The late 1960s celebrity boutique phenomenon saw popular teenage idols launching clothing lines and boutiques. These included singer Sandie Shaw, TV presenter Cathy McGowan, and even the footballer George Best. Such ventures tended to be short-lived, lasting a few years or even months, like the Beatles’ “Apple” boutique, which closed in July 1968 after 7 months.

The famous 1960s model, Twiggy, launched her fashion label ‘Twiggy Dresses’ on 16 February 1967. Each garment, costing between £6 and £13, came with a free Twiggy portrait hanger. The shops showed them on Twiggy portrait mannequins, and Twiggy did all the modelling and publicity. She worked with the young designers, Paul Babb and Pamela Procter to ensure they designed clothes she would happily wear herself, such as this brightly patterned mini-dress. This personal input and strong branding enabled the label to run successfully for three years.

Twiggy even had input into choosing the designers – Pamela Proctor and Paul Babb who weren’t much older than her and came straight from the Royal College of Art. She would meet up with them at Great Portland Street two or three times a week to discuss designs and ideas, and as someone who had always wanted to be a clothes designer and had made many of her own clothes, Twiggy truly envied the two designers she worked so closely with. Paul Babb provided Twiggy with a humorous friendly back-up during trips abroad to promote the range, while Pamela Proctor was described as “…marvelous. She’s really on the same wavelength as me and always knows what I like.”

This dress is now housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum. As it always the case with Museum pieces, I highly recommend contacting the museum prior to your visit to assure the item is either on display or accessible to you during your visit.

Any information on this Paul Babb is greatly appreciated. I’m not sure what tree he belongs with at the time of this post. I can see that he attended the Royal College of Art from 1963-1966 and appears to still live in the London Area. But that is all I know about him and his career.

Sources: Mini-Dress | Procter, Pamela | Babb, Paul | V&A Explore The Collections (vam.ac.uk), Vintage Fashion Guild : Label Resource : Twiggy