Book Summary and Reviews of Chelsea Girls by Catherine Lloyd

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John_B1

A lucid and egaging account of the Mary Quant Brand
Chelsea Girls - A Novel of Mary Quant and Swinging London
By Catherine Lloyd
Advance Reader Copy from bookbrowse.com

Chelsea Girls, set against the backdrop of a nation grappling with the aftermath of World War II, spans the period from 1951 through the early 1970s—an unprecedented era of change in the long-established structural hierarchies of British life. Shifts in attitudes, hopes, fears, needs, and wants rattled the English establishment and its inherent, traditional social mores. These were the decades that brought us rock music, teddy boys, mods and rockers, punks, and, of course, a corresponding transformative revolution in women’s fashion, pioneered and led by Mary Quant. Turbulent times indeed, especially in the ‘rag trade.’

Chelsea Girls uses the voices of three fictional characters to tell the story. Chrissie Walker is from a middle-class family and meets Mary as a fellow student at London’s Goldsmiths College of Art in the early 1950s, where they both study art and illustration, and later becomes the manager of ‘Bazaar,’ Mary Quant’s first clothing store on Chelsea’s King's Road, dashing the hopes of her teacher parents that she follow them into that chosen profession. Daphne is the daughter of an upper-class, aristocratic English family, and to her mother’s horror, also worked at Bazaar before later modeling for Mary Quant. Fern, also a model, is the daughter of a working-class family from London’s East End and faces the same level of criticism and disapproval from her parents regarding her chosen profession as does Daphne. All three protagonists are in their late teens when the reader first meets them.

Catherine Lloyd’s compelling storytelling style in this expository, fast-paced, flowing novel aptly mirrors the creation and rapid expansion of the Mary Quant brand on both sides of the Atlantic; all woven with a rollercoaster of personal highs and lows that such precipitous growth often brings. Lloyd’s three fictional characters are far more than just props to support or punctuate a Mary Quant timeline. Each is a fleshed out, well-rounded protagonist dealing with their own life demands and aspirations. As their widely differing family backgrounds emerge, we come to learn about their interactions with each other, their individual hopes, strengths, and vulnerabilities, their work at various Quant ventures, and their respective romantic interests.

Readers familiar with Mary Quant and those mid-century decades will find Chelsea Girls a perfect source for reviving and reliving memories, and maybe even fill in some memory blanks. For those unacquainted with that era and Mary Quant, but intrigued, there could hardly be a better introduction.

Susan_Roberts

London Fashion
Because of my age, I have a problem considering the 1960s to be historical fiction but have finally realized that if historical fiction is considered anything over 50 years old, even the 1970s are considered historical fiction! Now that I’ve recovered from this fact, I will say that I loved this book and learning more about the background of the designer and models who revolutionized style in the 1960s.

It’s 1951 and post-war London is still recovering from the ravages of World War II. Two totally different girls meet at Goldsmiths arts college and their optimism for the future helps them become best friends. Mary Quant and Chrissy Walker are both at art college despite the protests from their families but both know that they want more from life than to find a rich husband and spend their lives doing charity work and raising children. Mary designs and sews her own clothes and soon Chrissie and other women at the college are wanting to dress in a similar fashion. Mary soon catches the interest of a very rich young man who becomes her partner and helps her open Bazaar in 1955. Bazaar was the first catalyst of the new fashions in London and then in the entire world. The clothes were all designed by Mary Quant and were a rebellion against the formal, rigid fashion of the 1950s. Soon Bazaar, the Chelsea district of London and Mary Quant’s clothes became the center of ‘swinging London’. With the introduction of the Beatles into the world, everyone wanted to dress in the new youthful clothes from London and Mary’s fashions became well known all over the world. She introduced the mini-skirt and different fabrics and designs than what had been available in the past. She also introduced new make-up and hair styles to the young who wanted to set new paths in fashion. Not only were her clothes different but they were affordable enough that everyone could afford them. The first US store that she got a contract with was JC Penny.

Not only does the book give the reader a look at Mary and her growing fashion explosion but we also get to know Mary and see some of the stresses that she was under as she worked with so many different people to revolutionize fashion. Her friend Crissie became a key person in her life and helped Bazaar become popular. The book also does a bit of name dropping as we learn how Mary’s fashions helped the rise of various models – such as Twiggy – and there are mentions of the Beatles and Patty Boyd and other famous musicians of the time.

This is a book about fashion and a new fashion revolution that was started by Mary Quant but more importantly it’s a book about women leaning to become successful in areas that they had never been allowed to enter in the years before. Chrissie broke away from her parents’ plan for a good marriage and upper-class life to becoming one of the main parts of Mary’s empire, Daphane went from life in the upper class to becoming a world-renowned model and eventually became a well-known photographer in war zones. Fern went from a very poor life to becoming a well-known model and becoming a writer for Vogue US. All of the female main characters became well known in areas that had been for men-only! As the women fought to become successful, they found that they were stronger than they'd ever believed before.