ABBA AND ZIGGY STARDUST

ABBA as you remember them from the 1974!It came as a bit of a shock to me and my friends to see them perform as ABBA for the Eurovision Song Contest, dressed up like a mix of Ziggy Stardust and Alice Cooper. Well since I am Swedish and born in 1955,  I will tell you how I got to now them in the first place. From the left, Benny Andersson was part of a pop band (genre The Beatles) called "Hep Stars" who was very popular during the late 60-ies and early 70-ies. Anni-Frid (Frida)Lyngstad was a "Schlager vocalist" and toured Sweden with what we in Sweden call a "dansband", a band that played dancing music and had a singer or two. At the time she had had some hits on the Swedish Domestic Top Ten-list.
Agneta Fältskog wrote her own songs, ballads mainly and also had hits on the Swedish Domestic Top Ten. Finally Björn Ulveaus was a member of a country and western band called Hottenanny Singers and had a lot of hits in Sweden.
Benny and Frida was a couple and Björn and Agneta too! It was there producer and record company owner Stickan Andersson who persuaded them to form Abba, and there first perfomance was for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974.
Well, in 1974, nobody over the age of 20 would wear platform shoes or that kind of clothes. Neither of the Abba members was anywhere near Glam Rock at the time so I, and others of my age in Sweden, thought it quite embarrasing to watch them. Nor did I like the music at the time. I enjoy it more today! In my family it was my mother who bought and played the Waterloo record under the false pretention she had bought it for her (5) children.
It was also the last leg of Ziggy Stardust and David Bowie was already moving on!  
 

David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust in 1973, when he was blowing our minds. One must remember that at the time this kind of outfit and androgynic look was shocking and very daring. If not on the brink of being dangerous! I remember my then boyfriend (looked very similar to Bowie)having similar haircut and "girly" jacket and make up (I was the make up artist). We had to stick together as a group going home from the disco (Big Brother in Stockholm) in fear of being beaten up!

 

David Bowie on his Aladdin Sane tour in 1973. There is a clear link here to Abba´s costumes from 1974! If you want to see and experience more about David Bowie´s career visit the esquisit exhibition "David Bowie is" at the V&A in London (until 11 August 2013. Booking is essential. The only thing that I surely missed was a bit more about his personal- and family life!

 

 

David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust is still a very important source of inspiration for fashion etc. This is Jean Paul Gaultier latest Pret a Porter Show in Paris. Pop- icons as Bowie, Boy George, Madonna and Michael Jackson was represented at this show, but obviously not, ABBA.

COBOLT AND OTHER BLUES

Blues are one of the big colour ways these spring and summer if you are to believe Topshop, HM and all the big interior design elephants on Kings Road and Chelsea Design Center. I went there during London Design Week a couple of weeks ago, and there was a lot of Blues aound. Mainly Cobolt, often i nice company of turquoise, celadon and other blues. It brings me back to the early days of my career, in the early 1980-ies when the big colour in interiors and fashion was just Cobolt blue, we also talked a lot about Klein-blue in those days. Then we mixed it with black, like today but in a very strict and geometric way. Today we are more free in the way we mix and match. See above how topshop mixed it with monochromes and yellow. Even the interior fabric patterns took inspirations from the same places then like today,  Mallorca fabrics, ikat, bleeding tie die etc. Tribal inspiration was big then too, but today in a wider sense, from Scandinavian Kurbitz to African basket tecniques.

Tricia Guild always loved the blues, like she was a Scandinavian. Here is some of her new and old tableware and fabrics, in store now!

Designers Guild again, this is the latest blues in her flagship store on Kings Road. She so cleverly mixed stripes with animalprints, flowers and bleeding tie die, 60-ies with up to date furniture and accessories.

Romos lates collection is called the Black Edition but is a lot more than black. Just look at this mix. I love the tie dies.

Ikat, flowers,  fashion or interior design. Blue, blue l`amour et blue, this spring.

Blue according to Laura Ashley, a bit more Art Deco-ish. I will be back shortly with more trends from London Design Week and the High Streets of London etc...