Monday, August 3, 2009
Gorgeous blogger and vintage-clothing purveyor Miss Peelpants (aka Liz) alerted me to an Ossie Clark dress on eBay (aka, as Liz Tweeted, “the Bay of E”) that had the same Celia Birtwell print as an Ossie I recently bought from Miss Peelpants herself. There was a different color scheme though, so if even if you got the eBay dress, we would only be fraternal twins. Oddly, the auction has ended early because the item was “lost or broken.” I’ve never seen that line before!
My Ossie from Vintage-a-Peel
The eBay Ossie.
Remember to to snipe anytime you’re bidding on eBay. And if you ever get a dress like this, don’t go all Amish on my ass and wear a camisole under it. Ossie would have wanted you to share your amazing bosom with the world. Just invest in some Hollywood Fashion Tape and you’ll be fine.
Thinking of Ossie and Celia reminded me of someone they knew back in the day: Pauline Boty. Boty, a big, beautiful blonde, was one of the pioneers of British Pop art and the only woman among the four 20-something artists profiled by Ken Russell (Tommy, Altered States) in Pop Goes the Easel, a 1962 film about the scene that aired on the BBC. (The other three artists were Peter Blake, Peter Phillips and Derek Boshier.) A 1993 article in the Independent described her as the “darling of her generation” and “the heartbreaker of the Sixties art scene.”
Boty in Pop Goes the Easel, courtesy of Iain Fisher
You can see Boty doing the The Twist at a fabulous-looking party in this clip from Pop Goes the Easel. Keep an eye out for artist David Hockney, best buddy of Ossie and Celia, who sort of bunny-hops through the scene.
Boty went on to shake her moneymaker on the pop-music TV program Ready Steady Go! and had a small role in the movie Alfie. She also created paintings that often dealt with women and gender issues. Her 1963 Marilyn Monroe painting, “The Only Blonde in the World,” is now in the Tate Collection. A painting of Celia Birtwell called “Celia and Some of Her Heroes” is in Portugal.
Celia and Some of Her Heroes, courtesy of The Berardo Collection
“It’s a Man’s World II” from 1965 can be seen here. “Scandal 63,” a painting of Christine Keeler, whose affair with a British government minister created a major political scandal known as the Profumo Affair, has been lost, though the National Portrait Gallery has a photo of Boty with the painting here.A It’s a miracle that all of Boty’s works weren’t lost after her tragic death in 1966. She was only 28 years old and had been diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with her only child. After she died, her brother took most of her paintings and stored them somewhere on his farm. Luckily, in the ’90s, art historian David Mellor saw Pop Goes the Easel and was inspired to track down the paintings.
Mellor’s effort to find the paintings is, sadly, the one bit of posthumous good news for Pauline Boty. Eleven years after her death, her husband, literary agent Clive Goodwin, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in California. He had become very ill while at the Beverly Wilshire hotel. The hotel called the Beverly Hills police who decided he was drunk and threw him in a jail cell, where he died. Boty’s and Goodwin’s artist daughter, named Boty Goodwin, died of a drug overdose in 1995 at the age of 29.
When you stop crying into your keyboard (happy Monday, y’all!) and want to learn more about Pauline Boty, here are my favorite links:
- The National Portrait Gallery has 27 beautiful photographs of Boty. They also have a rather terrifying copyright/usage warning, which is why I didn’t use any of those photos here.
- Photos by John Aston are here.
- The Tate has a biographical video about her here and there’s an article by Michael Bracewell, the dude in the video, here.
- There was a good article in The Guardian in 2004, and I already mentioned the Independent’s 1993 article.
- Clive Goodwin’s death is described in various places as occurring in 1978, 12 years after Boty’s death, but two contemporary accounts seem to place it in 1977. This obituary blames Goodwin’s death on American capitalism, because, apparently, no one has ever died from police incompetency in the Britain of Greatness. And here is a short item from the Village Voice.
It seems like the It Girls collection in my jewelry line is crying out for a Pauline Boty piece. Don’t you agree? And speaking of collections, don’t forget to check out the Fall ’09 Francis line on my other blog.
Great info Wendy, but I MUST say;
Nice cleavage darrrling!
Hey sweet Wendy(!!!! OMG…)
woooooow, your Ossie Clark dress is AWESOME!
You look stunning, dear!!
Wishing you a wonderful week!!!
xoxoxo, S.
I love that print, so pretty.
I do hope they haven’t really lost or broken the Ossie. I don’t like to think of a broken Ossie, let alone a lost one.
Am now very fascinated by her story. I feel like I knew the name from around, but had never really read up on her. David Hockney is very amusing in that clip, and did I see one woman twisting so hard she fell over? Or was that the point of the dance?
Love the people clinging to the wall refusing to dance as well….
You look great in that Ossie Clark dress!
haha! You’re so right about NOT wearing a camisole underneath!
Twitter: sallymcgraw
says:
Damn, so much tragedy for one family. Jeebus, Wendy, way to crap up an already-crappy Monday morning!
Twitter: WendyBrandes
says:
Yeah, sorry about that, Sal!
