emmapeelpants

The essence of Jean Muir's popularity is elegant simplicity, but her work is amongst the most complex in construction. It takes immense skill to make it look so easy! Stunning black rayon dress in an absolute signature Muir style. Simple, sophisticated and striking. Anyone who knows me or reads my blog will know that I'm a total sucker for anything ruffly. I'm also borderline obsessed with neck ruffs. This dress has a divine ruffle around the neckline, giving it a very Pierrot feel. These flashes of exuberance in amongst the unassuming silhouette are a Muir trademark, and part of why her fans remain so loyal to her!

Sometimes, just sometimes, you can be lucky enough to get a garment which still has its manufacturer's label deep inside. Often this gives you little insights into the frock, the maker, the date, the fabric and sometimes even the name of the dress. John Bates was particularly fond of naming his dresses and this one has its label declaring its name to be 'Juniper'. I'm assuming this means the embroidered motifs on the lace trim are Juniper berries, how insanely adorable is that? The cut is pure Seventies Bates. Billowing sleeves, plunge neckline and heavily gathered skirt. The addition of the lace trim is pure perfection, giving definition to what might otherwise be quite a plain black frock. It's utterly romantic without being twee or silly. Bates is an absolute icon and thankfully is being better appreciated for his incredible body of work - and this is one of the loveliest Seventies frocks!

Lee Bender was not only a genius when it came to tea-dresses and wearable separates, she was also brilliant at creating wearable suits for women in the early Seventies. Mostly what we see are skirt suits, but her trouser suits were something of a trademark at the time - and are bizarrely somewhat rarer to find nowadays. This suit is a wonderfully relaxed, pyjama-style cut which would have been a superb alternative to floaty, plungey dresses for a groovy young hostess at the time (very similar to the Ossie and Jean Muir suits on my inspirational images page - see below). The trousers are, frankly, enormous in width and flare out beautifully from a typical high waist. The jacket is cut loosely and flares out from the gently gathered front yoke and completely freely in the back, it is then tied to fit in the waist with a completely separate satin tie. There are no belt loops, so presumably this is also an optional thing and you could just as easily tie the satin belt around your hair if you wanted to keep the jacket lovely and loose. I love Bender's work in satin backed crepe, and the way she used the satin to trim the jacket so beautifully at the collar and cuffs.

Breathtaking Biba dress from the early Seventies in a delicious flower print slinky, sheeny rayon fabric. A deep plunge front is framed by a sharp collar, which is also reflected in the super sharp pockets in the front. I love the flared sleeves which hold their shape thanks to stiffening around the hem, and the flippy little skirt. True to form, there's the distinctly art deco touch with the gorgeous buttons down the front (although it actually fastens with a side zip!). This is completely archetypal Biba from top to bottom, and moves so beautifully.

Utterly beautiful and very unusual dress by legendary boutique designer (and Miss Peelpants favourite) John Bates for his Jean Varon label. I have dated it to about 1973 because that year he was showing several different styles of dresses with these mesh and sequined backs (including spiders webs!). Crafted in a heavy black jersey, it looks almost monastic from the front with its buttons going all the way from the crotch up to the high neckline. The sleeves are simply cut, and it's otherwise a very unassuming frock. Turn around, however, and you are met with an 'impact back' in an oval mesh window - covered in a gorgeous, almost art deco, sequined floral design. When I met Bates a few years ago, he told me to 'surprise' people with my clothes - and this dress would certainly do that to perfection!

Stunning and very wearable button front halter neck Ossie Clark dress with beautiful Celia Birtwell garland print. It does have issues stemming from the notoriously unstable dyes used at the time and presumably a few glasses of champagne spilled down it (I like to think it was worn to a few hedonistic parties at the time!) so it is being sold as seen but structurally it is absolutely without problems and so you could easily have it shortened (for the price of a bottle of champers) and it would be immensely wearable. In many ways, I love a good flawed Ossie. My own wardrobe has many of them because I can wear them endlessly without worry, and I love the story you can just sense they possess!

Utterly fierce, in the best kind of way, is this amazing cheetah print Janice Wainwright dress from around 1970 and possibly one of the last she ever did for the Simon Massey company. Very transparent, just to warn you, and very sexy in a gossamer light lurex fabric. She's balanced it very beautifully; the transparency and brashness of the fabric is tempered by the lack of flesh on show. Much like her friend Ossie Clark, she was incredibly good at knowing how to flatter and enhance by covering up where necessary. But this is no cover-up for a shrinking violet. This requires a certain amount of chutzpah and some equally fierce hair and make-up!

Bus Stop were the high-kickin', fun-loving antidote to moody Biba on Kensington High Street in the 60s and 70s. Started by Lee Bender, and named to reflect their quintessentially British look. They also produced some of the finest Boutique clothing of the period, always wearable and flattering (so of course it's always hard for me to part with them...) Officially, well according to me, this is the sexiest Bus Stop dress ever! Long and lean in crushed black velvet, a fabric Lee Bender was very fond of using, with a sexy halter neck exposing your back. The real focus of the dress however is the sexy tied front feature which reveals a very sexy little segment of skin and cleavage.

Fabulous example of Barbara Hulanicki's fascination with 'granny' colours and old-fashioned stylings, this jersey dress has an incredible silhouette created by some serious typical Biba-style shoulderpads and some understatedly beautiful cutting. The wide waistband gathers the full top and bottom halves together without it looking frumpy or slouchy. The fine jersey, again a very typical Biba touch, is used to perfection by positioning the stripes so well. I love the billowing sleeves and the unusual length. It's not showy, not glitzy....but it's so very, very Biba and wonderfully flattering!

Sultry halter neck and skirt ensemble by Radley. Famed largely for their connection to Ossie Clark, Radley were also in the business of producing some seriously sexy, sassy own-label versions of his very distinctive deco-groupie style. This two piece, oh! so adaptable as separates as well, is made from delicious black moss crepe and cut beautifully to drape. The skirt is a very simple, straight cut from a high waist and the top is just dreamy. Banded with black satin to fit at the waist, then trimmed with blue bias satin around the top and to create the halter ties....it captures the decadence of the era so perfectly. The embroidered detail on the waistband is the finishing touch to what is one of the best Radleys I've seen yet!