Put the Blame on Kenneth Jay Lane

In 1986 — when I was an undergraduate at Columbia College and some of you weren’t born — I got the book that made the long-forgotten Edie Sedgwick an icon. It was then called Edie: An American Biography (it has since been retitled Edie: American Girl) and it had been out for a few years, so a hard-cover copy was on sale for $1.99 at the bookstore. I read that book from cover-to-cover, beginning to end, backwards and forwards and every other way you can possibly read a book. I fantasized about being glamorous and tragically fucked-up like Edie. But I wasn’t rich and didn’t do drugs (my parents would have yelled at me, for God’s sake!), so I settled for wearing black leggings for years. Edie often wore a black leotard and/or black tights.

WendyB wearing leggings in Amsterdam in 1989. Click to enlarge.

Edie wearing a leotard and tights in August 1965 Vogue.

Edie is an oral history and one of the interviewees is costume jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane. In the book’s afterword, Lane said of himself:

“… In 1963 I invented costume jewelry for the beautiful people — was lionized by them and became one of the most splendidly beautiful of them — a genuine Sixties character! Handsome, tall, thin … sitting in the back of my vintage Rolls (and matching driver) wearing either my floor-length leopard — or monkey — or unicorn, coat — all of which have disappeared. ….”

I was enthralled by this image. (Lane was named to the International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1974. Click here to see him with Diana Vreeland in 1976.) I also knew that leopard fur was legal in the ’60s (it was banned by the U.S. in 1973) and that unicorns don’t exist (right?!?).

Jackie Kennedy created a craze for leopard. Photo from Blue Velvet Vintage. Click for more info.

But in those pre-Google days, I wasn’t sure whether monkey fur was like leopard — something people wore back in the day — or if it was imaginary like unicorn. It stayed in my mind as a symbol of a fascinating, decadent era. So,  last March, when I stumbled across a 1960s-era monkey-fur coat by the fascinating, decadent designer Jacques Tiffeau, I had to get it.

Fascinating, decadent model Donyale Luna and her fiance had matching monkey-fur coats. Click for photo source.

However, when the coat arrived, I thought it was a little scary in a hairy way. I also remembered that I detest monkeys.

I hate baboons even more than I hate monkeys.

I left the coat in the package it came in and pursued my newfound interest in Tiffeau in other ways.

I wore this Tiffeau dress at my pop-up shop in November. Click!

I finally wore the coat in December. I was going out with a couple of designing friends and figured they would appreciate an unusual fashion artifact. We had so much fun that we forgot to take a picture of it! So I wore it again a few days later for happy hour at Lure with a group including my photographically talented friend Tina.

Coat by Tiffeau, photo by Tina.

I highly recommend Lure’s happy hour: oysters are $1 each! We got 20 for four of us.

Tina, WendyB and Jacob at Lure. Photograph by Stacy.

If you like the look of my coat but detest monkeys … or fur in general (I don’t give a fuck what you think of my Tiffeau, thanks very much) … you can get a ’70s faux-fur-sleeved jacket by Giorgio Sant’ Angelo, another vintage designer I love, on 1stdibs.com.

Click to shop.

Speaking of Edie, back in 2007, Sienna Miller portrayed the Casey-Johnson-of-the’60s in Factory Girl. Sienna went to the after-party of the New York premiere dressed Edie-style in a black leotard and tights. (I was more conservative and wore black tights with a vintage Ossie Clark dress.)

Another photo of the real Edie in a leotard.

Sienna partied Edie-style, but without the amphetamine. I hope.

People everywhere went all fashion-police on Sienna’s ass, making fun of her about what they should have known was a cool tribute to Edie. Now the no-pants look is all the rage.

Lady Gaga

Beyonce

French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld

Sienna, in copying someone from 40 years ago, was way ahead of her time. Who’s laughing now, bitches?

UPDATED TO ADD: Miss Cavendish had Kenneth Jay Lane sign her copy of Edie! Check it out here.