... And the Bride Wore Hartnell

Another glimpse inside a 1960 British Nylon Spinners magazine, the publication that included the article about parachute silk. 

Such beautiful classic lines on the bride's dress, greatly enhanced by her swan-like neck - but what would you expect from a designer like Norman Hartnell?  A shame really that the bridesmaids' dresses are nowhere near as elegant.

Here is the bride again with the bridesmaids, flower girl and page.  The page is the lucky one, he is the only one not decked out in 100% nylon.  Who needs hairspray when you can generate your own static?

These pictures to me sum up the 60s.  Elegance is not yet dead, but it is slowly being swallowed up by trashiness.  I can't understand why so many people think 1960s fashions were glamorous and exciting, and refer to it as vintage fashion.  I am very much the same generation as the little flower girl on this picture.  I can remember all this stuff, and I didn't like it at the time. 

For me, the only redeeming feature in these photos is the fact that the wedding dress was by Norman Hartnell, who had already been going for years...

... as seen in this truly fabulous video.   Classic vintage fashion.  Just shut your eyes to the Bo Peep disaster.

Welcome to Cheryl, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Parachute Silk

Last September I posted a picture of a 1940s lingerie pattern which included instructions for laying the pattern pieces on panels of parachute silk.  Since then I have come across a gem of a second hand book - all the 1960 editions of the company magazine of British Nylon Spinners. There is a fascinating article about parachutes, which includes the wartime reminiscences of six BNS men who had been paratroopers.

These photographs were taken during a visit by members of BNS to GQ Parachute Company at Woking.

I'm not taken in by the coy nudge nudge caption (oh how very 1960).  Tom Squire only has eyes for the sewing machine.

It was interesting finding out that from some time in 1941 parachutes were no longer made from silk but from nylon.  Perhaps from now on I should refer to nylon as parachute silk.  It sounds far more exotic.