This photo thanks to Wayneford’s posterous
Anyone in need of design inspiration for the 35plus market would do well to grab a copy of French photographer ç’s book Palm Springs 1960, out recently. The book is full of well-heeled ladies of a certain age exuding the sunshine glamour of the early 60s in Palm Springs. Tailored dress and jacket combos in shantung silk, printed cotton sundresses nipped in at the waist- worn with a cashmere cardi thrown over the shoulders and pearls and mink stoles worn with everything (it was to keep the chill off from the air conditioning units blasting out freezing air), they were a deeply glamourous lot.
What makes the pictures here so wonderful is how Doisneau captures the whacky element woven through the good taste, with elephant wicker handbags and bicycle hat pins, and that’s before we get to the wild taste in sunglasses. It’s Mad Men on steroids (or more likely valium I guess) and everyone looks as if they are having a wonderful time (in full make up, even in the pool). We don’t really want to go back to living in the 60s but we can’t help having a soft spot for the way things looked.