel, Singapore

Colonial Splendour
Raffles Hotel in Singapore is a world famous remnant of the colonial era. Built in 1887, the 104 suite hotel was the  vision of four Armenian brothers - Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak Sarkies, who named it after Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore.

Although now multi-cultural, in the colonial era the hotel's gracious facilities were strictly for the patronage of European guests and not the local native Singaporeans. It wasn't until the 1930s that Asian guests were permitted.