That vintage dress is gorgeous and would be perfect for showing off your bosoms. Boty is pretty. Surprisingly this is the first I’ve ever heard of her.
great dress! the print is so cute!
did you love emma watson’s ossie clark dress shw wore to her premiere?
Hi Wendy,
I love Ur floral vintage Ossie dress…Great choice. U are really pretty!
XoXo
“Lost or broken” sounds fascinating. My guess is, the owner decided to wear it for one last night of raucous celebrations, and an accident befell the unfortunate garment…
I don’t come across many cool people called Pauline, thank you for the name-sake boost!
i like the colors of your dress a lot more.
I love that dress, though like the length on yours better…totally with you, the cami would have to go!
Gorgeous! How do you recommend wearing a bra under a dress that plunging?
Wow there’s a lot of great info in this post. Don’t worry, I would never go amish on your ass (love this line) but I seriously doubt that tape would be of any use on my bosom! And the story of Pauline Boty is pure tragic. Fascinating though. That poor child.
Wendy, a well researched and well written post…definitely worth the wait!
I love your forays into biography on your blog, even if they are a bit of a downer sometimes.
Twitter: bonbonrosegirls
says:
You find the most amazing pieces! That dress looks tres gorgeous on you!
i love your vintage dress! and your fine bosom! hhahaha
those ossie ebay dresses are spectacular !
lol @ amish
That is a really pretty picture of you.
And my antispam word is appropriate: “heybaby”
I was totally going to comment on that demure ebay photo with the camisole, but then you did it for me! (And my word was believe!)
Love your dress, WB!
xoxox,
CC
I am suspicious about “lost or broken”, more likely a friend said I HAVE to have it. What a sad, disjointed family story. I’d really enjoy seeing you create a piece to honour her.
Wow, what a tragic history. I can’t believe the life that woman had, and she died at such a young age. The BH Police’s handling of Goodwin’s condition was a complete cockup. Quelle dommage.
You have to do the Boty piece now.
BTW: You look gorge in that dress. I love that colorway on you, and the print is whimsical-with-an-impact!
Er, that should be “quel dommage,” not “quelle dommage.” It’s masculine, not feminine. Sorry!
You look fuckin gorgeous in that dress. Makes me want one…even without an ample bosom…
Someone needs to invent push up pasties so I can get an Ossie!
Ok I WAS on the verge of tears. That is so sad. But to have lived and be recognized for something is better than living in obscurity.
I haven’t got the (amazing) cleavage you have, so I’d be Amish and wear it with a camisole. LOL.
WOW!!! YOU are the Icing on this FABULOUS BLOG – Solely FABULOUS YOU ARE!!!
Dude, I’m so amish except about my legs. I’d never heard of Pauline Boty before, fascinating. I had someone close an auction on ebay for the item being lost or broken, however it was a ceramic piece. I messaged them and they had found that the piece had broken and really well-repaired, and then agreed to sell it to me. I can’t imagine a broken dress!
WB, you look absolutely stunning!!!
I love your mind. I love your curiosity. I love that you so willingly share both with us, which brings me to wonderful blog. I love your talent. And I adore you, WendyB. Hey, I know I’m gushing, but I can’t help it right now.
LOL ref the camisole comment – so true. better to show your bra than a cami!
My anti-spam word is appropriately “Goddess”!
Lol about the camisole, and you’re right
beautiful dress – the style & colour really suits you
I love the dress! I agree…no going Amish…show off some cleavage if anyoen buys it and wears it!
My anti spam word is goddess, which you look like in this Ossie, its just adorable on you!!
I love both Ossie dresses and you are so right about the camisole, as well as the Pauline Boty jewelry piece.
Your deep v looks more v than the eBay dress. After three children, I now have cleavage, which has actually messed up the way I dress. I still think like a 34 A . . .
That dress is amazing and I agree – it looks so much more awesome without a cami.
Ah so rad. The length of the dress is perfect on you.
hmmm. i was once bidding on a marc jacobs bag and the auction just stopped. i sent a message to the seller, and she just said she decided not to sell it. hmfp!
A gorgeous print. The dress looks great! A perfect find.
the print and colors of the dress look stunning on you! and maybe the ebayer decided at the last minute that she couldn’t part with the ossie.
Was that other Ossie shortened? Tragic, if so. I prefer your print!
Stupid slow work computer, I can’t upload any of the Boty.
- “And if you ever get a dress like this, don’t go all Amish on my ass and wear a camisole under it.”
Too funny!!
I’ll remember that tip. Can I do just a bit Ami-eesh and go for a low cut cami? I don’t know if Minnesota is ready for my bosom! =)
Twitter: FrancesASales
says:
Oh, WendyB! You look amazing in that dress and that dress looks amazing on you!
Ooooh! I love Ossie dresses. I have a long black one that has a small repair on the sleeve but it’s amazing. I was so happy when I found it in a shop and paid £60 for it. The Celia prints are amazing, I wish I could afford one!!! cxx
Oh,i love your dress so much, and it can make people become so charm when wearing it.