Ebony Magazine Fashions, 1970

We bring a little style to the Soul Closet today with these offerings from the early 1970s pages of Ebony magazine. We begin with the above outfit, worn by the wife of a prominent Ohio businessman, according to the caption. It doesn't say what kind of business he was in, but my guess? Fur trapper.



The caption for the above outfit said, "The hip, together, modern woman definitely intends to do her own thing.." This is a design by Maurice Rentner and features "the hippest of beige felt hats and beige above the knee boots that are just too much!" Rentner died in 1958 and his design house later merged with that of his sister and in late 1970 became better known as Bill Blass.



The original caption said this Pauline Trigere design is "a freedom loving black coat with plaid color squares." Power to the people.

Soul You Can Drink To

The Soul Closet opens this week with a question: I wonder if the people at Dewar's White Label still do these clever magazine ads? I haven't seen one in a very long while. They'd pick an interesting person and do a quick profile, asking what books they read, their latest accomplishment and their favorite scotch. The favorite scotch was always Dewar's White label. An effective but subtle way to establish a brand. The 1970 ad above features a very fine 25-year-old fashion designer Ola Hudson--dig the earrings, y'all. She's also the mother of Slash, the guitarist from Guns n Roses and Velvet Revolver.

This 1968 ad features the gifted and distinguished Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt:


And this gorgeous Sister here is literary editor Carole Henderson in 1969:

She's Carole Henderson Tyson now. And is still on the scene.

Big Apple (Hat) and the San Remo Groove

A 1971 ad from Ebony Magazine. We remember when Rudy from the "Fat Albert" cartoon used to rock the knit Kangol on the left. But for my money, the coolest thing is the coat on the right. Whatever the San Remo Groove was, if it allows me to stand like that with my loosely-tied ascot blowing in the wind, then doggone it I WANT it. And I can get it, too. At all the hip stores, baby. For $95.00