Pirate Radio has been sitting in a Netflix envelope for a couple of months, and I finally watched it Friday night. Historically the movie is a mess, fabricating events left and right, and mixing in songs from years beyond the end of the movie, but I’ll take it on faith that it captures something of the spirit of the time in Sixties England, when Pop music was played by illegal, offshore radio stations. BBC Radio 2, my favourite radio station today, came about thanks to pirate radio.
One scene in the movie was obviously staged to draw attention to a picture on a wall.
That’s Jean Shrimpton, the preeminent British model of the 60’s, before Twiggy.
Just as British and American music competed for attention, so did British and American fashion models.
Colleen Corby may not have been a household name like Twiggy was, but you can’t be an American over age 50 and not recognize Colleen’s distinctively lovely and iconic face. Cheryl Tiegs may have made the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue a phenomenon, making her a lust object for men, but Colleen had a different audience, modeling for women’s catalogs and magazines. I became aware of her thanks to having sisters. Colleen Corby was beyond being merely pretty, and she truly defined a class of attractiveness all her own.
Time passes, as it must, and this is Colleen Corby today.
Later, I’ll be talking more about 60’s fashion models, and in particular a promotional tour called Youthquake, and Prue Bury’s part in it.
Marie – Colleen was truly in a class all her own.
Those were my years – I loved her and did all I could to look like Colleen. Yes was so beautiful and now in her sixty’s is still a beautiful women.
Keri – You may already know there is a Colleen Corby fan page on Facebook.
When I was young, people asked me if I was Colleen Corby…especially in NY..what a compliment. She is such a beauty…especially today. I am so happy for her success.
Jennifer – I have a friend who met the Beatles, and was a “girl on the tour bus” with the Beach Boys. Brian freaked when he learned she’d met the other “BEA” group on Capitol Records and he insisted that she explain what made girls go wild for the Beatles. Later she met Hendrix, hung out with Jim Morrison and, yes, it was all as amazing as everyone would like to imagine it was.
One of the models who introduced the miniskirt to America, a major flash point for the Sixties, was my dear personal friend, Prue Bury, who had more than a casual acquaintance with the Beatles. Click here for a photo.
I love everything about the sixties!!!! I decor, clothes, hair. Love Mad Men as well!!! What a cutie Collen Corby was. unfortunately I missed out on her and Jim Morrison and Edie Sedgewick, as I am a seveties baby.
Leslie — One of my many secret shames is that as a kid buying comic books in the Sixties, I sneaked peeks at Seventeen magazine on the newsstand.
Colleen Corby was my absolute favorite, she is a bit older than I am, but she helped me through junior high and high school! I still have many of the magazines from the late 60’s and early 70’s…I learned to sew so that I could hurry and make the outfit I saw her wearing in the latest Seventeen…I learned style, skin care and makeup from her, and to this day she feels like my mentor.
I modeled and taught modeling for years and now at 60 yrs I have begun to act and have been in numerous films (as a beginning background actor)…thank you Colleen Corby for setting such a stellar example for girls like me!! I hope you are having a wonderful life full of love.
Ah, now the ever-present face of the 60s has a name to go with it. What a beauty. Of course, I was partial to Jean because she had my name. Still, that first head shot of Colleen is breathtaking! Note how heavy the eyebrows were in the 60s. Totally off-topic (sort of), Season Four of “Mad Men” is now available on Netflix and sitting in my queue. I can now stop my detoxing.
Absolutely beautiful 🙂