Darling, Do Lunch!

Talking about ladies who lunched yesterday immediately reminded me of this very old Follow Me photoshoot. I love this! The photography, the fashion editing, the styling, the page design; it really puts me strongly in mind of Harper’s Bazaar’s heydey, when Alexey Brodovitch* was art director.

I particularly like the last four images – they could have been torn from a 60 year old magazine (not that I would do such a sacrilegious thing) rather than a 20 year old issue of the Australian magazine Follow Me. Yet the fashion is still so 80s: power suits and broad shoulders, chunky necklaces and tall hair wrapped in an Hermès scarf. There is even mention of a bodysuit.

The shoot takes its cue from the 1950s and Cristobal Balenciaga, whose visionary clothes will always be extraordinary, no matter the era they or their ilk are worn.

‘Taking a cue from the couture of the Fifties, fashion wraps up, Balenciaga-style. So slip on the gloves, a real hat, a flash of technicolour, and darling, do lunch!’

*Check slides 35-43 of the Lookbook “Bazaar 140th: Through the Years” for samples of Brodovitch’s work.

Click on images for larger versions.

Images from FOLLOW me, Feb/Mar 1988; Photography: Martyn Thompson; styling: Jayson Brunsdon.