In 1966, my favorite designer, Ossie Clark, discovered rolls of unused snakeskin sitting in a warehouse. One of his snakeskin jackets was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2003.
Not my jacket, unfortunately.Photo of 1967 jacket from the V&A
He gave one of the snakeskin jackets to a woman who worked for him, in lieu of cash, according to the story I was told. Ossie was never very good with money. The woman struck a dramatic pose while wearing the jacket and accompanied by her Afghan hounds.
Thank you, Pat, for sharing this beautiful photo. Thanks to C20 Vintage for finding the jacket for me.Last year, I bought the jacket from the Afghan-owning lady. Tonight was the first time I wore it. Here I am striking a non-dramatic pose outside a drugstore with two uncooperative Pekingese.
My husband took this photo of me in Pat’s former Ossie jacket.
While I was looking for photos of Ossie’s snakeskin work, I found an incredible site devoted to model Suki Potier. She dated two tragic ’60s icons: Guinness heir Tara Browne (the “he blew his mind out in a car” reference in the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life“) and Rolling Stone Brian Jones. Suki is third from the left in the following photo. On the far left is Linda Keith, Keith Richards’s girlfriend, who is wearing a snakeskin jacket and matching skirt.
Photo courtesy of sukipotier.tripod.com
Sadly, Suki and her husband Robert Ho died in a car accident in 1981. The person who did the Suki Potier site has done wonderful tributes to these other beautiful (and often tragic) ’60s It Girls:
- Donyale Luna. One of the first African-American cover girls, she appeared in a sketch on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in 1965 and was shot by David Bailey for the cover of British Vogue in 1966. She was so hot that Time Magazine wrote about her in 1966. Yes, the word “Negro” was in use then, as you’ll notice in that article. Donyale died of an overdose in 1979. And here’s some info for all the angry fashionistas who repeatedly point out that current model Agyness Deyn changed her name: Donyale Luna was born Peggy Anne Freeman. Also, Twiggy‘s real name is Leslie Hornby; Cary Grant‘s real name was Archibald Leach; and John Wayne was born Marion Morrison. Get the fuck over it already!
- Kim Moon. The beautiful girl was only 17 when she married the Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, a few months before their daughter Mandy was born. Sadly, Kim died in a car accident last year. Her second husband, Ian McLagen, has a lovely memorial page for her here.
- Annette Walter-Lax. Keith Moon’s girlfriend after Kim left him. She was with him the night he died of an overdose of the drug meant to cure his craving for alcohol.
- Anita Pallenberg. She was with Keith Richards for many years (they had three children together; one died soon after birth) and, surprisingly, lived to tell about it. She appeared in Performance and Barbarella, among other films.
- Linda Keith. Before Keith was with Anita, he was with Linda. The song “Ruby Tuesday” was written for her. Miraculously, she is another survivor, married to musician/producer John Porter.
- Krissy Wood. She met future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood when she was just 16, thought they didn’t marry till seven years later. She died in 2005 at the age of 57.
- Talitha Getty. Beautiful, wealthy and addicted to drugs, the wife of John Paul Getty died of a heroin overdose in 1971. Her influence is felt in fashion to this day, in part due to an iconic photo of her taken by Patrick Lichfield on a rooftop in Morocco. Her red crepe evening dress by Ossie Clark was part of the V&A’s Ossie exhibition in 2003. Read Suzy Menkes’s story on the 2003 Ossie Clark exhibit here.
And here’s one more hard-partying It Girl for the road: Jo Jo Laine.
have you ever seen Stoned? it’s a film about Brian Jones end of days and portrays Suki as the most amazingly beautiful woman..
You look amazing in that jacket
though I’ve never been a fan of snake skin but some people just make it work!
I know I’ve told you this before, but I love Mondays solely because I can catch up on your weekend/ early Monday posts. You look smashing in the jacket and, as always, I love reading about tragic, beautiful people.
This one has plenty o’ tragedy. I could hardly tear myself away once I started reading about all of them. I’ve always planned to do Talitha and Donyale jewelry pieces but now maybe I’ll have to add some of the other ladies as well.
the jacket is so gorgeous, it is really interesting reading about those gorgeous 60s girls too.
I found an Ossie Clark dress the other day, Im scared about what to do with it.
@ Eli, congrats! Why are you scared?
Love the jacket on you. What a great find and story. And I enjoyed taking the trip down vintage fashion memory lane. . .I wish I was on a rooftop in Morocco.
That jacket looks great on you!
LOL. Your dogs look like they have minds of their own in that pic.
You wear that coat very well.
Now I’ll know who to look for on the streets 😉
@altamira, yes, I was complaining to my husband that Pat’s hounds posed so beautifully while my dogs are unhelpfully eating garbage off the sidewalk.
That jacket is to die for. You did a wonderful job modeling, uncooperative pooches and all 🙂
Thank you, 3P. Where most people see a sidewalk, Gigi sees a very long buffet table…
hey pretty lady!
i LOVE LOVE LOVE this post. i have been going through some personal stuff at home and dont have as much time to read lately. thanks for this post…it is good to have some cool facts/ppl/stories to occupy my mind right now!
Wendy, you look fabulous! I LOVE that jacket.
-green with envy(but beamin’ proud for u)-
Pictures of Suki Potier are just GREAT.
Thank you for posting the links and kind comments about my sites. I really appreciate it. I just try to pay homage to the muses who never seem to get any credit for changing history.
Also, I just updated the Suki Potier site!
Fantastic! Thanks for all your hard work, Jayme. I didn’t see any contact info on your sites or I would have emailed you to thank you sooner!
i have a thing for snakeskin, i dont own any but i have always loved it! And never ever sell or give that jacket away its perfect! and its great looking back at the photos of 60’s style, but hte stories behind them are far from great
first, drool…(an ossie clark snakeskin jacket?!)…um, when you got it did you curl yourself around it like a new love?
second, that c20 vintage shop you listed…AMAZING! just looking through their shop pages online made my heart faint, my mouth salvitate, my coin purse a bit lighter. i hate when i want things…
third, i had to snag the foto of the gettys…if things happen for a reason like a random feather getting stuck in my shoe and then finding that pic in the link you shared, it’s definitely pointing to some big life changing signs..like man tunics for everyone!
fouth, a talitha jewely piece sounds brilliant. after all, it’s pretty easy to figure what she’d put in her custom-made poison ring!
There’s one person missing fromthe commentary on those wonderful photos of the four models: Chrissie Shrimpton. Chrissie, as younger sister of Jean, consistently played second fiddle. But she was one of Ossie’s fave models, and, IMO,prettier by far than her sister.
Chrissie dated, andgot close to an engagement to, Mick Jagger. tghey had a volatile relationship. He’d betray her- she’d play tit for tat; he’;d comecrawling back. But it began falling apart badly in 1966. He wrote Stupid Girl and 19th Nervous Breakdown about her.Finally, he left her for Marianne Faithfull. She tried to commit suicide.Mick visited her in hospital, not to help her, but to tell her that he wouldn’t pay her hospital costs.
In desperation, she very soon began arelatioship with the man called ‘the next Mick Jagger’,Steve Marriott of Small Faces. Thatonly lasted a few months. There was a very public drug bust (which turned uop nothing on either of them) and then it was over.
Chrissie just disappeared from public life in the second part of the 60s. No one seems to know what happened to her.